Making Waves

American Marine Holdings Inc.

A powerboat might be just the thing if you want to bring your family closer together and leave the stress and hassles of the “real” world in your wake. Boats don’t offer just a single sport or activity—they provide an entire recreational zone. Fishing, snorkeling, swimming, tubing, wakeboarding and waterskiing all become your immediate options. Now, consider cruising to different ports and exploring creeks or rivers (gunkholing, sailors call it). Owning a boat could broaden your horizons.

Sounds great, right? What’s better is that in most areas of the country, boat dealerships are cutting bait—and deals, particularly in areas most affected by the housing bubble burst, such as California, Florida and New York.

“The housing market hasn’t bottomed out yet,” Thom Dammrich, president of National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), explained at the 2008 Miami International Boat Show in February. Low housing prices and increasing oil prices affect consumer spending. Recreational boat sales closely correlate with consumer confidence, which is declining. Dammrich says powerboat sales are expected to show an 11 percent decline in 2007. Consequently, it’s a buyer’s market.

For example, at press time in May, Triton Boats was advertising a 25 percent discount on its 2008 18 Explorer bass boat (a Consumers Digest Best Buy). Maurice Bowen of Tracker, a division of outdoors industry giant Bass Pro Shops, says the boat builder is offering in-store credits of up to $1,000 as incentive.

However, the best deals are for non-currents, unused boats with a model-year designation other than the current one. Dealers will sell non-current boats at close to the invoice price from the builder, meaning savings of 30 percent. “Buyers can save thousands on clearance boats,” Bowen says. Industry experts expect slow boat sales and the repercussions (read: let’s make a deal!) to continue at least through the end of the year.

POWER UP. Maybe the timing is right to buy, but you’ve heard that owning a boat can be a lot of work. Let’s face it, nothing ruins a good time like work. Who wants to spend gobs of time ashore, repairing and maintaining a boat? Fortunately, this is less of a problem these days.

Redesigned outboard engines are far more reliable than power plants from 5 years ago. Manufacturer BRP even claims its Evinrude engines can go 3 years before requiring maintenance. It bases its claim on 100 hours of use per year—not heavy use for many boaters—but the claim does appear to hold water. Today’s outboards and stern-drive powerplants (think: automobile engines tuned to the water) are also more fuel-efficient than ever. That’s particularly appreciated here, because gas prices at a marina are usually 20 percent to 30 percent higher than at a typical gas station.

Outboard-engine technology has evolved so much in the past 5 years, it’s difficult to keep up with the changes. Overall, average horsepower is up 11 percent since 2003, and in February 2007, Yamaha made waves by introducing the industry’s first outboard V-8, the F350, with an amazing 350 hp and an even more amazing $26,245 price tag.

More important, engines of every size and design—even the V-8—have gone “green.” The new engine technology of most manufacturers meets California’s 2008 CARB (California Air Resources Board) ultra-low emissions standards. Those that don’t are being upgraded or phased out.

Four-stroke outboards, which are inherently cleaner than two-stroke engines, now dominate as the powerboat engine of choice, except in the bass-fishing market, which relies on higher horsepower engines mounted on small boats. But direct injection, in which fuel is pressurized before being injected directly into the combustion chamber (instead of the cylinder port, as with traditional fuel injection), has allowed two-stroke engines from BRP, Mercury, Nissan and Yamaha to meet CARB standards.

Much of the other new technology—DOHC powerheads with multi-valve cylinders, multi-stage induction for better breathing and variable valve timing for stronger low and midrange torque—is being packed into outboards at increasing speed. Not surprisingly, these improvements have led to bigger prices. The average price on an outboard engine rose nearly 29 percent from 2003 to 2006, the latest year data are available, according to NMMA.