Being named number one worldwide after selling a brand less than a year is no less impressive.

Lake Union Sea Ray in Seattle scored both distinctions when it was recently notified that it was Meridian Yachts’ top independent seller worldwide between January and August of this year. Additionally, the company was named the number one Trophy and Bayliner dealer globally based on sales during the same period.

Lake Union Sea Ray began selling Bayliner, Trophy and Meridian yachts last October after purchasing a sizeable stock of inventory from Olympic Boat Centers, which filed for bankruptcy protection in July 2008.

Patrick Blake, a vice president at Brunswick U.S. Marine & Outboard Boats, which owns Bayliner and Trophy, congratulated Lake Union Sea Ray owner Kevin Roggenbuck on his company’s success with the brands after selling them for less than a year.

“I knew from the beginning that you would lead a team to success, but I had no idea it would happen so quickly,” Blake wrote in a letter. “You and your team have surpassed every expectation! It is truly a pleasure to work with such a well-run organization.”

The addition of the three brands substantially increased the boat lines offered by Lake Union Sea Ray, which had previously been selling Sea Ray and Boston Whaler boats. As part of the move, Lake Union also added three new sales and service locations and cherry-picked from an experienced sales staff previously employed by Olympic Boat Centers.

The risk has paid off, said Kay Woltman, marketing manager for Lake Union Sea Ray.

“We’ve only been an authorized dealer of (Trophy, Bayliner and Meridian yachts) officially since last fall. To be able to say that we’ve accomplished that number one position in less than a year—it’s amazing,” Woltman said.

She attributed the success to a combination of strong brand recognition of the various boat lines and a knowledgeable experienced sales staff. “We’ve been doing this for 22 years, so I think the experience of our staff plays a huge role in the success we’ve been able to achieve in moving our boats,” she said.

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.

But stricter terms make qualifying for a boat loan harder than it used to be. The days of low down payments and loans given without proof of income or ability to pay are over. Put simply, borrowers have to prove to banks that they can afford the boats they’re buying.

“There is money available, but qualifications are very tight and a high level of documentation of assets is the norm today,” said Tobey Wilkins, a vice president of Viking Bank in Seattle.

“A few years ago, there were no income verification mortgages, and you could get boats that way. Now, the pendulum has swung the other way about as far as it can go.”

Wilkins and other lenders say boat buyers will need to put at least 20 percent down, and possibly more for smaller loans or boats that will be used as liveaboards. They’ll need to provide evidence they can make loan payments, have credit scores in the mid-600s or higher and have a fairly high net worth.

Viking Bank typically requires a net worth of at least twice the loan amount, Wilkins said. For a boat loan of $50,000, for example, a borrower would need a net worth of at least $100,000. That requirement may put boat loans out of the reach of most renters and young people, Wilkins acknowledged.

“It’s very tough on renters, because they don’t build any real estate equity, which is where most of us have our net worth,” he said.

“And if you’re just starting your career, (the chances of obtaining a boat loan) are probably not very good unless you’re a baseball player and sign a seven-and-a-half-million-dollar contract. But generally, even with really good cash flow, a young person without a lot of net worth has a very difficult time today buying a boat.”

Kaycee Pang, a marine loan processor at Peoples Bank in Seattle, said the bank evaluates potential borrowers on four main criteria: character (stability and reliability through confirmed employment and consistency in paying debts), the ability to repay (often referred to as debt-to-income ratio), credit and assets.

“Banks are comfortable lending to individuals with a positive net worth, a steady source of income, limited debt and available cash reserves,” she said, “more than ever in this market where jobs aren’t as stable as in previous years.”

The industry is hopeful that a strong turnout at the August Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina is indication the market is turning around.

Boats more than 25 years old probably won’t be eligible for financing, and the relatively higher cost of boats in the Pacific Northwest exacerbates the difficulty of securing a loan. The amount lenders are willing to loan is determined by the boat’s blue book value, representative of a nationwide average. Since boats tend to cost more in the Northwest than in other parts of the country, borrowers may need to make up the difference between the boat’s selling price and what a bank will lend.

