How to Sell a Marine Business in Florida: Multiples & Buyers

Florida registers more recreational vessels than any other state in the country, and the businesses that sell, store, service, and repair those boats have become one of the most quietly acquisitive sectors in the state. Dealership owners in Fort Lauderdale, Stuart, Naples, and Tampa Bay are fielding unsolicited calls from private-equity-backed dealer groups. Marina owners are being approached by institutional buyers who want wet slips the way they want self-storage units. And most of those owners have no idea which part of their business the buyer is actually paying a premium for. That gap is expensive. A marine business is really three or four businesses stapled together — new unit sales, brokerage, parts, service labor, and storage or slip income — and buyers do not pay the same multiple for each one. Owners who go to market quoting a single blended number on a single blended P&L almost always leave money behind, usually in the part of the business they considered secondary. ## Why Buyers Are Circling Florida Marine Businesses The interest is structural, not a fad. - **Year-round season** — Outside of hurricane disruption, a Florida boatyard does not have a four-month dead period. A Great Lakes or Northeast operator with the same revenue has a seasonal working-capital swing that Florida operators simply do not carry. Buyers underwrite that as lower risk. - **A fragmented ownership base** — Most Florida dealerships, yards, and small marinas are still owned by the person who founded them, frequently now in their late fifties or sixties. That is exactly the profile consolidators look for: a real operating business with no institutional owner competing for it. - **Recurring revenue hiding inside a cyclical business** — Service labor, parts, dry storage, and wet slips renew whether or not anyone buys a new center console that quarter. This is the single most important thing most sellers misunderstand about their own value. - **Florida tax treatment** — Florida has no personal state income tax, so a resident seller's net proceeds on a given purchase price are materially higher than they would be for the same deal in New York, New Jersey, or California. That changes what an owner can accept and still hit their number. ## What a Florida Marine Business Is Actually Worth Two things decide the basis. Below roughly $1.5M of owner earnings, buyers and lenders think in seller's discretionary earnings (SDE) — the cash the business generates for one working owner. Above that, they think in EBITDA, because the buyer intends to hire a manager rather than work the counter. The bands below are the ranges CBH Business Group sees Florida marine deals transact in. They are a starting frame, not an appraisal — a specific business lands at the top or bottom of its band based on the drivers in the far-right column, and some land outside it entirely.

Business type	Typical basis	Observed range	What pushes it to the top of the band
Single-location boat dealership	SDE	2.5x – 3.5x	Service department running at capacity; desirable brand rights
Multi-location dealer group	EBITDA	4.0x – 5.5x	Manager at each store; audited or reviewed financials
Boat service and repair yard	SDE / EBITDA at scale	3.0x – 4.5x	Certified techs under agreement; billable-hour tracking
Yacht or boat brokerage (no inventory)	SDE	2.0x – 3.0x	Broker team that stays; repeat client list, not one rainmaker
Dry storage and rack facility	EBITDA or cap rate	6.5% – 8.5% cap	Waiting list; rate increases already proven, not just planned
Marina with wet slips and real estate	Cap rate on stabilized NOI	6.0% – 8.0% cap	Long lease or fee-simple upland; fuel and service income
Charter or rental fleet	SDE	2.5x – 3.5x	Young fleet; contracted corporate or resort accounts

