Mast up storage makes a huge difference. Having the ability to week night sailing/racing makes a big difference too, especially as younger folks in the sport start to gain family obligations. Continually getting fresh blood in makes a big difference, as people will naturally over time drift away from the activities.
On the decline in production thing - a question or two and an observation or two.
On production - how do they count US companies that may manufacture overseas? If the manufacturing has moved away from the US does that count as part of the decline (think Corsair, NACRA, etc.).
Observations - for the people who would be targeting purchasing boats 20' and under the financial landscape has changed dramatically. Raises for most workers have not kept up with inflation, especially given the increase in payments for health care and other things that get taken out of your paycheck. With rising fuel costs folks in the market for boats of this size may be feeling squeezed (fuel costs add financial pressures that reduce buying power, not the actual operation of the sailboat). Many compensated for this through use of equity in their houses, but this is drying up too - in some markets home equity lines of credit are being revoked by the banks, cutting off an effective way to finance purchases of cars, boats, tvs, etc. People may find that getting a HELOC in the first place now is almost impossible. It's no surprise that the high end of the market is thriving, as that is a demographic that is not hit as hard by these realities. But these declines don't surprise me too much when you combine financial pressures with the decline in access to water.
On Hobie and the sales of roto-molded boats - Good for Hobie to be having good numbers! A few questions though, just for curiosity. The first is how much of those sales have been to resorts/rental companies? The domestic auto manufacturers kept their production status going through fleet sales to rental companies and agencies. I'm curious if part of Hobie's success here is through a similar avenue. Also, I suspect that a good number of the roto boats are sold to people who have easy water access, ie waterfront property. These are great boats for keeping in the yard for the kids to push off into the water. I see these boats along the waterfront more than fiber boats. These days the waterfront property owner is more likely to be in the demographic that is less affected by economics (at least that's the case where I live). So maybe they've hit gold in another spot by having a small boat that sells to the money crowd (either by design or accident)?