Despite the tighter restrictions, Alan Bohling, CEO of Seattle Boat Co., doesn’t believe financing is a significant obstacle to boat ownership.

“If you have a solid credit score and are a middle-class American, for the most part, you absolutely can buy a boat today,” Bohling said.

“The terms maybe have been altered a little bit, but it doesn’t mean that the funds aren’t available. It just means we’ve got to meet the criteria. The criteria is more definite and banks cannot bend the rules anymore.”

Nonetheless, tougher terms and increased numbers of boat owners wanting to sell have prompted some innovative approaches to financing. Wilkins said he’s noticed a sharp increase in the number of boat sellers who are willing to hold loans and allow buyers to pay them directly.

“There is more owner financing going on than I’ve ever seen,” he said.

The practice makes sense from a seller’s perspective, Wilkins said—if a seller needing to unload a boat finds a willing buyer who can’t get financing, holding the loan might be preferable to being stuck with the boat. Pang said owner financing has become an increasingly common way to sell older boats, since many banks won’t finance those purchases.

“It becomes a bit more of a personal liability for a seller to carry a private note, but if he or she wants to get rid of their boat badly enough, owner financing might be their only option,” she said.

Several lending institutions including Wachovia, Textron Financial, Pacific First and GE Money have gotten out of marine lending. Molly Holden, owner of Pacific Maritime Title in Seattle, said that’s led to some unusual financing arrangements, such as deep-pocketed boat sellers loaning money to brokers to purchase their boats when they trade up to a new boat.

“You’re seeing the private sector coming in and doing some (lending to dealers),” she said. “People are becoming more creative because the money has tightened up.”

So where does this leave the would-be borrower in search of a boat loan?

Borrowers can contact banks directly to ask about requirements and lending terms or consult with service companies that function as loan brokers, working with various lenders to get the best deal for borrowers. Service companies operating in the Puget Sound area include Trident Funding Corporation, Seacoast Marine Finance and Intercoastal Financial Group, Inc.

Pang said buyers needn’t be discouraged, just prepared.

“First, dissolve the myth that financing isn’t available anymore, because it is,” she said. “With that in mind, take the time to get your ducks in a row and do everything you can to present yourself as an eligible borrower before applying for your loan.”

Holden predicted that more lenders will offer boat loans as the economy continues to rebound. “Boat buyers are traditionally strong borrowers,” she said. “They’re financially strong. It’s a good risk.”

The Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina, held in early August, surprised organizers and exhibitors, exceeding attendance goals and resulting in sales of both new and used boats.

Show producer Bonnie Bergquist said optimism fueled by the earlier show has prompted exhibitors to fill the space available for the Lake Union event, which will include about 200 boats.

“We are out of space,” Bergquist said. “I’m surprised. We’ve had a lot of last-minute entries.”

In another sign the industry may finally be on the upswing, Bergquist said she’s had to shift display space for about half a dozen of the show’s exhibitors after the boats they planned to display sold.

“I haven’t seen that happen in two or three boat shows,” she said.

Kay Woltman, marketing manager for Lake Union Sea Ray, said sales at the Shilshole event make her hopeful about the prospects for Boats Afloat. The company sold a range of boats at the August show, Woltman said, from trailered runabouts to yachts larger than 30 feet.

“The interest level was certainly there,” she said. “If (Boats Afloat) is anything like the show that we just came out of, we’re very much looking forward to it.”

Started in 1977, the Lake Union Boats Afloat Show is put on by the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association and includes yacht brokers, dealers and other marine businesses from around the region, including British Columbia. Described by the NYBA as the largest floating boat show on the west coast, it’s perceived as an event that draws more seasoned boaters than the Shilshole show.

This year's Boats Afloat show includes a larger than usual percentage of used boats.

Accordingly, it tends to have a greater number of bigger, more expensive boats. This year’s show features four megayachts larger than 100 feet that are sure to draw crowds of gawkers. The biggest is the 143-foot Devotion, which has six staterooms with private bathrooms and is listed at $8.9 million.

