The Conference Board's September consumer confidence index fell 6.7 points to 81.9. For the third month running, people said they expect the next six months to be worse. 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 four states and found about 637,000 repeat owners. Across all four states, only 6 to 13 percent bought the same brand again. Nine out of ten people who already own one of your boats go somewhere else for the second one.

Also this week: Brunswick named three more senior leaders. Two of them 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 in Tampa, and MDT will be there.

We close in northeast Texas, where TowBoatUS announced a new port on Lake Fork.

Hosted by Jon Logan. Sponsored by Marine Diagnostic Tools.

Read the full breakdown at thecurrentshowpod.com

• (00:00:00) - Intro
• (00:00:40) - Consumer confidence falls in September
• (00:01:59) - Boat buyers rarely stay loyal to brands
• (00:03:26) - Service as the key to repeat sales
• (00:03:45) - Brunswick fills three executive seats
• (00:04:43) - IBEX 2025 preview in Tampa
• (00:05:38) - Marine Diagnostic Tools sponsor message
• (00:06:08) - New Towboat US location on Lake Fork
• (00:07:01) - Sign-off

Who is running this industry, and what they know how to build.

Brunswick named Aine Denari its next CEO. She takes over January 1st. She ran Brunswick Boat Group from 2020 to 2024, and since then she has run Navico Group, the batteries, digital switching, fishing electronics, and components business, while holding the chief technology officer title. Before Brunswick she spent twenty years in automotive and consulting, including six at ZF leading their driver-assist electronics business.

Before that, an executive order with a deadline in it. On September 17th the President signed EO 14430. Four federal offices have until October 17th to start rolling back regulations that, in the order's words, overly burden boaters, anglers, and outdoor businesses.

Then a Shanghai software company bringing a single-system helm to IBEX, Michigan's first Vita electric research boat, Galati putting boat offers on an online platform, and Malco folding the Presta Marine line into its own name.

We close with Elmer Carl Kiekhaefer, who started Mercury, going into a new Wisconsin hall of fame.

Hosted by Jon Logan. Sponsored by Marine Diagnostic Tools.

View the full breakdown at thecurrentshowpod.com

• (00:00:00) - Intro and Headlines
• (00:00:53) - Federal Executive Order on Boating Regulations
• (00:02:00) - Brunswick Names New CEO
• (00:03:00) - What the CEO Pick Means for Shops
• (00:03:31) - Sponsor: Marine Diagnostic Tools
• (00:04:23) - Chinese Software Company's Intelligent Helm System
• (00:04:57) - Michigan's First Electric Boat and Innovation Center
• (00:06:01) - Galati Yacht Sales Launches Online Offer Platform
• (00:06:35) - Malco Rebrands Presta Marine
• (00:07:04) - Mercury Founder Inducted into Hall of Fame
• (00:07:33) - Wrap Up and Sign Off

Six stories, and they're all circling one question. Who owns what, who pays when the bill lands, and who gets to decide.

Tuesday, a 50% tariff hits recreational boats built in Canada, under a statute from 1930, and USMCA won't get you out of it. MarineMax agreed to sell itself to a Blackstone-owned marina company at a 96% premium. A family that held a Boston Harbor marina for sixty years sold to private capital. One Fort Lauderdale dealer went the other way and picked up three brands. Brunswick's Navico wired another system into the boat at the factory.

Then the story we spent the most time on: Delaware's marine right-to-repair bill died in committee without anybody voting against it.

And we close in Detroit, on a 1910 steamer that burned in 2018 and just opened her decks to the public again.

Eight minutes. Every claim sourced below.

Hosted by Jon Logan. Sponsored by Marine Diagnostic Tools.

1. Canadian boats get tariffed. 50% on Canadian-built recreational boats starting Tuesday, September 15, under Section 338 of the Tariff Act of 1930. Stacks on the Section 232 duties already in place. Four HTS lines: 8903.31.00, 8903.32.00, 8903.93.20, 8903.99.21. The administration says USMCA compliance doesn't exempt the goods. Canada's own counter-tariff list from September 8 still leaves finished boats alone, and that part hasn't changed.

2. MarineMax sells. Safe Harbor Marinas, a Blackstone Infrastructure company, is buying at $53.00 a share in cash, near $1.5 billion enterprise value. A 96% premium to the January 30 close of $27.03, and 110% over the 90-day volume-weighted average. Shareholder vote and regulatory clearance still pending, closing expected by year end, no financing condition.

3. Constitution Marina sells. Go Outdoors and partner Monarch Alternative Capital bought the 273-slip Charlestown marina from Bosport Docking, a family owner of more than sixty years. About 9,000 linear feet of dockage. Ten qualified offers, Colliers on the sell side, price undisclosed. MassPort's long-term ground lease meant the seller could only pick a buyer MassPort would accept. The buyers now hold 16 marinas and four RV resort parks.

4. InterMarine expands. The Fort Lauderdale dealer added Beneteau Antares, Beneteau Flyer, and Wellcraft to a lineup already carrying Prestige, Beneteau Swift Trawler, Beneteau GT, and Jeanneau. Existing sales, service, and parts teams cover all of it.

5. Navico and Elettromedia. Audison and Hertz become Navico's preferred audio brands, Navico's displays become Elettromedia's preferred marine platform. Aimed at boatbuilders, not the aftermarket.

6. The repair bill. Delaware HB 279, introduced January 27 by Republican Rep. Rich Collins with Democratic Sen. Russ Huxtable and eight co-sponsors, would have required manufacturers to give owners and independent shops the documentation, parts, tools, and software the manufacturer created for repair, on fair and reasonable terms. It went to House Transportation and never came out. No committee report, no amendments, no roll call. The 153rd General Assembly adjourned sine die June 30, and Delaware bills don't carry over.

