PORTLAND — It was both happy sails and happy sales at The Maine Boatbuilders Show this weekend. Exhibitors reported a definite uptick in business after years of slow sales due to the recession.
One of New England’s premiere boat shows with close to 200 exhibiting businesses, the three-day event was expected to draw about 6,000 visitors by the end of Sunday.
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“People are looking at boats and writing checks,” said Phineas Sprague, owner of Portland Yacht Services on Fore Street which hosts the three-day event.
The show is known for attracting serious boaters in the market for anything from a simple row boat to a luxury yacht.
On Sunday, there was still serious buying underway at the show.
Wickes Rossiter, a Scarborough summer resident, circled a flashy carbon fiber dinghy built by The Rumery Boat Yard in Biddeford. He said he could easily see the highly-polished vessel, with a $5,000 price tag, being towed behind his sail boat.
“I am thinking about it,” Rossiter said.
Bill Walker of Bay of Maine Boats of Kennebunkport said the company’s 10-foot fiberglass Kittery Point Tender, a rower-sailboat priced at $6,632, was being snapped up.
“This one is headed to Canada,” Walker said.
Some attendees said they were at the show just to see and feel beautiful boats.
Brian Hughes of Springvale and some of his seven children boarded several of the exhibits. Hughes owns several boats and spends much of the summer with his family off the Maine coast.
“We are enthusiasts and the kids just love it,” Hughes said.
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