I guess it just goes to show that we boaters, (who pursue a pastime
that doesn't make any financial sense) will not be deterred when a
single element, such as the price of fuel, makes less sense than ever.

It's interesting to note that these figures are for the 3rd quarter;
before the election season rollback of gas and diesel prices really
began.

From the report:

New boats sold by dealers for the 3nd Quarter were up 6.6 percent
The dollar value of new boats sold by dealers during the quarter was
$110M, up from $93M, an increase of 18.5 percent
3rd Quarter New Boat Sales by Dealers (Units Sold Comparison)
2002: 2,430
2003: 2,828
2004: 2,935
2005: 3,116
2006: 3,321
Overall boat sales (combined new and used) were up 0.9 percent during
the quarter totaling $260M

**

I can get into the specifics as far as number of boats in various size
groups, if anybody has an interest, but it is significant that unit
volume was only up 6.6 percent but dollar volume was up 18.5%. Clearly,
some portion of that is due to retail price increases but it also
indicates that people buying boats in record numbers are buying more
expensive models. I would estimate that with 3321 new boat units
selling for $110M the average sale has to be around $30,000. That
doesn't sound like much; but it's important to remember that this
report includes dinghies, cartop boats,
and a lot of other vessels that sell in big volumes for cheap numbers.
Upper end boats have to be selling well to bring the average up to
$30,000.