{"id":24711,"date":"2016-01-20T14:03:39","date_gmt":"2016-01-20T20:03:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/?p=24711"},"modified":"2016-01-20T14:03:39","modified_gmt":"2016-01-20T20:03:39","slug":"fueling-winter-boat-sales-has-chicagoans-dreaming-of-summer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/fueling-winter-boat-sales-has-chicagoans-dreaming-of-summer\/","title":{"rendered":"Fueling winter boat sales has Chicagoans dreaming of summer"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>By Xiumei Dong<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"dropcap\">Even though the temperature dropped below the 10s this holiday weekend, the freezing weather didn\u2019t stop people from dreaming about outdoor summer fun on a boat.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Fueling winter boat sales has Chicagoans dreaming of summer\" src=\"https:\/\/player.vimeo.com\/video\/152458760?dnt=1&amp;app_id=122963\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"autoplay; fullscreen\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Consumers shop for new boats at Chicago Boat, RV &amp; Sail Show. (Xiumei Dong &amp; Qingwei Chen\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s just a great time, 2016, I am really motivated,\u201d said Ormen Bush.<\/p>\n<p>Bush said the improving economy allows him to have a little bit extra to spend this year, and he is considering buying a new boat as an addition to his Airbnb home in Seattle.<br \/>\n<!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The 2016 Chicago Boat, RV &amp; Sail Show at McCormick Place is the biggest marine and outdoor show in the Midwest, featuring more than 500 exhibitors and over a hundred boat brands. Dealers and industry experts said boat sales here increased from previous years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have hit our quota,\u201d said Mark Ruck of Gage Marine. \u201cIt\u2019s just a fresh new year. We have already sold way more boats than we have to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Some of the popular boats include pontoon boats and fishing boats that have multiple purposes.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA lot of consumers used to have two and three boats. They are finding that with\u00a0a pontoon with a higher power engine, there are a lot of things they can do that maybe they\u00a0could do\u00a0only on a speedboat\u00a0or a glassboat,\u201d said Ed Fisher, regional sales manager of Crest Marine.<\/p>\n<p>Fisher said his company, a main manufacturer for pontoon boats, grew 30 percent last year. The price range they sold the most was $40,000 to $50,000.<\/p>\n<p>Pointing to a boat with three pontoons, Fisher said, \u201cthe triple tub now is closer to 55 percent of what we build as a manufacturer.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>People were also showing interest in some of the bigger boats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI am here to find what\u2019s available,\u201d said Gene Berg. He has been looking at the high-end 40-foot boat by Cobalt, a company that previously manufactured only smaller boats.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cBut we won\u2019t buy until May or June to see how the year turns out. If the economy goes down like what people are saying, we may not buy this year,\u201d said Berg.<\/p>\n<p>In addition to the boats, the show included RVs, sailboats, and other fun activities such as paddle sports demos, sailing lessons, and boat school, that are preparing people for their summer adventures.<\/p>\n<p><em>Qingwei Chen contributed reporting.<\/em><\/p>\n<div class=\"featurecaption\">Photo at top: 2016 Chicago Boat, RV &amp; Sail Show at McCormick Place. (Qingwei Chen\/MEDILL)<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Xiumei Dong Even though the temperature dropped below the 10s this holiday weekend, the freezing weather didn\u2019t stop people from dreaming about outdoor summer fun on a boat. Consumers shop for new boats at Chicago Boat, RV &amp; Sail Show. (Xiumei Dong &amp; Qingwei Chen\/MEDILL) \u201cIt\u2019s just a great time, 2016, I am really [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":228,"featured_media":24748,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27,585],"tags":[808,806,807,809],"class_list":["post-24711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-winter-2016","tag-boat-sales","tag-boats","tag-chicago-boat-show","tag-pontoon"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Fueling winter boat sales has Chicagoans dreaming of summer - Medill Reports Chicago<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/news.medill.northwestern.edu\/chicago\/fueling-winter-boat-sales-has-chicagoans-dreaming-of-summer\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Fueling winter boat sales has Chicagoans dreaming of summer - Medill Reports Chicago\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Xiumei Dong Even though the temperature dropped below the 10s this holiday weekend, the freezing weather didn\u2019t stop people from dreaming about outdoor summer fun on a boat. Consumers shop for new boats at Chicago Boat, RV &amp; Sail Show. 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