It took some time, but the anticipated crowds finally showed up Sunday to the annual Lake Union Boats Afloat Show.

Although numbers weren’t available, attendance was light for the first four days of the annual sales event, one of Seattle’s four major yearly boat shows. And it didn’t help that rain and a legendary Huskies football game on Saturday conspired to dampen the number of boat shoppers on what should have been one of the show’s busiest days.

Still, the sun showed up on the final day and brightened the mood of boat brokers. Most reported a solid amount of interest from buyers, many of whom were attracted by the cut-rate prices on the existing stock of boats.

“People are very sensitive to deals, so the ones we made have been very aggressive,” said Mark Helgen, vice president of sales for Lake Union Sea Ray.

Sun brought out the crowds after a slow start to the show.

The company had 11 powerboats at the show, most in the 40-foot and larger range.  The discount prices were attracting attention, but Helgen said they won’t last forever.

“The pipeline is dwindling and the supply of deal boats are going away,” he said. “We are already seeing several segments of the market running out of boats and being replaced by more expensive inventory.”

The show caps one of the most difficult years in memory for most Northwest boat sellers.  The financial crisis that began last September sent boat sales—already wheezing due to summer’s high fuel prices—spiraling. The January Seattle Boat Show confirmed many fears that buyers were keeping their wallets closed.

But as the economy has stabilized and the stock market has begun rebounding, sales of boats—both new and used—are returning. Slowly.

The most recent boat sales numbers in Washington state showed that new boat sales were down 33 percent over the same period last year. But the rate of decrease slowed from the first three months of the year, when they were down a whopping 56 percent.

Used boats showed even more signs of life, with a drop of 6.6 percent in the number of boats sold, compared with a decline of 27.5 percent during the first quarter of the year. New boat sales figure should be available next month.

Pointing to a stronger future for boat sales?

The still-tough market has caused many brokers to scale back for this year’s Boats Afloat show. Signature Yachts, which specializes in high-end and long-distance cruising sailboats, brought six vessels to the docks. Last year, the company had 14.

Still, the signs are positive, said Robbie Robinson, the owner of Signature Yachts.

“In the last month, we’ve sold five boats, three of them at normal margins,” he said. “We are happy about that. It is a good indicator.”

But Robinson is under no illusions that the sales volumes of a few years ago will return any time soon.

“I think it will be a long road back to where we were,” he said.