While new boat sales were up for the first quarter of 2010, one month later, at the end of April, year-to-date new boat sales were down 6.8 percent from last year, based on the average dealer tracked by Spader Business Management.

The report did include several positive indicators. New boat inventory levels at the end of April were 34.9 percent lower than new boat inventories at the end of April 2009, and total dealership sales were 2.8 percent above the total dealership sales for the same period one year ago. Additionally, while the average dealer continued to report a net operating loss through the end of April, the average net operating loss for the first four months of 2010 was $68,589 compared to an average net operating loss of $121,297 a year ago.