January boat sales continue upward momentum

The 2014 surge in powerboat sales continued into January 2015, according to Info-Link’s latest Bellwether report.

Overall sales were up about 8 percent year-over-year in Bellwether states on a rolling 12-month basis.

The Bellweather report 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).

The overall patterns were relatively unchanged from most of 2014, with PWC showing the strongest growth for the period, up about 25 percent in Bellwether states. The Sport Fish and Ski Boat segments were up about 15 percent for the last 12 months year-over-year.

Overall outboard sales were up about 10 percent in the January report. The only category to see fewer sales was sterndrive/jet, although the decline was less than 5 percent on a rolling 12-month basis.