Also on display is the Hotei, a 115-yacht that can accommodate up to 75 for dinner and has entertained celebs including Princess Di, Sidney Poitier and Eva Gabor. Asking price: $3 million.

Bergquist said it’s unusual for the show to have several yachts over 100 feet. “Usually we have one boat that’s that large,” she said.

The show also has a higher than usual percentage of pre-owned boats, Bergquist said—around 70 percent, compared with the typical 60 percent—reflecting a current preference among consumers to buy used rather than new. Included in the mix are 30-plus sailboats, a few catamarans, plenty of sport boats and, this being the Northwest, a good number of trawlers.

Fans of the “Deadliest Catch” can tour the Sea Star, one of the fishing boats featured on the popular reality show, with members of the cast and crew.

Both adults and kids will have opportunities to get out on the water during the show. Free rides are available on Lake Union’s electric water taxi, and Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance, a grassroots group formed earlier this year to promote sailing, will be offering free rides on 30- to 40-foot sailboats.

The rides last about 45 minutes and will run continuously every day of the show. Check in at the Discover Sailing booth in front of Chandler’s Crabhouse restaurant. Life jackets are provided.

Sail Sand Point is providing free sailing lessons (life jackets included) for 8- to 16-year-olds on 14-foot Hobie Wave catamarans. The lessons start with a 30-minute dockside briefing to go over the basics of sailing. Students then take the boats out on the water themselves, accompanied by instructors following alongside in powerboats. Space is limited; to sign up in advance, email showinfo@boatsafloatshow.com

The lessons benefit both youngsters and parents, Berguist pointed out. “We get the kids out on the water learning boat skills, getting excited about boating, while mom and dad have 90 minutes to walk the dock by themselves and seriously shop.”

Much rides on the 33rd annual Lake Union Boats Afloat show. It will be viewed as a barometer of the health of the region’s boating industry, which has struggled through a prolonged, painful recession. It will help gauge whether the pent-up consumer demand that boat brokers and dealers have anxiously been awaiting is finally starting to materialize.

Regardless of the show’s outcome, Bergquist, the NYBA’s executive director, said it promises to be a good time for anyone who loves boats.

“It’s just a fun experience to walk the docks and look and dream,” she said.

The Lake Union Boats Afloat Show runs from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. daily. Tickets are available online or at the show. Online ticket purchases include a $25 gift card redeemable at Daniel’s Broiler or Chandler’s Crabhouse and a free ride on the Seattle Streetcar.

Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance formed in the spring to get more people involved in sailing and in the process, help boost the struggling boating industry.

“It’s a venue where people involved in the sailing business can get together and put the competitive piece aside long enough to talk about what we can do for the good of the sport,” said Greg Norwine, CEO of Windworks Sailing Center in Seattle. “That’s really the goal.”

To that end, the group teamed up with the Northwest Marine Trade Association to offer free sailing rides at the Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Marina in early August. Using boats provided by local brokerages, loaned lifejackets and volunteer skippers, the group took 170 fledgling sailors for cruises on Elliott Bay and plans to also offer free rides at the upcoming Lake Union Boats Afloat show in September.

Group organizer Michael Collins said the rides generated interest from a broad range of participants, from powerboaters curious about sailing to parents who had enrolled their children in sailing programs but never sailed themselves. “The boats all went out full,” said Collins, co-publisher of 48° North magazine. “We were turning people away, though not a huge number of people.”

Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance arose from a realization that the boating industry needed to do something to help pull itself out of a lasting economic slump, Norwine said.

“We need to reach farther than we’ve ever had to,” he said. “Boat sales are in the tank, obviously. The only way to really grow sales is to get more people involved.”

The Seattle effort is part of a broader coalition of similar groups that have started up around the country. The first was launched last fall in the San Francisco Bay area by John Arndt, associate publisher of Latitude 38 magazine. Since then, groups have started up in Southern California and the Chesapeake Bay area. Sail America, a national trade association based in Rhode Island, is providing marketing materials and other support to the various groups.

