Optimists look to boats

Iowa’s full of optimists this time of year. Mike Fogue is a salesman at a central Iowa boat dealership who says supply’s limited, demand is high, and people are buying boats. He thinks the economy’s rebounding, manufacturers are “at full steam,” and dealers can’t get enough boats to satisfy the need. Fogue’s patient with people who come out to look, too. He says “everybody’s got champagne taste with beer budgets,” and they all like to look at the high-end ski boats as well as good old Lund fishing boats, but he says there are high-end and lower-priced boats. You can get a boat loan to buy one, and the salesman says low interest rates these days are helping business. He says boats can sell anywhere from 1400 dollars to 140-thousand, and he figures about 60-percent of buyers finance their purchase. So where in a farm state do people find to float a boat? In addition to “this little bitty crick over on the eastern side of the state called the Mississippi River,” he cites Rathbun, Saylorville and Coralville reservoirs, the Iowa Great Lakes at Okoboji, and says many simply put their boat in one of the small local lakes. What’s getting the most attention from wishful boat-shoppers? Fogue says the new four-stroke motors are one of the biggest attractions.