Channel Marine marks 70 years of business

Channel Marine recently restored its iconic Texaco sign, which has made it a landmark in the Weirs Channel since opening in 1946. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)

LACONIA — The past decade has been a sometimes bumpy ride for those in the boating industry, especially when the Great Recession of 2008 pulled the rug out from under any business whose products or services were considered discretionary. Those that were able to manage that difficult time, though, have been rewarded with several years of strong growth. Now, eight years later, it’s looking like a great time to be in the boat business.

“Gas (price) is low, unemployment is down, people are into boating again,” said Jason St. Gelais, general manager at Channel Marine, a boat sales, storage and service company that has been in business on the Weirs Channel for 70 years. Channel Marine is currently in its third generation of ownership, co-owned by Vincent Mullarkey and Douglas Hammond.

Channel Marine boasts one of the best locations in the business, with nearly six acres on Paugus Bay, and a thousand feet of frontage on one of the busiest channels on Lake Winnipesaukee. That location isn’t enough to guarantee a good year, though. As 2008 and 2009 showed, their business can be greatly affected by forces out of their control.

“The boating industry is a very sensitive market,” said St. Gelais. “It is disposable income, it’s a very short season.” And, it’s a dynamic market, as he has seen in his tenure at the business.

St. Gelais is a Laconia kid, graduating from Laconia High School in 1998 and coming to Channel Marine after getting his undergraduate in business management, then his master’s in business administration, from Plymouth State University. He started at the business as a sales assistant, cleaning boats and delivering them to customers. He worked his way up from there, being promoted to general manager last year.

2008 was a pivotal year for the industry and Channel Marine. While it represents a low point for sales, it also was when Channel Marine began offering boat rentals, allowing people a more affordable way to get out on the water. Channel now has a rental fleet of about 15 boats, and could add more but for the limited dock space available.

That year also marked monumental shift in the kind of boats customers wanted. When people began shopping for boats again, they returned to the showroom more willing to consider pontoon boats. Once thought of as slow and spartan, pontoon boat manufacturers had begun to bring more compelling options to the market. Triple pontoons for greater stability, engines powerful enough to do anything conventional bowriders could do, and with a platform that allowed manufacturers to design boats to suit just about any purpose, from fishing to waterskiing, or a floating lounge that can accommodate a dozen or more people.

Since 2008, bowriders have given up about 5 percent of sales volume at Channel Marine to pontoon boats. Now, eight or more of every ten boats sold at Channel Marine has a pair or trio of pontoons on it.

Over the past couple of years, St. Gelais observed a growth in the company’s valet service, a service the company has long offered as a more affordable alternative to renting a slip, or a more convenient option than trailering. For $2,000, the marina will pull a customer’s boat out of storage and have it waiting at the dock with an hour’s notice. That program has grown at least 10 percent per year over the past two years, growth that the company is happy to encourage because valet customers are more likely to turn to Channel Marine for servicing and fuel, or to stock up at the marina’s ship store.

Channel Marine also has one of the busiest, perhaps the busiest, fuel stations on the lake. Mullarkey said the marina will hire eight people, local high school or college students, to pump gas this summer. The marina pumps nearly a million gallons of gasoline each year.

Employment at Channel Marine peaks, naturally, during the summer boating season, with more than 30 employees. But it’s not a seasonal operation; Mullarkey said there are between 18 and 20 people working through the winter, servicing the 500 boats stored at the facility.

“Sales in any sector are not guaranteed or predictable,” said Mullarkey, noting that the overall economy represents the greatest concern to sales forecasts. With sales, industry-wide, about seven percent higher last year than in 2014, the memories of 2008 seem distant. “The service piece is predictable, the storage piece is reasonably predictable, the sales piece is back to where it should be.”

General manager Jason St. Gelais, at left, and co-owner Vincent Mullarkey expect 2016 to be another strong year in sales at Channel Marine. (Laconia Daily Sun photo/Adam Drapcho)