CORNELIUS, N.C. — Some businesses on Lake Norman that normally cash in on summer boat rentals say the weather has kept most of their customers home.
"It's a tough business, because with the marina business, once you have that bad weekend or bad weather, there's really no making up for it," said Bill Young, manager at Morningstar Marina in Cornelius.
This season has been especially difficult on the boat rental business.
Young said there have been too many cool, overcast days, like Wednesday, which means fewer customers are willing to spend money on rentals.
"If there's a chance of rain, there are a lot of times people don't want to come out and take the chance of going out on a boat," Young said.
In fact, this summer has been one of the coolest on record, the eighth coldest in 75 years with an average temperature of 85 degrees.
Also, there have been more days with rain than without. Since June 1, the Charlotte area has had only 25 dry days.
"Last weekend is a perfect example. With temperatures more like November instead of August, we only did 12 boat launches, 20 gas transactions and two boat rentals. Where on a normal, typical summer weekend, we'll launch more than 200 boats, do more than 250 gas transactions and more than 20 boat rentals," Young said.
Young said the majority of the marina's business is driven by the 400 boat slips on the water they rent out -- all of which are full.
But marina workers are hoping better weather through the end of fall will mean a few more weekends with empty rental slips.
WSOC