Jonathan Banks, executive director of Sail America, said though the Sailing Renaissance movement was prompted by economic need, it makes sense to promote sailing on a local level.

“In the absence of a well-funded national marketing campaign promoting sailing, these groups have the opportunity to make a difference,” he said. “One of the challenges that a national organization such as Sail America would have is, how do we reach individual sailors? We can reach them through boat shows but we’re not reaching all the markets.

“By helping form and energize and support regional groups, we can get the word out to a broader audience.”

Close to 200 people were introduced to sailing through free sailboat rides offered during the Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina. Richard Hazelton photo

That’s needed, Banks said, since national participation in sailing has been steadily declining over the past decade. He attributes the change to several factors—increased demands on time, the perception that sailing is difficult and expensive, competition from other recreational activities and overindulgent parents who arrange their lives around their children’s pursuits, leaving little time for family activities.

“When I grew up, sailing was the family activity and that’s what we did,” Banks said. “There was no debate or argument as a family. We were going sailing. That doesn’t happen so much now.”

Collins said sailors have inadvertently helped along the sport’s demise by portraying it as difficult and technical. “Sailing has done an incredible job of turning people off sailing for decades. We always talk about how hard it is, how much you have to know to be a sailor,” he said. “No wonder there are so many powerboaters out there.”

But boats have changed tremendously in recent decades, Collins pointed out, with improved handling, more reliable engines and features such as self-tacking jibs and in-mast furling that greatly reduce the work involved with sailing.

And sailing doesn’t have to cost a fortune, Banks said. Community sailing clubs offer the ability to rent boats at reasonable rates and organizations such as Seattle’s Center for Wooden Boats put sailing within the reach of middle-class individuals and families.

“Lots of messages people hear are from companies trying to sell new product, and of course new product is expensive,” he said. “But sailing can be done inexpensively.”

Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance so far includes yacht brokers, sail makers and representatives from industry associations, sailing clubs and marine-related businesses. The group is working on additional promotions and getting more industry people involved. Norwine said there’s great potential to attract people involved in other sports to sailing simply by offering them an opportunity to get out on the water and try it.

“What we need to do is reach the golfers, the skiers, all the active folks who are doing things and may not have thought about sailing before,” he said.

“That’s the goal of the group, not just to talk about the marketing of sailing but to give people a hands-on experience. Because once you go sailing, you’re hooked, right?”

To get involved with Puget Sound Sailing Renaissance, contact Michael Collins @ michael@48north.com

The store at 1275 Westlake Ave. will replace the location a few blocks away on Mercer Street, which closed on Sunday. Workers are in the process of moving merchandise and operations to the new store, which opens Sept. 4.

The Westlake store will include 18,000 square feet of retail space, about 50 percent more than the Mercer site, and offer an expanded selection of electronics, maintenance items, fasteners, inflatable goods, engines, plumbing materials and soft goods such as clothing.

General manager Jeff Varvil said the store will also feature a much larger sailing section, which will grow from about half an aisle to two-plus aisles of merchandise, and a much broader variety of lines.

“We probably have, conservatively, at least 50 to 60 different lines to look at, touch, feel, pull on,” he said.

The store will be equipped with a mobile rigging van available for dockside work, and will be one of three West Marine stores nationally to provide a “professional captain’s service” that offers special orders on parts for captains of large vessels. The other stores offering the service are in San Diego and Fort Lauderdale.

The new location, which formerly housed a fitness center, is one of 15 West Marine stores around Washington. A road widening project prompted the move from the Mercer Street site, but Varvil said it also provided an opportunity to revamp the store to better serve customers. The company surveyed customers about what they wanted in the new store, he said, and the feedback made it clear that convenience and selection were top priorities.

“We asked our customers what they wanted, and this is us responding to it,” he said.

