The National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) September New Powerboat Registrations Report showed new powerboat retail sales down slightly to 0.9 percent on a rolling 12-month year-over-year (R12M YOY) basis and up a healthy 5 percent on a rolling three-month year-over-year (R3M YOY) basis through September. Total new units sold in 2019 (through September) reached 251,000.

“With optimal summer weather arriving later in the season for most of the U.S., we saw an encouraging pickup in new powerboat sales in July, August and September. This pickup offset some of the lag in certain segments the first half of 2019, putting us back on par with where retail unit sales were this time a year ago,” said Vicky Yu, director of business intelligence for NMMA. “Sales of new personal watercraft, wake sport boats and larger saltwater fishing boats continue to lead growth while sales of new freshwater fishing boats remain down from year-ago highs.”

Insights from the September report include:

•New personal watercraft sales were up 7 percent R12M YOY and up 11 percent R3M YOY.

•New wake sport boat sales were up 7 percent R12M YOY and up 13 percent R3M YOY.

•Sales of new larger fiberglass boats were up 7 percent R12M YOY and up 13 percent R3M YOY, driven by saltwater fishing boats 27 feet and above.

•Sales of new aluminum powerboats were down 6 percent R12M YOY and down 0.5 percent R3M YOY, reflecting a softening in freshwater fishing boat sales.