Boat Dealers

This is due to the current government and their complete lack of a plan putting the shits up the economy.

The wider construction & civil engineering sector is in disarray. Many large companies are laying off staff, not just 3 News & TVNZ.
The 3 waters reversal has stalled 3 years of project planning and suspended several billion in infrastructure projects - with no plan as to what to do now. The whole industry is just sitting around twiddling thumbs.
Education construction pipeline - Crazy Ivan'ed with zero warning.

A decade or so of transport project planning in Auckland and Wellington thrown out the window, with no idea what to do now. That is "Lets get Wellington Moving" and the Auckland fuel tax - which had an associated pipeline of projects behind it either in build, about to be tendered or in the design phases. Again, a whole industry suddenly twiddling its thumbs while National dream up press releases.

Just within those sectors there are a shit-tonne of labourers, tradies, designers and engineers that would normally be buying or trading in their fishing or family boat of some sort.

But there is massive uncertainty and economic risk across the wider economy. Other than high interest rates and high inflation. Clearly the TV3 and TVNZ issues are due to the govt turning the taps off on woke twaddlebollocks marketing campaigns.

But the construction sector associated with roading hasn't got a clue what the future plans and workload prospects are, cause Simeon Brown doesn't actually have a plan, best he can do is twiddle with petrol tax - again. Linking the roading construction sector in with the 3 waters construction sector (basically the same) and education, the construction industry as a whole is tanking.

Chuck on issues with retail and hospitality due to the high interest rates, the economy as a whole is looking very marginal. 

The only think that is propping up the residential building sector is mind-bogglingly high immigration. Infact the only thing that is propping up the economy and GDP as a whole is mind-bogglingly high immigration.

I heard the austerity word used the other day. Nicola Willis was very quick to rephrase that and state she doesn't like that word. Mainly cause what she is currently doing is seen as austerity, and it is putting the shits up the markets.

All I can say is they better have freckin huge tax cuts, and they better get organised and get the infrastructure spending pipelines sorted very soon, otherwise they will be tipping the country into recession. And that wont be due to Labour's mis-management.

Just in:
If no one is selling boats, the boat sellers aren't going to be paying for advertising in the industry magazine... NZ Fishing News one step from being canned.

NZ Fishing News Magazine Moves To Premium Quarterly Publication

Dear customer,

From the May 2024 issue, NZ Fishing News magazine will move from a monthly publication to a quarterly, premium-quality seasonal magazine. The magazine content will continue our 45-year track record of producing credible features, product reviews and information that ensures you get the most from a day on the water.

A number of factors have driven this change, not least of which has been unsustainable cost increases in printing and distribution on a monthly basis. We’re sure our readers will appreciate a high-quality, coffee-table format packed full of relevant seasonal content from fishing experts. The magazine will be available in all the usual retail outlets including your local supermarket and bookstores, and also via a premium digital service for a modest subscription with significant savings on your current print subscription.

We will be in touch next month with options on how you can continue to enjoy top-quality fishing information and what these changes mean to your current subscription.

There fixed for you.
No 1 problem is thanks to Liebour the cupboard is bare, there is no money to fund most of their pipedream projects.
I can't speak to Water projects but I can to roading, Liebour killed the pipeline of projects when they got in 2017, they even tried to kill Puhoi to Warkworth but it was too far advanced. We should be breaking ground for the Warkworth to Te Hana section of SH1 but that will be at least 2-3 years away. They did not have any pipeline of ongoing roading projects.
The only new major roading project they initated was Penlink. The only major job AT have on Eastern Busway, which I think is a white elephant. AT is more interested in submerging the city in raised pedestrian crossings and further choking the flow of traffic. "Let's get Wellington moving" was just another fiasco in the making, needed to be stopped and re-thought. They sure wasted alot of money on investigations on things like the Tram line to no where and the "was never going to happen" cycle way on the harbour bridge, never mind the blowout on CRL which the taxpayer as well as Auckland's ratepayers will finish up wearing.
Given the way NZTA absolutely f****d over the 2 PPP projects, if any consortium ever signs up for one of these again it will be very much on their terms and leaving the taxpayer carrying the risk.

Anyway back to boats, I believe there are a couple of factors at play here. Firstly demand has largely been satisfied for flash new Fizz boats, all the orders placed in the COVID times have been delivered. I bought a kayak beginning of summer 2022-23 from the injection moulding crowd in Silverdale. They said they were not manufacturing any for that summer as they said there was still unsold product from previous summer. Guy said that their read of the market (and this was 18 mths ago) was that everyone had bought their toys and were now going travelling again.
My observation is the guys buying the flash fizz boats are mainly building trades, not the guys/gals driving yellow/orange machines on civil engineering projects. They will now be feeling the pinch of interest rates, cost of living and the cost of fuel, $300 for a day's outing is not to be sneezed at. Also these things are bloody expensive, boss on the P2WK bought himself a nice new 7.5 Surtees (twin outboards and all the bells and whistles), to replace his 6.5. I reckon no change out of $300k and that was a year ago.
Also in the fizz boat world there are so many builders competing for sales, especially the alloy boats, that inevitably some will fall by the wayside . I am not a big fan of Stabi's, but business wise they have been smart by building a strong export market both for recreational and commercial use, I was surprised when i was in Noumea last year to see the local police dive boat was a Stabi, most unusual for the French not to source in country.

I don't disagree with your points on how much a cluster Labour were. But the way National are handling the current situation is causing issues in the industry. The 3 water inparticular is a clusterfuck. A large number of Councils stopped any planning / capital programmes / spending when Labour announced the first iteration of 3 waters. That was in the hope that someone else would pay for their infrastructure so the Council could spend more on Gay mardi gras and Matariki. The $1.2billion and three years of planning that was done has now been thrown out. That was well telegraphed pre-election, but the major issue is 'what now?' National don't have a plan. They have appointed a working group to look at it. Sound familiar? Meanwhile the industry knows loads needs to be done, but can't do anything. We are sitting twiddling thumbs.

Nephew sold his stabi and brought a Senator same size,totally different vessel,no thump,able to talk without yelling.Brought from a company in Wellington,saved 4k even after transport costs,warrenty just take to our AK branch.Yes AK branch wanted 4k more.

Matt even said what I thought,you need to sharpen your pencil or you loose the sale,didnt appear to faze them about lost of sale. Be different today I think.

Even my v13 rode better than the stabi of 18ft. Currently have a older glascradt 16ft handles most conditions well.All comes down too how far you drop the hammer.