The store has an adjoining parking lot, as well as parking on city property across Westlake Avenue. A bike trail runs along Lake Union, making the location more convenient for the approximately half of staffers who bike to work, Varvil said, and its large windows will help cut down on energy costs.

“Everbody’s very, very excited about the move,” he said. “It’s a huge plus for us and for our customers.”

The sun was out. The crowds were good. And for the first time since the economy tanked, people were doing more than looking at boats: they were actually buying.

“We haven’t had a boat show like this in a long time,” said Bob Pound, manager of Sundance Yacht Sales & Moorage’s Lake Union location. “We weren’t sure about it on Wednesday, but now we are smiling.”

During the course of the four-day sales event at Shilshole Bay Marina, Sundance landed about 20 deals, mostly for powerboats in the 33-foot to 62-foot range, Pound said. Other dealers also reported strong buyer interest and offers on both new and used boats.

The Northwest Marine Trade Association (NMTA), which re-launched the summer show at Shilshole after a four-year hiatus while the marina was being renovated, estimated more than 7,000 people attended the event.

Potential buyers stroll the docks at Shilshole Bay Marina on Sunday, the last day of the boat show.

Those numbers met expectations and helped ease the pain from what many dealers and brokers considered a particularly dismal boat show in January and the sluggish sales that followed this year.

“We are getting the flavor that the fear of the economy is starting to turn,” said Kjell Lyso, a broker with Admiralty Yacht Sales, which sold at least two Catalina sailboats over the weekend. “Last year, we had a lot of people in the position to buy, but who didn’t want to touch their nest eggs.”

The Shilshole boat show featured about 180 new and used boats for sale, ranging in size from 14 to 74 feet—and plenty of great deals for buyers, said John Thorburn, the NMTA’s director of marketing and communications.

The selection and the sense that prices weren’t going to get any better brought Will and Ann Bruce to the show. The Woodinville couple is in the market for a powerboat in the 42-foot range and saw two or three that caught their attention.

“The housing market is picking up and that’s why we’re out here,” said Will Bruce, who runs a residential real estate company. “We are on the cusp (of an economic recovery) and the prices are right. Next year, it might be a different story.”

The four-day boat show drew more than 7,000 people, exceeding attendance goals for the event.

The annual floating boat show was displaced during Shilshole Bay Marina’s lengthy renovation. In the interim, the NMTA merged its August show with the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association’s Boats Afloat show, held on Lake Union each September. In response to demand from NMTA members, the association decided to return the August show to Shilshole for its 33rd run.

Despite the optomism from buyers and sellers at the show, the industry still faces a long road to recovery. Recently released figures for Washington showed that boat sales remained slow overall in the second quarter of the year, although there are encouraging signs.

New boat sales were sluggish, declining 33 percent over the second quarter of 2008 in the number of boats sold. But the rate of decrease slowed from the first quarter of this year, when new boat sales were down more than 56 percent.

Used boats sales fared much better, 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—a sign that the pent-up consumer demand brokers and dealers have been waiting for may finally be starting to materialize.

Under the summer sun on Sunday, Pound summed up the new optimism of buyers and brokers simply.

“It’s all about consumer confidence,” he said.

New boat sales were sluggish, declining 33 percent over the second quarter of 2008 in the number of boats sold. But the rate of decrease slowed from the first quarter of this year, when new boat sales were down more than 56 percent.

Used boats sales fared much better, 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—a sign that the pent-up consumer demand brokers and dealers have been waiting for may finally be starting to materialize.

“We’re looking for any indication of a slight turnaround,” said John Thorburn, director of communications and marketing for the Northwest Marine Trade Association. “I think this might be the quarter that’s starting to indicate that we’ve reached the bottom.”

Alan Bohling, CEO of Seattle Boat Co., was similarly optimistic. “The used boat market is alive and well,” he said. “There’s still a significant lack of interest in new boats and especially in larger cruising yachts, but the pre-owned boat market is really doing quite well.”

