Almost Nobody Buys the Same Boat Brand Twice | Marine News

New data on 2.5 million boats says only 6 to 13 percent of repeat buyers stay with the same brand. Plus consumer confidence falls for a third month. Consumer confidence fell again in September. And new data says boat owners almost never buy the same brand twice. The Conference Board released its September consumer confidence survey on Tuesday. The headline index fell 6.7 points to 81.9. The Expectations Index, which measures how people feel about the next six months, fell 5.9 points to 63.6. Third straight monthly decline. Consumer views of current business conditions turned negative for the first time since September 2024, and plans to buy a car and plans to buy a home both slipped. Then Boats Group published something harder to shake off. They pulled ownership records on more than 2.5 million boats across Florida, Ohio, Texas and Virginia and identified roughly 637,000 repeat owners. Across all four states, only 6 to 13 percent bought the same manufacturer again. Boats Group calls the pattern remarkably consistent across the states studied. Nine out of ten people who already own one of your boats go somewhere else for the second one. We work through what that means for the three or four years between a buyer's first boat and their second, and why the service department may matter more to repeat business than the showroom does. Also this week: Brunswick named three more senior leaders. Two fill the seats Aine Denari leaves when she becomes CEO on January 1st, and the third fills the one Will Sangster vacates. IBEX opens Tuesday October 6th in Tampa, and Marine Diagnostic Tools is exhibiting. And TowBoatUS announced a new port on Lake Fork Reservoir in northeast Texas. The Current is sponsored by Marine Diagnostic Tools. MDT puts dealer-level Marine diagnostics in the hands of independent marine repair shops, so you stop turning away work because the software says no. Find the right kit: https://marinediagnostictools.com Hosted by Jon Logan. New episode every Friday.