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Detroit's Jefferson Beach Marina grew from 75 berths and a $15,000 gross two years ago to 450 berths and a $1,000,000 business last year, plans to add another 300 berths in 1957. Seattle's Bryant's Marina, which struggled along for 20 years rarely topping $100,000 annually, can now handle 400 boats up to the biggest 200-ft., radar-equipped, diesel-engined yachts, and has boosted its business to $6,000,000 this year.
One of the East Coast's most complete: Port Washington, L.I.'s Riviera, which turns a healthy profit each year by providing 150 boatowners with all the standard summer-cruising services (water, ice, telephone, etc.), will also repair and store their boats during winter months.
Even bigger and better marinas are on the way. Near Los Angeles, where the Wilmington East Basin Yacht Center already serves more than 1,200 boats, the State of California is spending $14 million for one of the world's biggest marinas with dock and service facilities for 1,800 boats at Alamitos Bay, hopes to, have it finished by 1960. In the Puget Sound area half a dozen new marinas are abuilding, including one $500,000 anchorage at Roche Harbor with a special customs-immigration office to speed Canada-bound yachtsmen on their way. Marina Builder Charles A. Chancy, who has built some 400 since 1935, currently has 50 projects on his books, including a mammoth $14 million marina at the north end of San Francisco Bay, with docks for 1,800 boats and moorings for another 1,200.
Families, Not Fishermen. The marina builders will have a hard time catching up with the boat-crazy U.S. public. With more leisure and higher pay than ever before, almost any U.S. worker can buy a boat, pay for it on time (33% down, 24 months for the balance) and go bouncing off over the whitecaps and away from crowded highways. The new yachtsmen want their boats for family fun instead of for a strictly masculine hobby.
To supply the new market, the character of the U.S. boat industry is changing. New boat trailers make it possible for a family to buy a boat, keep it in their backyard and tow it along behind the family car to any lake or seashore launching spot. Estimates are that there are already 750,000 boat trailers on U.S. highways, and the number is growing every year. With sales of 140,000 trailers worth $21 million last year, U.S. trailermakers hope to increase their market in 1957 to $25 million for 151,000 trailers, ranging from $100 rigs on up to $1,000 jobs capable of holding a 30-ft. cruiser.