the cost of materials going into all boats in the last 5 years has pushed pricing up 45-50% from where it was in 2020. I do not believe that any new boat today can be purchased by the common man short of a plastic canoe
most people today are struggling to make ends meet even with what was once considered a good salary. so the discretionary income that once helped people get into boating is no longer there. my personal household grocery spend is up over 15% in just the last 3 months because pricing has gone up 15%
cost of marine hardware pricing is currently thru the roof. most marine hardware comes from off-shore sources because there is no US based manufacturing that does investment casting and polishing to fill the void. so the 85% tariff on metal parts coming in gets passed to the importing distribution and on to the end user.
if its stainless and polished, its being cast in china, polished and china, and may be brought thru other countries such as Taiwan, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Cambodia, etc.
other countries can cast stainless, however they do not polish. And no one in the US wants to polish low volume parts. Marine is considered low volume
Here is the current breakdown of tariffs:
Section 232: 50% if falls under listed HTS codes
Section 301: 25%
Reciprocal: 10% but if HTS code is 232 no Reciprocal
IEEPA: 10% drops from 20%
So non 232 parts:
Section 301 25% + Reciprocal 10% + IEEPA 10% = 45%
Section 232% parts:
Section 301 25% +Section 232 50% + IEEPA 10% = 85%
add to that transportation cost is up, and the marine hardware distributor is now charging well over 100% more for the hardware and deck rigging going into a boat than what was charged 8 months ago.
similar cost increases on vinyl, engine parts, plastic parts, glass, etc.
BOM (Bill of Materials) cost is up well over 60% in most cases on a boat. so reducing engine size (under powering) and de-featuring are being discussed by most manufacturers trying to keep product going. Most dealers are not placing orders with OEMs because they can not afford the cost of floating the boat until it sells.
however those that are currently buying "floating toys" are not the common man, they are buying $200,000 surf boats with cash. or $300,000 pontoon boats with cash. they are not buying the low price boats and they are not financing
many boat manufacturers are struggling these days, many will close by Q2 of next year
