For Nelson Swartz of Camano Island, this was the year.
The 26-foot Regal powerboat he and his wife had purchased was too small for comfortable cruising with the whole family on board, so this year they upgraded, buying a 32-foot diesel-powered Nordic Tug.
“We just wanted something we could take the kids out in and be comfortable,” he said, talking on his cellphone while anchored in Victoria, B.C.’s harbor last week.
The Swartzes aren’t alone in cruising in new boats this year.
Statewide, the number of boats sold during the second quarter of this year increased 7 percent over 2003, while the dollar value of those boats jumped 18 percent, the Northwest Marine Trade Association reports.
That reflects the national trend. The National Marine Manufacturers Association reported manufacturers delivered 8.8 percent more boats to dealers in June compared to last year, and the dollar value of those deliveries rose 18.5 percent.
Locally, boat dealers in Snohomish and Island counties saw healthy increases in the period April through June, according to the Northwest trade group. Snohomish County dealers sold 361 new boats, a 12 percent jump over the second quarter of 2003.
Total sales – new and used boats sold by dealers and private parties – were up 7.3 percent, for a total of 2,301, the association said.
And in Island County, total sales increased 25 percent, to 368.
“It’s just people coming in writing checks,” said Kalee Craig, a service writer at Performance Marine in Everett. “We can’t explain it.”
On a state and national level, observers point to two factors: low interest rates through most of the summer and a slowly improving economy.
That played a part in the increased sales locally, said Kirk Benson, manager of Olympic Boat Centers’ Everett store.
“Boeing not announcing every day that they’re laying people off is a big factor,” Benson said. “People are feeling a bit more comfortable that they’re going to have a job.”
And unseasonably good weather in the early spring – which continued through the summer – also played a part, by getting Puget Sound residents thinking about getting out on the water, said Dan Hatch, co-owner of Bayside Marine in Everett. “That’s always a big factor.”
Add the two together, and Washington residents spent nearly $35.7 million on new and used boats from April through June, the Northwest Marine Trade Association said.
Sales were up in all categories of powerboats, according to the association’s figures. The most popular were what the industry calls an entry-level boat – 15-foot to 18-foot fiberglass hulled boats with outboard motors. New, those sell for around $11,000 at Olympic, Benson said. Used, they can go for as little as $3,000, Hatch said.
Washington residents bought 926 of them in the second quarter, a 25 percent increase. The next best selling segment? The next biggest segment of boats – 19- to 22-footers. Sales there totaled 916 boats, an increase of 21 percent.
But the biggest percentage gains came among the bigger boats, the statistics show. Sales of 35- to 38-footers were up 77 percent, to 13. Sales in the 39- to 42-foot category were up 60 percent, to 10 purchases.
Sailboats made up about 1 percent of total boat sales statewide, but even though only 35 were sold, that was still a healthy increase over the 20 sold in the second quarter of 2003, the marine trade association reported.
Sailing is the only way to go – in the Caribbean, Swartz said.
“We’d been sailors for years and years, and we were tired of being cold,” he said. And on Puget Sound, it seems, “there’s never any wind going the direction you’re going.”
That’s what eventually persuaded them to buy a “stinkboat,” he said.
But the new Nordic Tug, which is built in Skagit County, reminds them of a sailboat, he said.
“It has that feel – lots of wood on the inside,” Swartz said. And “it’s not real fast. It doesn’t go more than 10 or 15 knots.”
Reporter Bryan Corliss: 425-339-3454 or corliss@heraldnet.com.
Herald file photo
Strong sales at March’s Everett Boat Show carried over into the summer, according to industry reports.
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