I’ve been boating in Wa and BC consistently for the last 30 years. My wife’s family used to run a small fishing resort (long before me) in the 60’s and 70’s. The trend over that timeframe has been consistently negative. If you see pictures from yesteryear the one thing that is overwhelming is how many boats used to be out and about. Beaches literally covered with people. Yet population centers were a minor fraction of today. Renting small boats, think rowboats, was a huge business and small resorts had fleets f them and the cottages to back them up. People came and camped, stayed the summer even. The attached restaurant was full. Bait sales were huge. And yet even then, to hear my wife’s grandparents talk about the pressure of making 12 months of income in 3 months. Their voices would steel, lower and get serious without even thinking about it. It was as natural as breathing for the game face to come on, and that was close on 20 years after they sold everything and retired.
When my wife and I started boating seriously, in our 23 foot Penn Yan with its cuddy cabin, stand up head, a small ice box and an alcohol stove. We went everywhere we could. We put anew engine in an old cheap boat and covered hundreds upon hundreds of miles every year while working low paying jobs just a few years out of college. There were small mom and pop marinas littered around BC, our favorite. Many have closed. The ones still surviving, don’t look or function like they once did. Pools are closed, the marina store is barely stocked. The sense of community on the dock is not there, neither is the people. Take Poets Cove as a “recent” example, though they built out like 20 years ago. Their old pub, used to be absolutely packed to the gills in the summer. The concession outside, had even more gathered around. The docks are nicer now, but similar in overall dock footage. Yet today, the pub is a relative ghost town. They survived by building the condo’s on the shore, providing a different revenue stream, not so reliant on the boaters. Look at the similar story in Roche Harbor. When we started boating they had only their guest dock. They added massively to their dock footage, but that wasn’t enough. They had to build significant land based housing too and the numbers you see in their store and restaurant only seem to just keep up.
I think you have to look at the demographics. Boats get bigger. We used to visit the same marinas in a 23 foot boat and lots of other boats were similar. 30 was a good sized boat. Now we go to the same places and take up 50 feet of dock space for the same amount of people. Our boat is no longer considered a big boat. But the increase in moorage rates per foot over the years don’t keep up with loss of headcount. Moorage fees may pay for the dock, but it’s t shirts, ice cream and burgers, the high margin low cost stuff that paid for a years worth of revenue in 3 months. For years, boats get bigger, the demographic gets older and fewer people provide the money to pay for a massive relative increase in the services costs (payroll) of running a successful marina. Increases in dock space are rare, so if new larger boats enter the market, you still have the same amount of dock space. Aging boaters, 65 foot boats, bow thrusters and headsets see 65 feet of dock space with only a couple on board. With all the comforts of home, they often don’t even eat out. They don’t walk as far and spend less. Boats at anchor buy many fewer t shirts and burgers. Covid has strangely seen a return to jam packed marinas, and that’s good, but the age demographic has not returned to parents in their 30’s and the large boats with fewer people per linear dock foot still ensure an upper limit to the number of tshirts that can be sold.
In southern BC look at places like Port Browning, Otter, Pender, Maple Bay, Chemainus, Cow, Saltspring, etc... All shadows of their former selves. Docks are often barely holding together with deferred maintenance. The trend is still in the wrong direction. First ask yourself, why those with much more experience have not figured out the magic formula. Then ask what you would do different? Can you show it in a business model? Is it real? It’s hard to fight against a changed demographic. Years ago, I dreamed of retiring to run a marina. For me, that dream just doesn’t work on paper. I’ve looked, seriously. I had the chance to buy a local chandlery about 8 years ago. I did not go through with it. Too much risk.
I hope it works for you. I hope it works for a whole new generation. As boaters, we need to be massively expanding a younger demographic. 50 foot boats don’t work for all but a few Millenials. There are lots of vectors to solve here. I’ve been involved with local clubs. We saw this coming well over a decade ago. Many care about it, but not so much to do more than complain that the problem somehow lays with the younger generations attitude. A cop out at best. We don’t live in an era of boats made from inexpensive resin, put together by equally inexpensive labor. We can’t build and insure docks built out of logs salvaged from the beach with piles driven by a garden hose. The fishing won’t support entire marinas as it once did. The business model is different. Entirely different. You are buying a marina designed to support the needs of a generation 35+ years removed. Think outside the box. How do you appeal equally to the cruisers and the multitudes of kayakers, paddle boarders, etc..? How do you provide an eco conscious experience to those who will ultimately travel less in a day and yet not want to be in the middle of an urban experience? The old mom and pop marinas had something that would appeal greatly to the some f the younger demographics, who are all but untapped today. Figure that out and you might just have something. Plan to just return an old marina to its glory days and expect the money to come rolling in and you will find the old business model won’t buy you out of your investment, and worse yet you might not be able to afford to get out under the false belief that it can’t get any worse.
I hope you figure this one out, but I’m glad it’s not my retirement at risk.