### Inventory is not part of your multiple This is where dealership owners get the biggest surprise. New-boat inventory sitting on a floor plan line is not value you sell — it is a financed asset that gets settled at closing. An owner carrying $3M of units on a $2.8M floor plan balance has roughly $200,000 of equity in that inventory, not $3M. The operating business is valued on its earnings; the inventory is reconciled separately, and aged units frequently get discounted or carved out entirely because the buyer does not want them. Used inventory you own outright is different, and so is a parts department. Both get counted, but at a realistic liquidation-adjusted number rather than at retail. ## The Florida-Specific Issues That Kill Marine Deals Almost every marine deal that dies in Florida dies on one of four items, and all four are discoverable long before a buyer appears. ### Submerged land leases If your marina generates revenue from docking over state-owned submerged land, you likely hold a sovereignty submerged lands lease administered through the Florida Department of Environmental Protection. These leases have terms, renewal dates, annual fees tied to slip counts and rates, and — critically — assignment provisions. A buyer's lender will want to see that the lease survives the transaction and will want to know when the fee resets. An owner who cannot produce the current lease, its expiration date, and its assignment language is asking a buyer to underwrite a blind risk, and buyers price blind risk by discounting. Pull your lease and read it with counsel before you talk to anyone. If the renewal is inside the buyer's hold period, that is a negotiation you want to understand first, not learn about in diligence. ### Manufacturer consent on dealer agreements Brand rights are often the most valuable asset in a dealership and the one the seller controls least. Dealer agreements generally require the manufacturer to approve any change of control, and the manufacturer has its own view of who should hold that territory. Some will approve a qualified buyer in weeks. Some will use the transaction to restructure the territory, add performance requirements, or decline entirely. Never assume consent. Understand the process and the manufacturer's posture early, because a buyer who finds out late that the brand may not transfer will either walk or reprice the deal around a dealership with no brand. ### Environmental exposure Boatyards concentrate exactly the conditions lenders fear: fuel storage, bottom paint and blasting residue, solvents, pressure washing runoff, and decades of operation on waterfront soil. Expect a Phase I environmental site assessment on any deal involving real estate, and expect the lender — not just the buyer — to require it. Commission your own Phase I before you list. If it comes back clean, you have removed a major buyer objection for a few thousand dollars. If it does not, you want to know the scope on your own timeline, with your own consultant, rather than six weeks into an exclusivity period while a buyer's attorney drafts an indemnity you will not like. ### Technician staffing A service department is worth a multiple because it produces billable hours. It produces billable hours because specific certified people show up. If those people are tied to the owner personally and have no reason to stay after closing, the buyer is purchasing a building with lifts in it. Document your technicians' certifications, tenure, and compensation, and have a retention conversation with your advisor about how to structure stay bonuses that are paid from proceeds rather than from your pocket. ## Marinas and Dealerships Attract Completely Different Buyers Treating these as one market is a common and costly mistake. A dealership or service yard sells to an operating buyer: a regional dealer group, a private equity platform rolling up marine service, or an individual operator using SBA financing. They underwrite earnings, brand rights, and management depth. They generally do not want to own real estate and will often ask the seller to lease the property back — which, for many owners, becomes the best part of the deal, converting an operating business into a long-term rent check. A marina with waterfront real estate sells to a real estate buyer. They underwrite net operating income against a cap rate, scrutinize the submerged land lease and upland title, and look hard at whether slip rates have room to move. The marine operating business on the property may matter to them very little. Many Florida marine owners actually hold both — a dealership or yard operating on land they own personally. Those are frequently worth more sold as two transactions to two buyer pools than as one bundle to whoever shows up first. That decision should be made deliberately, before marketing begins. ## Preparing Twelve Months Out The work that moves the number is unglamorous and almost entirely accounting and paperwork. - **Separate your revenue streams in the P&L** — Break out new units, used units, brokerage commissions, parts, service labor, storage, and slips, each with its own cost of sales. If a buyer cannot see that your service and storage lines produce half your gross profit, they will value the whole business as a cyclical boat retailer. - **Normalize your earnings, with documentation** — Personal vehicles, a family member on payroll who does not work there, your own boat's fuel and maintenance, one-time hurricane repairs. Every add-back needs a document behind it, or a quality-of-earnings analyst will strike it. - **Resolve the lease and consent questions** — Submerged land lease, upland lease, dealer agreement assignment. All three answered before you go to market. - **Reduce owner dependency** — If you personally hold the manufacturer relationship, close every unit sale, and approve every repair order, you are the business. Put a manager between yourself and daily operations and give it two or three quarters to prove it works. - **Clean up aged inventory** — Units sitting more than a year are a diligence talking point and a floor plan drag. Move them before a buyer prices them for you. ## Frequently Asked Questions ### What is a boat dealership in Florida worth? Most single-location Florida dealerships transact in the range of 2.5x to 3.5x seller's discretionary earnings, with multi-location groups reaching 4.0x to 5.5x EBITDA once there is real management depth. The size of the service department relative to unit sales moves that number more than total revenue does. Floor-planned new inventory is settled separately from the purchase price rather than added to it. ### Do I have to tell the manufacturer I am selling my dealership? Eventually, yes — dealer agreements generally require manufacturer approval of a change in control, so the brand cannot transfer without them. The timing of that conversation is strategic and should be handled with your advisor, not as an opening move. What you should never do is sign a purchase agreement assuming consent is a formality. ### Can a buyer use an SBA loan to buy a marina? Often, yes. SBA 7(a) financing is capped at $5 million per borrower and is commonly used for marine acquisitions in that range, including deals with real estate, which can carry a longer amortization than a business-only loan. Eligibility depends on the specific buyer, the structure, and the property, so it is worth confirming with an SBA lender early rather than assuming. Deals above that threshold typically move to conventional bank debt, seller financing, or private equity. ### How long does it take to sell a Florida marine business? Plan on six to twelve months from listing to close for a well-prepared business. Marine deals frequently run longer than the Florida average because of two items that are outside the seller's control: manufacturer consent on dealer agreements and environmental review on waterfront property. Both can be started early, and sellers who do so routinely close faster. ### Should I sell the business and the waterfront property together? Not automatically. Operating buyers and real estate buyers are different pools with different return requirements, and bundling can mean the real estate gets valued by someone who does not actually want it. Many owners do better selling the operating business and leasing the property to the buyer, keeping a long-term income stream. Run both scenarios with real numbers before you decide. ## Get a Real Number Before Someone Else Gives You One The marine owners who get hurt in this market are not the ones who sell too cheap on purpose. They are the ones who accepted an unsolicited offer without knowing what their service, storage, and slip income was actually worth to a different buyer. CBH Business Group represents Florida business owners through sell-side M&A across the state — Fort Lauderdale, Stuart, Naples, Tampa Bay, Jacksonville, and Central Florida. We were named among the Top 50 Brokers in Florida in 2024 and 2025, Million Dollar Producer in both years, and the #1 Top Dollar Producer in Central Florida for 2025. Start with a free valuation at https://cbhbusinessgroup.com/valuation-calculator to get a defensible range on your business. If you want to talk through how your dealership, yard, or marina should actually be positioned — and whether the real estate belongs in the same transaction — book a confidential call with Jesse Hastings at https://calendly.com/jesse-cbhadvisory or call (407) 908-3845.