Hey Wiley, it was good to see you at the Canyon Bay Booth at the show. At Canyon Bay we are seeing alot of people come from bigger center consoles and coming into our 23 and 24 foot bay boats. Since we have bought the old Sportcraft facility in Perry, Fl we are now working on coming out with low, middle and upper priced boats. We want to cover all the bases when it comes to buying a boat. Our smallest boat will be a 18' traditional flats boat and we will offer offshore models (Strike Yachts) from 29 to 44'. Plus the bay boats we have to offer. They are some signs of things getting better. But I think most of you have the idea about what the boating industry is going through. People seem to complain about the pricing of boats and yes I believe that there are alot of boats that are overpriced. It all goes into the detail and fit and finish in a boat and the cost of the materials. Like someone said, the materials keep rising in cost. Our Vinyl ester resin and gel coat have risen another .06 cents a pound!
It's even worse up here in the northern areas. I went to a local show last weekend, and the dealers seem to be predominantly pushing the smaller boats. In years past the niche was for mid-size boats in the 22'-26' range, but this year there was very little of those sizes and the majority fell in the 18'-22' category.
I think in our area the smaller boats are the only thing keeping some of the dealers afloat.