It seemed like old times, the best of times, on Saturday afternoon at the New York Boat Show. The aisles at the Javits Center were filled with people looking at the 350 new boats and probably a thousand or so new boating accessories, and everybody seemed in a good mood. “We just had one of our best years ever,” a New England dealer told me. “And it looks like this one is off to a pretty good start.”
People were lined up to look at the new boats; indeed, the line to climb on the Azimut 60, the queen of the show (pictured above), never ended. Neither did the line for the Beneteau Gran Turismo 46, which had a sticker announcing a boat show price of $690,000; it was powered by twin Volvo IPS600 pod drives.
The recent trend to outboards seemed to accelerate. The HCB 42 with four 425-hp Yamahas drew a crowd, with a lot of people taking selfies in front of the giant powerplants stretched across the transom. The same was true for the new Boston Whaler 420 Outrage, with four 350-hp Mercury Verados.
The new Back Cove 340, the Maine company’s first outboard-powered boat, also drew a lot of interest, as did the classic blue-hulled Sabre 48 Salon Express next to it in a big display at the rear of the show. Out in the lobby, there was always a crowd around the two-person ICON amphibious seaplane; the wings fold back so you can put it on a trailer and take it home behind your pickup.
The year was off to a good start. At the opening of the show, Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, which produces the show, said that the industry sold 280,000 new powerboats last year, the best year since 2007. That was a 4 percent increase over the previous year, and Dammrich predicted another 3 to 4 percent increase for this year. Stay tuned. The big Miami shows are only two weeks away. Read more:
http://www.realclearlife.com/boats/testing-waters-2019-new-york-boat-show/