Kicker: the Boblo boat. The S.S. Ste. Claire launched in 1910 and carried Detroit families to Boblo Island until the boats were laid up in 1991. She burned at the dock in 2018 and lost her National Historic Landmark status. A family put years and more than a million dollars into her. She opened this month as a floating museum. $10, main deck, Thursday through Sunday at 150 St. Jean. The pilot house is still to come, and when it's done the public gets in for the first time.

• Tariff advisory coverage: https://tradeonlyto...

• (00:00:00) - Intro and Format Change
• (00:00:59) - Boat Tariff Takes Effect Tuesday
• (00:01:52) - Marine Max Sold to Blackstone/Safe Harbor
• (00:02:41) - Constitution Marina Sale in Charlestown
• (00:03:20) - Intermarine Picks Up New Brands
• (00:03:41) - Navico and Electromedia Audio Deal
• (00:03:59) - Delaware Right to Repair Bill Dies
• (00:05:23) - Call to Action: Contact Your State Rep
• (00:05:41) - Sponsor: Marine Diagnostic Tools
• (00:06:12) - Feel Good Story: The St. Clair Restored
• (00:07:09) - Sign Off

Kadey-Krogen Yachts and American Tugs filed Chapter 7 in July. Buyers are out their deposits, a Taiwanese yard is owed more than $1.5 million, and the owners left behind have no factory to call.

This is episode one of The Current, the weekly marine industry news show for the people who keep boats running. Techs, shop owners, surveyors, fleet operators, and whoever is standing at the parts counter.

In this episode

Trade desk

• Canada's counter-tariffs take effect September 8. Rates run 15 to 50 percent across $27.6 billion of American goods. Fish and recreational boats are off the list. US-origin boat trailers take 25 percent, non-portable stoves and ranges built for boats take 25 percent, and certain iron and steel articles used to build and repair engines for commercial fishing vessels take 50 percent. NMMA flagged a wider group exposed because the tariff codes are written broadly: aluminum, steel, marine electronics, hardware and pumps, seating, lighting, refrigeration, onboard appliances, and manufacturing tooling.
• New US Section 338 tariffs catch some Canadian marine goods, including floating docks, certain vessels, and electronics.
• Express Fasteners sued in the US Court of International Trade in January, arguing Customs applied Section 232 steel tariffs to the entire value of an imported fastener instead of the steel inside it, acting on an unpublished December internal memo rather than proper rulemaking. Those tariffs hit 50 percent in June. No ruling yet.
• 55 idle container ships worldwide. Verify part lead times instead of assuming them.
• Panama Canal drought has the canal rationing daily transits and cutting maximum draft. One operator paid a record $5.3 million at auction to jump the queue for a September 1 slot, beating a $4.6 million record set earlier the same month. Ships arriving without reservations have waited up to 11 days.

Business desk

• Kadey-Krogen Yachts and American Tugs filed Chapter 7 liquidation in July, taking down both brands. Court filings show more than $1.5 million owed to the Taiwanese yard building the hulls going back to October 2024, plus $327,000 in Washington state back taxes reaching to November 2024.
• West Marine announced on August 24 that it completed its Chapter 11 restructuring. One vendor, David Kelton of American Blue Claw, was owed about $12,000 and received 6.6 percent of it, roughly $800.
• MarineMax agreed to a $1.5 billion all-cash sale involving Safe Harbor and its parent Blackstone.
• Sundance Marine in Grand Junction, Colorado changed hands this month. Vision Marine entered a letter of intent structured as a reverse takeover.
• Info-Link data through May shows new boat registrations for boats 15 feet and over running 4.3 percent below the 12-month rolling average at 213,549 across all segments. Freshwater fishing boats are the only segment up, at 1.2 percent.
• Yamaha's marine connected boat division brought Skipperi into its boat club lineup, aimed at helping dealers build recurring revenue instead of relying on unit sales.

Policy and workforce

• Senator Tim Kaine and Representative Bobby Scott toured Volvo Penta's North American headquarters in Virginia to look at how the company trains its skilled workforce. NFIB reports 32 percent of small business owners cannot fill positions and 19 percent name labor quality as their biggest problem.

Waterfront

• Northwest Marine Trade Association's Marina and Boatyard Conference runs October 6 to 8 in Washington. Early pricing ends September 1.
• Fall show season is on track: Fort Lauderdale in October, IBEX in Tampa, Miami early next year. Marine Diagnostic Tools will be at IBEX and Miami.

What it adds up to

1. Finding work...

• (00:00:03) - The Current
• (00:01:54) - Marine Business: Two Builders Go Under, West Marine Res
• (00:04:38) - Canada's Counter-Tariffs on US Marine Goods
• (00:06:32) - 3 Ways Customs Is Overcharging for Steel Products
• (00:07:20) - Marine Mechanics: Boats Sales Down
• (00:08:21) - Yamaha Expands Boat Club Platform, and More
• (00:10:26) - Marine Max Sale, Bulk Carrier Goes Down in the Bay of
• (00:12:28) - Marine Diagnostic Tools
• (00:14:36) - Three Things to Watch Out For in the Boat Industry
• (00:15:46) - Fourth Takeaway: Canada's Counter Tariffs on Trailers,
• (00:17:16) - The Current

The Current is a business podcast and newsletter built for the marine industry.

Current News roundup episodes drop every Friday.

Current Conversation interviews drop whenever they happen.

Our Host Jon Logan sits down with the people doing the work on the water, and shaping the industry.

• (00:00:00) - The Current