Water recreation is as much a part of Louisiana culture as crawfish and corruption. Local marina owners and boating retailers say the market for watercraft and bayou bank parking spaces remains steady, if slow. In fact, from marinas renting slips and providing fuel for boaters to retail sales lots with a wide array of boats to buy, business is in a very good place.
“We sell and service Honda outboard motors,” said Mary Eirich, owner of Slidell Marine, Inc., on Old Bayou Liberty Road. “We sell pontoon boats. We also have a restaurant and a ship store that sells boating and fishing supplies. We also sell fuel.”
Fuel, in fact, is an increasingly difficult commodity for boaters to find at marinas, Eirich said.
“There are fewer and fewer,” Eirich said. “After Katrina, a lot opted not to re-open.”
Eirich, however, got into the marina business after Katrina, as she and her husband expanded their holdings of Cypress Cove Boating Center on Pontchartrain Drive to include Slidell Marine. And the benefits were manifold.
The Eirich’s son, a former chef at New Orleans’ famous Galatoire’s, dreamed of opening his own restaurant on the water. Slidell Marine provided the ideal spot, and Nathan’s Restaurant is a growing attraction at the establishment.
But it wasn’t all smooth sailing.
“After Katrina, it took awhile before we could move back in,” Eirich said. “It’s been a slow process. It has taken awhile.”
Slidell Marine offers more than a dozen wet slips and 30 dry-stock storage units for boat owners who want to keep their watercraft dry when not in use. “They don’t have to worry about driving it home,” she said. “Plus some subdivisions have restrictions on parking boats, so we take care of it for them.”
At Louisiana Yachting and Boating off Hwy. 22 in Madisonville, General Manager Craig Cypret said that while business has slowed in recent months, the trends are still positive for retailers selling and servicing high-end vessels. “We sell basically powerboats, a cruiser and a sport boat line,” Cypret said, adding that the company also sells and services outboard motors. “We’ve seen a downturn,” he said. “Last year was down maybe 10 percent. We’re still selling boats, just not like we were in 2006 or 2007.”
The boats Cypret sells range in price from about $40,000 to around $1 million, with the average sale being around $100,000. “We’re a full-service dealer,” he said, adding that the company offers financing, including newly competitive rates to compete in the stagnant market. “We have a marina, with a free slip for six months for anyone who buys a new boat.” With 40 slips at the facility, Cypret said the marina stays about 75-percent booked.
And how is Louisiana Yachting and Boating drawing customers when consumers are less willing to spend money on luxury items? “We’re doing everything we can,” he said. “We’ve had some special financing with about 2 or 3 percent rates. We have big rebates from manufacturers on boats. Anything we can do, we are doing.”
While Louisiana Yachting and Marine sells existing watercraft, they also work with dealers in Indiana and Kansas who custom-build boats to order. Each of those suppliers only builds about 1,000 boats a year, focusing on quality over quantity. “You have your Mercedes and your Bentleys,” Cypret said. “These are Bentleys, a very high-quality product as far as retaining value, manufacturers warranties, etc. Lately, our sales have been build-to-order boats.”
At Boat City USA on Club Deluxe Road near Hammond, Sales Manager Johnny LaFleur boasts one of the biggest inventories around on the company’s 7-acre lot, in addition to the company’s second location in Henderson, near Lafayette. “We sell several different brands of boats,” LaFleur said. “We sell everything from pleasure boats to fishing boats. We have a variety.”
And how is business?
“It’s pretty good, considering the economy,” LaFleur said. Boat City’s lowest package price – for a boat, motor and trailer – starts at about $8,995, for a 16-foot aluminum bass boat. But the offerings include such luxury watercraft as cabin cruisers, too. “We’ve got those starting at $14,995,” LaFleur said. “We sell a good mix of everything.”
Among the things that make Boat City particularly appealing is its location alongshore a man-made lake in the southwest corner of the intersection of I-12 and I-55. Customers can actually test-drive their boats on the lake before making a purchase – a feature few dealers are able to offer. And to compete with the economy, if not its competitors, Boat City has reached out in ways similar to Cypret and Eirich.
“We’ve had some price reductions,” LaFleur said. “We’ve had help with manufacturers’ rebates. As long as the weather is good, we do good.” But while sales may be slower than boat retailers would like, the overall situation is not bad. “A lot of it is economy- or stock market-driven,” Cypret said of Louisiana Yachting’s slow season. “But where we are is one of the better places to be in the country.”
Indeed. Not only is Louisiana – and the I-12 Corridor in particular – faring quite well despite the national recession, the presence of more than 1,000 miles of waterways in St. Tammany and Tangipahoa Parishes means there will always be a market for boats and for the companies that store and service them.
Whatever type of watercraft you choose to buy, it is always important to comply with registration requirements. Boat registration in Louisiana costs as little as $23, with funds paying for public marinas and boat ramps, in addition to conservation and public safety efforts. Learn more at
www.takemefishing.org.
Boating safety is also paramount, whether you’re buying a boat or riding in someone else’s. Water safety experts recommend having enough personal floatation devices (PFDs), or life vests, for everyone on board. Boaters should also carry two-way communication devices such as radios and cell phones, in addition to signal flares in case of a nighttime SOS. Some of those recommendations are actually requirements under state law, as well. Learn the laws at
http://www.wlf.state.la.us/boating/, or ask your boating retailer for information about boating safety courses.