Clearly you haven't attended the Ft. Lauderdale show the last few years. Having done so, I can tell you that the bread & butter of this market has been petrol dollars for years. The U. S. market has been old and stodgy (tire kickers for the most part) and the brunswick line has been their preference for a while. Hatteras, Maxum & Meridian are trying to modernize the fleet appearance, but they really are not that exciting. And that's their sales trouble. The market is younger, sleek and more stylish and the purchasing is reflecting it, IMHO!
agreed and my 2 cents. for anyone considering buying a boat, get ready for constant breakdowns (even when new), repairs, maintainance, and oddball purchases that you never ever would have considered before ownership. gas was a small part of the budget; but not anymore. i spent a minimum of 5k a year to 20k a year (last boat was a 34 searay with twin big blocks). those costs did not include payments either as i was lucky enough never to have any. consider this: dock 2-3k a yr , winter storage up to 2k, insurance 1k, gas 2-3k, repairs and maintainance 2k to 15k. add it up. forget about it if you have payments. imo, to own a boat of 20' or larger; one should have 25k a year that you don't mind pissing away. people never look at it like that, so then after they finally get rid of it, they are thrilled. no one ever considers those costs. i boated from when i was 22 to 41 until an unfortunate windstorm (last season) put me out and made me very, very happy. i did get tired of of people saying "thanks see you later "and then on monday throwing another g note at her. but with all that said, i will be back at it soon and generously passing the time on friends boats.