Industry Feels Rough Waters

Rising watercraft costs and the sinking economy have pressured the boating industry.

The average cost in 2001 for small inboard and stern-drive vessels nationally was about $31,000. That was 22 percent higher than an average of $25,490 in 1999, according to research by the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

The number of small inboard units sold only increased 13 percent from 12,100 in 1999 to 13,700 last year. Sales of stern-drive boats actually declined 7 percent from 79,600 in 1999 to 74,100 in 2001.

If not for Northwest Arkansas’ robust economy and the area’s growing new wealth, Minute Drain and The Marine Center in Rogers might have to fight harder to stay afloat. One of the Cobalt dealer’s 2003 model 262s, for example, features a 375 horsepower engine and costs $87,500.

Arlene Baxter, vice president of industry programs for the NMMA, said any product such as Minute Drain that gets boaters more use out of their watercraft helps them justify the costs. And a product that reduces maintenance, she said, makes boating even more appealing.

Randy Myers, Minute Drain’s founder and president, and Betty Launius, his mother, bought The Marine Center in 1995 and approached Cobalt about becoming one of its dealers. The manufacturer let the store have four 1996 model Cobalts that year, saying that if they didn’t sell, it would buy them all back.

“We put 28 on the water that year,” Myers said. “Cobalt was concerned that there wasn’t enough money in Northwest Arkansas to support one of their dealerships, but after that they just said, ‘Yep, you can do it.'”

There are other signs that boating’s popularity hasn’t waned in the mid-South. The number of registered recreational boats in Arkansas during 2000 rose 3 percent to 177,912 from 173,437 in 1999. That was the 27th-highest total in the nation, according to the U.S. Coast Guard.

All six contiguous states had even more registered recreational boats, led by Texas with 626,761, or the fifth-highest total in the nation. But those numbers include all power boats such as outboard motors, by far the least expensive at an average cost of $8,388 to $10,415 nationwide, according to the NMMA.

Outboard motors aren’t difficult to drain like inboards and are not a market for Minute Drain.