Bellwether report shows continued boat sales gains

U.S. boat sales are still running just less than 10 percent ahead of 2013 through November.

That’s according to Info-Link’s latest Bellwether report, which tracks boat sales across the country based on new U.S. boat registrations. Bellwether states are geographically dispersed states representing roughly half of the US boat market (varies by market segment and time of year).

(For more on 2014 numbers and the 2015 outlook, see our article posted earlier this week.)

Continuing the trend we’ve seen all year, every segment of the market posted year-over-year gains, with the exception of sterndrive/jet. That category was down about 5 percent in bellwether states in November year-over-year.

PWC sales continue to be strong with sales gains of 25 percent year-over-year. Earlier this year, sales peaked at about 30 percent ahead of 2013. The sportfish and ski boat segments also boasted gains of more than 10 percent in November year-over-year, while outboard sales grew by just under 10 percent.