Al Hayes had a different perspective. The president and CEO of Gig Harbor Yachts, Hayes said he looks at the dollar value of boats sold rather than the number of units as an indicator of his company’s financial health. While dealers may be starting to sell more boats than they were a year ago, Hayes said it remains difficult to move larger boats with higher values than help bolster the bottom line.

“Boats that are in the $150,000 range and above, those boats are a hard push,” he said. “It takes a long time to sell them and there certainly aren’t many buyers right now.”

Private sales of used boats jumped 20 percent last quarter, with 9,491 boats sold from April through June, almost 1,600 more than the same period last year. Though the uptick may not help struggling dealers and brokers, Thorburn said it shows encouraging evidence of renewed interest from buyers.

Buyers could be motivated by a number of factors, he said: bargain prices offered by owners anxious to sell, tightened consumer financing prompting more cash purchases, and an unusually warm, sunny summer around Puget Sound.

“This has been a great summer in terms of weather,” Thorburn said. “I think a lot of people are seeing boating as a way of having a ‘staycation’ and getting out with the family.”

Boats 26 feet and under make up 90 percent of the state’s boat sales annually. Last quarter’s figures reinforced that trend, with boats 22 feet and smaller making up 88.7 percent of used boat sales and 76.7 percent of new boats sold. By contrast, just two new boats and 14 used boats larger than 70 feet were sold, essentially the same numbers as the same period last year.

The Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Marina, on through Sunday, will be an important gauge of whether the region’s boat industry is finally on the rebound. The show is being held at Shilshole for the first time in four years, following the marina’s renovation, and includes around 200 new and used boats ranging from about 15 to 70-plus feet.

“The industry has a long way to go to climb out of the hole,” Thorburn acknowledged. “But there are encouraging signs. Having a hot, hopefully long summer will certainly help create opportunity for selling boats.”

 It’s a dinghy befitting James Bond, an amphibious marine craft with wheels that goes from land to water with a simple push of a button.

And it’s sure to be the most unusual boat on display at the Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina, to be held Aug. 6 to 9.

Designed and built by New Zealand-based Sealegs Corporation, the boat is owned by West Seattle resident Peter Vermeulen, who frequently drives it up to the balcony on his waterfront home, loads it up with gear, hops in with his wife and drives into the water for day trips around Puget Sound.

“It’s the ultimate water toy,” Vermeulen said.

Designed to make launching a snap, the Sealegs boats have motorized, retractable wheels that enable them to be driven on boat ramps and over beaches. Vermeulen said his boat makes it simple to transport people from shore to a boat on a mooring buoy, keeps everyone aboard dry and makes it easier to explore Puget Sound’s many remote beaches by eliminating the need to haul a dinghy in and out of the water.

“It’s a really fun day boat for all boating activities,” said Vermeulen, who became a representative for Sealegs after buying his boat. “It really opens up where you can go.”

Access and convenience come at a premium: The boats sell for between $50,000 and $100,000, depending on the features included.

For those not quite as flush, the Shilshole boat show will offer about 200 new and used boats for sale, ranging in size from 14 to 74 feet—and plenty of great deals for buyers, said John Thorburn, director of marketing and communications for the Northwest Marine Trade Association, which puts on the show.

“I don’t think you’re going to find any better deals at any other time,” Thorburn said. “The dealers that are carrying new boats don’t want to carry those boats for the winter.

“It’s a really good opportunity for somebody interested in buying a boat to find a really good deal on a new or used brokerage boat.”

Next week is the first time the August event has been held at Shilshole Bay Marina in four years. The show was displaced during the marina’s lengthy renovation and in the interim, the NMTA merged its August show with the Northwest Yacht Brokers Association’s Boats Afloat show, held on Lake Union each September.

In response to demand from NMTA members, the association decided to return the show to Shilshole for its 33rd run. The four-day show will include powerboats and sailboats, as well as accessories and electronics. Attendees can tour one of the three S.S. Minnow boats used in the television series “Gilligan’s Island” and have a chance to win a cruise for 10 people on a Duffy Electric Boat.

