State of the Marine Industry

Bump Wilcox, based in Massachusetts, is with New Wave Yachts – the #1 dealer for Dehler, Hanse, and Sabre Yachts. He offered this assessment of the marine industry following the 2026 Newport International Boat Show on September 17-20 in Newport, RI:

The show was pretty good with lots of boats and boat stuff. Once again, this year showed a noticeable reduction in sailboats. Including my booth with only one boat.

Hanse Yachts is the second largest sailboat builder in the world and yes, only one boat.

Beneteau and Jeanneau were there of course with some boats but still trending down. 90% of all sailboats in the world are built by Beneteau, Jeanneau, and Hanse. Every other builder is fighting for the last 10%. This is simple. These three builders build on an assembly line, where every other builder still builds boats one at a time.

2026 is the first year no sailboats over 25 feet were being built in America. Our 10% tariff is protecting an industry that does not exist. As I write, several people are talking about building sailboats in America, but with labor costs being what they are here, I’m sure pricing will be a huge issue.

Using Sabre as an example, my 2005 Sabre 386 had about 7000 man hours in it. A new Hanse 388 has about 1600 man hours. The Sabre 386 sold for over 400K in 2005 and the Hanse sold for under 200K. So, tariffs are not going to help American builders who have to sell at twice the price.

The other problem for US builders is OSHA – the Occupational Safety and Health Administration. OSHA does not allow open air fiberglass construction. Therefore, fiberglass construction must be done in an enclosed bag like resin infusion. This is very costly.

Some states like Florida and South Carolina chose to ignore OSHA to support boat building. In Europe, which has higher standards then our OSHA, they laminate in third world countries. At Hanse in Germany, we laminate in Poland.

We only assemble the boats in Germany.

I did my first Newport Show in 1979 which was 100% sail. In 1979, sailboats represented about 40% of the total boat business. Today it is about 3%. Pontoon boats now are 25%.

Two questions: Where did all the sailboat buyers go and is it just sailboats or is it the whole marine industry?

As for where did all the sailboat buyers go, the majority of spendable wealth in America is with baby boomers. Their kids are through college and their houses are paid off. Their houses are probably worth well over $1 million. Many are millionaires.

But they are over 70. They might love boating but they cannot pull sails up and down and in and out. If they want to be on the water, they need a power boat. As much as the builders try to make the sailboats easier to use, they still require some strength.

As for the broader question, since many of the boomers cannot sail, they go to power. That has helped that industry. Also, more and more Americans feel limited time and power boats are quick to use and get back.

Years ago, the powerboat industry marketed, “If you can drive a car, you can drive a boat.” No real boating skills required. This is not true, but it works.

Overall, the powerboat industry numbers are down. This also is because the price of powerboats is through the roof. The booth next to me had a 25-foot center consul for 250K. I see outboard engine pricing at 35 to 40K for one engine. That engine was built to go in a Toyota or Honda car. You can get the whole car for that price!

On the powerboat side, there is also way too much production for the market. During COVID, there was a brief shortage of boats. The builders saw a shortage and ramped up their production. The shortage is long gone but the production is there.

I know there will always be people like me who love sailing. They have been here for thousands of years. Sailing is not going away.

I sit in my office and talk sailing to anyone who will listen.