March 17, 2026

I’m pleased to say that we received several responses to the Editor’s Message column in last week’s edition of Boating Industry Canada News Week Digest and all were in agreement that we need affordable new boats to keep building the business.

Chris Mills, President of SeaMasters on the East coast wrote that Stingray Boats has an excellent small boat, the 172 DC that was very popular at the Halifax Boat Show. He also mentioned the KingFisher Falcon 16 that he said was well received at their boat show. “We sold each of these at the show” and Chris commented that, “there are still people looking in this segment and, most importantly, there are options in fibreglass and aluminum.”

From the West coast, Cormac O’Kiely, Senior Yacht Broker at Thunderbird Yacht Sales wrote that, “We have taken on a line of small boats from Finland, Terhi boats, with the largest being a 16ft cabin boat. We are also the first North American dealer for TG and Silver Boats from Finland.”

So, there are small boat choices for consumers although at present, not that many. We got an email from Nuno Sousa, President of Sousa Marine Inc., in Ontario who was keen to remind us that inflatable boats were a good and safe choice in the smaller sizes and he is offering BRIG boats built in Ukraine. Almost incredibly, the BRIG team rebuilt the factory and continued working through incredibly difficult circumstances, often relying on generators to keep production going. Today they are once again building and shipping boats around the world.

From Jan Willem de Jong, Managing Director at Neptunus Yachts in St. Catherines Ontario, came one of the longer and more detailed responses and it’s one that was the most thought-provoking for me.  He wrote that just south of St. Catherines in upstate New York, you can easily buy a house for $ 250,000 US. Further, take home pay for US workers is far greater than for Canadians, with on average, a 20% difference, due to taxes being way lower.

In addition, he points out that the cost of living for groceries, utilities, automobiles, gasoline, phone and internet as examples, are some 20% less than in Canada, leaving American families with more disposable income for buying and when they buy, the sales tax they pay on the “toy” is half again what we pay.

Those taxes are limiting the disposable incomes of Canadians to buy things like boats and other recreational products. That in turn slows the economy but he raised another point. As one of Canada’s premiere boat and yacht builders, he noted that the regulations (NMMA) for small boats are not easy to meet, especially for flooding and stability for boats under 26 feet. These  are very costly to obtain.

We really appreciate these reader comments and the informed light they shed on our industry and our business environment. Let’s keep the dialogue going. andy@opmediagroup.ca

Andy Adams – Editor