Marine Max employees clean the boats that will be on display for the Chattanooga Boat & Sport show at the Chattanooga Convention Center. There were multiple companies setting up displays for Thursday, the first day of the show.Whether you’re in the market for a yacht or a pontoon boat, a dock or a custom rod, the Chattanooga Boat & Sport Show this weekend may be your best bet for rock bottom prices, organizers said.
The 35th annual show at the Chattanooga Convention Center downtown begins today and lasts through Sunday, serving as the kickoff to the area’s boating season, said Keith Parker, co-owner of BK Productions, which puts on the event every year.
“You’re going to get the best deals here,” he said. “There’s 11 dealers and about 30 booths with anything from gutters, boat docks, boat lifts – you name it. We’ll also have a large selection of fishing tackle at wholesale prices and custom rods.”
The Tennessee River draws a large boating crowd each year, and area dealers count on the show to bring out boating enthusiasts to jump-start the season. Though it’s not quite time to don flip-flops and shorts, dealers want to get customers ready to make big-ticket purchases for the warm weather that will roll in several months from now.
“People at the show are seeing who we are, what we have, the different boat lines we carry,” said Brian Mays, manager of Island Cove in Harrison. “They’ll come back as late as summer and say, ‘I was at the boat show,’ and buy a boat. Usually we’ll sell about two dozen boats at the boat show.”