The marine business is in rough waters these days, but it has nothing to do with hurricanes and tropical storms.

A slowed and uncertain economy, high fuel prices and a general nervous climate among consumers have all led to a downturn in boat sales and related service and support industries.

Mike Bradley of Beaufort, the program director of N.C. Boating Industry Services, with the Small Business Technology Development Center in the state university system, said his department's job is to help these companies grow.

"The whole U.S. boating industry ... is a nationwide problem. The biggest component of the problem has to do how people get money - the banking end of it," he said.

Bradley cites several factors in the downturn - consumer uncertainty, fuel costs, tighter financing and some lenders getting out of marine loans.

"The industry is concerned," he said. "How long this hiccup is, I don't have an answer."

There are about 110 boat builders and about 400 boat-sales outlets in the state. More than 100 of them are located in the 12-county central coastal region that includes Craven, Jones, Carteret, Onslow and Pamlico, according to the N.C. Waterways Web site database. The outlets range from new boat dealers to brokers, who sell used boats, sailboats and trawlers.

Jerry Bryant of Boats Unlimited on U.S. 70 East said boat sales have been dwindling.

"Slow would be a good word for it," he said. "From what we are hearing, overall market-wise, everybody is saying 50 percent off of last year."

A powerboat dealer, Bryant said fuel costs were among the contributing factors affecting sales.

"Every election year tends to be a little slower than the year before," he said. "The fuel is what we hear the most."

Another factor is getting the money to pay for a boat, with lenders tightening their loan rules.

"It is definitely harder to get a boat financed," he said. "Debt-to-income ratios really come into play, because (lenders) feel like if you are close to your threshold and can't make a payment, you'll skip the boat payment before you skip your car payment and house payment."

One noted trend in the service and support industry is that boat owners are keeping older boats and buyers are looking for used ones.

Jimmy Sanderson, the owner of Sanderson Boat Works in Swansboro, said his boat repair business as a whole is slightly down and most of his work is on smaller boats.

"More people are fixing up their boats and trying to keep them going," he said. "The big difference I'm seeing is in new boats and larger boats coming in - I'm not working on as many of them, I think because new and big boat sales are way off because of financing and gas prices."

But some in the boat business are bucking the trend - like The Sailboat Company in Richlands, which sells used sailboats and does repair and restoration.

"New boats are not selling, it's used boats," owner Johnnie Scott said. "We deal in a lot of brokering of boats, and we are unique in that we are one of the few who restore boats, so our year has been fine. We've actually had to turn away repair and restoration business because we have all we can do, since we're a small business and only have a few employees."

Scott, who brokers sales of sailboats 35 feet and under nationwide through the company's Web site, said financing has not been an obstacle for the buyers she works with.

"Our customers are not the little guy. Most who buy our boats pay cash, and don't need financing," she said.

Paul Starzynski, who runs Swan Point Marina in Sneads Ferry, has seen facets of his business drop off while others have increased. The full-service marina has the only boat yard in Onslow County with a travel lift up to 40 tons, and allows boat owners to work on their own boats by renting space in the yard. That part of the business is doing extremely well.

"We do a large transit business - large boats travel the waterway from Florida to go up north and vice versa, and spend a night or two docked here - those boats have virtually stopped moving on the water," he said. "That business is way down compared to last year. From June 1, 2007, to December 31st last year we had 400 transits spend the night, this year we're down about 100. We're just starting to see a little bit of increase now, with winter coming."

He has also seen about a 50 percent drop off in both regular and weekend boaters.

Boat sales at Goose Creek Marina in Swansboro have started to decline.

"Up until the beginning of August, we were about even with last year," said co-owner Grayson Walker. "It's just been the last couple months it has slowed down, and it usually doesn't until the end of October."

Bill Tarplee, the owner of Tideline Marine in Jacksonville, said sales are off, but certain brands and size boats are still selling well.

"I'm not really seeing a downsizing, I don't carry boats larger than 35 feet, and my most popular size as far as sales this year has been boats in the 20-24 foot range, where normally we would sell boats under 20 feet," he said.

He agreed financing has been problematic, but said his business strategy has been to highlight service and accessories.

"Everybody's budget has been affected by fuel prices," he said. "The lack of disposable income has of course affected all businesses across the board."

Tarplee and Sanderson both said boat owners have not stopped boating due to fuel costs, but they feel they have curbed usage.

"Being here on the water we see an awful lot of people are still using their boats," Tarplee said. "They just may not be going the distances they have in the past, so they can economize on fuel usage, but they're still using their boats."

Charlie Hall from the Sun Journal of New Bern contributed to this report.