With the Environmental Protection Agency soon to decide whether to grant a waiver that would allow fuel containing ethanol blends of up to 15 percent to be used in newer road vehicles, at least one company with a strong interest in the decision has a back-up plan in case the ruling doesn’t go its way. In doing some reading on ...

An estimated 65,000 to 70,000 people, and 7,000 boats, attended the AquaPalooza 2010 Signature Event near Austin, Texas a couple of weekends ago. Held on Lake Travis, and hosted by Sea Ray Boats and its dealer Sail & Ski Center, this year’s Signature Event was the most well attended ever, proving that despite the down economy, people will still show ...

The year 2010 will represent the low point in new unit sales as a percent of total unit sales for the industry and a recovery in new powerboat unit sales, estimated at 10 percent, should begin in 2011. Those were among the conclusions of an interesting report issued today by Wells Fargo Securities in advance of Brunswick’s earnings report, which ...

Fill in the blanks to this statement: “The boating industry lags behind the _______ industry by ___ months/years.” We’ve all heard people talk about how far behind our industry is compared to others when it comes to sales this or manufacturing that: You can pretty much fill in the blank there too. So, as I was looking through a list ...

We’re wrapping up our annual Market Data Book this week, getting all the pages ready to send off to our printer so the issue can be mailed out at the end of July. As always, there are a lot of pertinent facts and figures. But having worked to help assemble this issue for the last six years, never before have ...

“I’ve had more sleepless nights between the beginning of last year and until the recent days of resolving this thing than I’ve had in all the rest of my life put together … I’ve never had anything affect so many people’s lives as this did. Until I finally got past that guilt stage, that sense of what I’d done, I ...

Hopefully the timing won’t throw any cold water on whatever sort of recovery is taking place at the moment, but letting the home buyer tax credit expire just before the summer selling season didn’t do the boating industry any favors. The $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers was enacted in 2009 to help jump start the housing market, and ...

Last year, General Motors got rid of Pontiac, Oldsmobile, Saturn and a few other brands. Now the company wants to get rid of Chevy – not the cars, the nickname. On Tuesday, G.M. sent a memo to employees at Chevrolet’s Detroit headquarters asking that they refer to the brand as “Chevrolet” when talking to dealers, reviewing dealer advertising, or even ...

Calling the move “a major victory for Florida’s struggling marine industry,” the Florida Yacht Brokers Association and the Marine Industries Association of South Florida hailed a bill signed by Gov. Charlie Christ last week that contains a boat sales and use tax cap. The law, which will take effect on July 1, limits Florida’s sales tax on a boat purchase, ...

The fishing season is underway and it’s supposed to be great weather to get out on the water here in Minnesota this weekend – warm and sunny. There should be lots of boats on area lakes and rivers, and a friend here at work hopes his family’s 21-foot runabout is among them. But there’s a problem. After picking up his ...