MINNEAPOLIS — The Minneapolis Boat Show kicked off Thursday at the Minneapolis Convention Center, and while there are hundreds of boats to see, buying one this summer won't be easy.
"Demand is up big time, stuff is very, very hard to get,” boat dealer Nick LaCanne says.
For the last two years boats have been hard to find.
"Because of all the first-time buyers we were seeing the last two years,” LaCanne says.
LaCanne owns LaCanne’s Marine in Faribault Minnesota.
He says dealers like him always get a set number of boats to start the season, but if they want to order more after that, you never know when those additional boats will come in.
"There's no guarantees of when you're going to see stuff. We had boats that were originally guaranteed in March that we still haven't seen," he said.
That's March of last year and the boats still haven't shown up.
Steve Drenkard with Honda says it's good because sales are up, but getting people what they want hasn't been easy.
"If they're going to want it this summer, they should go to the boat shows now,” he says.
Many of the 600-plus boats at the show were already sold before the show even started.
LaCanne says he has a few boats left, but he says they won’t last long.
"There won't be much available by the end of February,” LaCanne says.
So, if you see something you like, and it's in stock, buy it. Because you never know when you might see another one.
"We're anticipating another increase in boat sales,” boat show manager Darren Envall says.
However, not every dealer is in the same situation.
Envall says some dealers have better access to inventory, so it pays to shop around.
And if you’re still a year or two away from buying your first boat, the boat show is a great place to start.
“A good place to check out different brands, different models, to see what fits,” Envall says.
Boat dealers say these supply chain issues aren't going away any time soon, 2023 at the earliest.
They say the wait time for some makes and models is six to eight months, but if you're flexible you can still walk into a dealership and buy a boat right on the spot if you shop around.
Watch more local news:
Watch the latest local news from the Twin Cities in our YouTube playlist: