JimH wrote:
wrote in message
oups.com...
Too early to tell, but........

First quarter new and used boat sales in WA state were down slightly
from last year. This is the first time in 3 years that first quarter
sales have been off vs. the previous year. Jan and Feb numbers were
actually up over 2005, but a very soft March drew the quarter down
overall.

Notable statistics:

New boats sold by WA state dealers were 1,253 units in Q1 2006, vs.
1.361 in Q1 2005. Unit volume was off 7.9%, but due to price increases
dollar volume was off less than 1%.

Washington State residents bought 32 fewer boats from out of state
dealers in Q1 2006 vs. Q1 2005. (339 vs. 371) However, a substantial
increase in average transaction price of such vessels resulted in a
58.8% ($4,427,448) increase in this category.

Used boats sold by WA State dealers were down 23 units from the 850
sold in Q1 2005, but dollar volume was up 9.9% in that category. Fewer,
but more costly used boats are being sold.

Among New boats:

Sellers listed the following "Propulsion type" on applications for
registration:

Ourdrive: 415 units
Inboard: 184 units
Jet: 184 units
Outboard: 848 units
Sail: 18 units (some sellers list sailboats as inboard, outboard,
etc)
Unknown: 25 units

LOA's with notable percentage changes:

10' down 11.5% Q1
11-14' down 16% Q1
23-26' up 58.7% Q1 (165 units vs 104)
27-30' down 9.5% Q1
31-34' up 22.7% Q1 (27 units vs 22)
35-38' up 91.7% Q1 (23 units vs 12)
39-42' up 20% Q1 (12 units vs 10)
43-46' up 250% Q1 (7 units vs 2)
51-54' down 33.3% (2 units vs. 3)
55-58' down 100% (no units sold, vs. 2)
70' up 100% (2 units vs. 1)

Looks like sales in the medium size cruiser category, 31-46 feet, were
actually up pretty well- but of course there isn't any meaningful
volume in those categories to influence the overall statistics.


69 units vs 46 in the 31'-46' foot catagory....Sounds like an impressive
increase to me with some big volume for a single quarter.

165 units vs 104 in the 23'-26' catagory.....again a very nice increase.

Except for the very small and very large boats, it sounds like a nice first
quarter of sales.

The true story will come with Q2 sales vs last years Q2 sales. ;-)


You are correct. The very small boats (where all the volume normally
is) and some of the very large boats (where all of the profit usually
is) were the categories that were "off". The relative volume in the
small boat market brings the overall average down, but there are
healthy pockets.