The show opens to the public on Thursday at noon, and the NMTA is sponsoring an invite-only VIP event the night before with a complimentary salmon dinner and drinks, and live music. Thorburn hopes the event will give boat dealers struggling through the recession a much-needed boost.

“A lot of people are really hopeful that the show does well,” he said.

Tickets for the Seattle Boat Show at Shilshole Bay Marina are available at www.SeattleBoatShow.com and include a $15 coupon for West Marine and a free clam chowder from Ray’s Boathouse.

That was among the points emphasized during a recent media conference call with representatives from the SBA, the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the National Marine Bankers Association and the Marine Retailers Association of America.

The groups participated in the call to address questions around an SBA pilot that started July 1. The program offers guarantees of up to 75 percent on dealer floor plan loans, or “DFP” loans, provided by SBA-approved lenders for boat and other types of dealerships. Aimed at helping boat dealers caught in the nationwide credit crunch, the program allows dealers to borrow against their existing inventory to buy additional stock, repay the debt and then borrow against the line of credit again.

“We’re optimistic that through this new program, our industry will be able to attract new financing,” said Cindy Squires, chief counsel of public affairs and director of regulatory affairs for the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

But the program’s efficacy depends on the participation of lenders, who may be unaware of the loans or have the willingness, knowledge or resources to offer DFP financing. Tobey Wilkins, vice president of Seattle-based Viking Bank, said though the bank specializes in maritime lending, it hasn’t yet committed to offering the SBA program because its reporting requirements seem onerous.

“It appears that the record-keeping is going to be difficult,” he said.

Wilkins said Viking Bank would consider offering the loans if the SBA revises the terms of the program to make it easier for lenders.

“The maritime community is a really important part of our community,” he said. “If it’s something we can work with logistically and it makes sense, I’m sure we would (offer it). As of yet, I don’t think we’ve seen anything that makes it very achievable.”

There are currently about 5,400 SBA-approved lenders nationwide, but dealers have expressed frustration about not being able to easily find banks offering the SBA-backed DFP loans. In an effort to help its members access the financing, the Northwest Marine Trade Association formed a task force to research banks that are offering the loans and inform NMTA members about how to work with those banks.

Jim Coburn, president of the National Marine Bankers Association, acknowledged that boat dealers may need to educate their local lenders if they want to take advantage of the SBA program.

“If you’re just contacting the bank and asking if they do SBA lending or DFP lending, you’re probably not going to get very far,” he said. “You have to develop a real game plan for this and you’re going to have to do some education along the way with (lenders) as well.”

Coburn advised boat dealers to research banks in their areas that provide SBA loans, determine which lenders they want to approach and visit them in person. Dealers should arm themselves with a solid business plan and data about the DFP program, available on the NMMA’s website, and be prepared to explain their business to lenders.

“Some of these banks don’t really know what floor plan lending is,” Coburn said. “Chances are your SBA lender or your local lenders may not know much about your industry.”

Squires recommended dealers start with banks they have established relationships with. “In this environment of a very difficult credit market, they’re going to be more interested in working with existing customers,” she said.

Under the DFP pilot program, the SBA provides guarantees for lines of credit through its 7(a) program. The program is available only for inventory that can be titled, such as boats, RVs, autos and trailers. The loans are available for amounts ranging from $500,000 to $2 million, with a maximum repayment term of five years. Fees on 7(a) loans are being temporarily eliminated, under a fee reduction benefit provided by the federal stimulus program.

The program offers a potential lifeline to boat dealers unable to access credit after lenders such as Textron Financial, Wachovia and others stopped offering marine lending. By restoring dealers’ cash flow, the loans have the potential to save jobs and businesses.

But some effort will be required on the part of dealers if they want to access the SBA-backed loans, Coburn said.

“It does take a lot of work on the dealers’ part to get this done,” he acknowledged. “It is relationship-building. Develop a relationship and be smart about your relationship and your business plan.”

For the SBA’s fact sheet on the DFP pilot, click here. A list of frequently asked questions and answers is available here.