This time of year many of you are working just as hard as summer to prepare for and execute your boat shows. You all know how your winter sales set the stage for the rest of your year. You are putting in the work, but when you are this busy you risk becoming rundown. This added weight can allow external forces, out of your control, to hamper your ability to manufacture momentum in your business. We all have to protect our momentum mindset to maximize our success in 2026. I have attended two boat shows so far this season and both were amazing examples of keeping a foot on the gas of manufacturing momentum regardless of negative external factors.
The Centurion & Supreme Boats Portland Boat Show was executed by Northwest Boat Sports in early January. The booth was beautifully laid-out to include 7 of our 2026 models. (1 Ri265 50th LE, 1 Ri245, 1 Ri230, 1 Fe25, 1 Nv243, 1 S220 and 1 S240)
NWBS could have focused on many external negative forces going into this show. Interest rates are down, but only by about a point. Many purchasing customers have newer higher value trades. The towboat industry, as a whole, is down double digits in market share compared to a few years ago. The prices of boats continue to rise. And there is always something negative in the news that could move in on any of our mindshare.
Instead, the team at NWBS, especially our Centurion & Supreme Boats Brand Champion, David Johnson doubled down on manufacturing momentum. They accomplished this with amazing preparation. David had appointments set with potential buyers and was in constant communication with them leading up to the show. NWBS hosted an open house in late 2025 which proved to be the perfect venue to start these conversations. The booth layout, choice of model representation and staffing created a great experience for these customers visiting the boat show. The other momentum move that NWBS made is their ability to maintain amazingly close relationships with their existing customers. They have truly created a family of owners who wouldn’t buy a boat anywhere else.
NWBS’s investment in manufacturing momentum resulted in 13 deposits from the boat show. 2026 represents the most deposits they have ever taken on Centurion and Supreme boats at a boat show. They sold 12 Centurions and 1 Supreme by choosing to focus on the steps they could take to continue to manufacture momentum instead of the reasons these prospects may not buy a boat.
The 2026 Minneapolis Boat Show could have been a perfect storm of paralyzing negativity. Much of the responsibility of executing this year’s manufacturers boat show booth fell on us. As most of you might imagine, we are not as familiar with executing a boat show booth from start to finish. Robert Hoelscher, our Central Region Sales Manager, accepted this challenge and worked together with three surrounding dealers to create an incredibly welcoming booth. The booth featured 8 of our 2026 models (1 Ri265 50th LE, 2 Ri245s, 2 Ri230s, 1 Fe23, 1 Nv233, and 1 S240).
The 2026 Centurion & Supreme Minneapolis Boat Show Team included Faction Marine, Reeds Sunnyside Marina and Willey’s Marine. This crew could have focused on a number of negative external forces that were way out of their control. Temperatures dropped lower than -30 and the news was reporting large downtown protests as well as looting. Show attendance was down by more than 40%. Just like Portland, interest rates are down, trade in values are higher and the industry as a whole is down double digits while the price of boats continue to rise.
Some how the entire MPLS Boat Show team stayed positive and looked for ways to accentuate Centurion and Supreme momentum. The three representing dealers prepared well ahead of time by making appointments with potential and existing customers to visit the boat show.
Willey’s Marine hosted a New Year’s celebration the weekend after the holiday, where they encourage their customers to come to the boat show. Willey’s also sent their finance manager to the boat show so he could help all three dealers close sales. Nick was great! We had two Centurion Team Surfers, Tyler and Ava Stewart(and their family) in the booth who worked with Cade Lybeck from Faction Marine to create some really fun and engaging content from the booth. The booth itself was also set-up to be extremely welcoming with an obvious entrance and plenty of space between the boats, which were on the ground for great visibility. There were approximately 50 people in the booth going through boats on Saturday, which is the most I ever remember seeing in a Centurion & Supreme Boats booth at the Minneapolis Boat Show.
The MPLS Boat Show team chose to focus on manufacturing momentum in spite of the negativity that existed all around them. This effort generated two Centurion boat deposits and 6 more Centurion and Supreme boat deals that they are all confident will happen before summer. The conversations had were probably the most positive I have experience since working the MPLS Show with Centurion & Supreme Boats. The momentum for our brands was obvious.
Keep your foot on the gas of manufacturing momentum! Even in the face of adversity, momentum will continue to build your business.
Amy Mauzy
Vice President – Marketing and Brand Direction