This is a transcript of Mad Mariner's MadCast, the podcast that covers all aspects of boats and boating. In this segment, we interview Nancy Michelman, president of BoatUS, about her organization and how to get the most from membership. She shares her thoughts with Mad MarinerEditor Glen Justice.  

As somebody who interfaces with boaters quite a bit, do you think there's going to be fallout for the average boater from this tough economy?

Michelman: Well absolutely I think so. You know you'd have to be living under a rock these days not to be effected in some way by what's happening in the economy. Boating is predominantly a middle class recreation and so all of us are feeling the brunt of the recession. NMMA statistics say that 75 percent of boat owning households have an income of less than $100,000 a year. And we're just all feeling the pinch. So I'd have to answer your question yes, there's going to be fallout for all of us.

What do you think the impact is going to be? Do you think that people will be boating less or less often because of the recession?

Michelman: Well, we took a survey of members within the last month and interestingly enough, 96 percent of our members say they will not stop using their boat this summer. What they will do is change some of their boating habits and boat a little differently.

They'll be running their engines less, they may not be going out as far, they'll be doing buddy cruising where one weekend I'll go out on your boat, the next weekend you can come out on my boat. So they're just going to boat probably a little smarter, but they're still going to be out there on the water.

Obviously you get a lot of information at BoatUS. You run insurance and towing operations. With all of the statistics and information that cross your desk, are there trends that we can be looking out for that you can see in your data?

Michelman: Well it's interesting that you bring up towing services. What we've found since the beginning of this year is, more people are actually getting out on the water than they did last year.

If you remember last year, boating was pretty depressed. There wasn't a lot of activity because of fuel prices. So fuel prices have come down. The weather hasn't been all that bad. Unfortunately people may have some extra time on their hands because of the unemployment situation. We're finding a lot of folks are out on the water.

Unfortunately they may be skimping on repairs, so the incidence of towing out on the water has increased. You have more boats. You have more towing. That's what we're seeing so far, all throughout this year.

Let's talk a little bit about BoatUS from a consumer standpoint. Why don't you take us through what a membership costs and describe some of the benefits.

Michelman: Membership is still very low cost. It's a wonderful value. It's only $19 a year. And for your $19 you get access to over 26 different benefits and services. Every member gets a subscription to BoatUS Magazine, which is an award winning publication, which we just redesigned this year.

All members get towing service. So we will pay $50 of your towing bill whether you break down on the water of whether you break down on the road when you're trailering your boat.

And you can upgrade to higher levels of towing service. Most of our members opt for the unlimited service. Now what we did last year was we split the cost of unlimited based on where you're boating. So if you boat inland, the cost of unlimited service is $34. And if you boat in the coastal areas, in saltwater areas, it is $116. So it's still an amazing value for the money that you spend.

Maybe you could take us through some of the other things that maybe are not as well known.

Michelman: I wish I had my member services directory in hand, because I tend to forget all of them. But we have boat financing. Now is a fabulous time to buy a boat. There's a lot of inventory out there on the streets and there's lots of used boats that are up for sale. So we can help you finance your boat.

We have a consumer protection bureau if you have an issue with a manufacturer or a dealership or a marina, if you're having some issues and you can't quite get some satisfaction. We've got a great consumer protection bureau.

Our website is amazing. It's packed full of information, whether you're buying a boat, selling a boat, want to know how to register your boat or interested in what's going on Capitol Hill. We were founded on the precepts of savings, service and representation. So advocacy is one of our cornerstones. We do a lot of representation on Capitol Hill.

I could go on and on. We have marine insurance. A big benefit for members is our fabulous marine insurance program. We are boaters. We're passionate about boating and so we've designed an insurance program – that's the only kind of insurance we do is boats. And when you call us, you talk to boating experts who know what they're talking about. And of course, on the other end of it, when you have a claim, we're the ones who handle that claim. We have experience and handle your claim fast and fair.

One of the things I wanted to ask you about is the Cooperating Marinas Program. I mean there are discounts available to BoatUS members for things like fuel and transient slips and things like that, correct?

Michelman: That's right. We have almost 900 marinas around the country that offer discounts to BoatUS members up to 10 cents off on a gallon of gas, 25 percent off on transient slips, 15 percent off on repairs. In this economy, that's one of our most popular benefits for members. If you are in an area and wish to know if there's a cooperating marina nearby, you can go online to boatus.com. We have a member services locator where you can find the local services.

We have members who tell us stories that they actually plan their trip based on where the cooperating marinas are, where they can stop and get the discounts on their slips and on their gas.

Are there things boaters can do to get more from their BoatUS membership? Are there services that are underused or that maybe people don't know as much about?

Michelman: To get more out of your membership? Well everybody gets BoatUS magazine. I suggest you read that from cover to cover. Because there's news in there that you can use. And our website has services you can take advantage of. There's a member's only section on our website called myBoatUS.com which you can design for just the information you want to see. It's got weather information and tide information. You can go to the website and get a free marine insurance quote. You can sign up for more towing services. You can sign up for our trailering club. You can access BoatUS Angler, which is our newest brand.

You know, we realized that almost 65 or 70 percent of all boaters actually fish from their boat. And many don't relate to the bell buoy that is part of our logo. So we've designed a new brand around a fishhook, which a lot of fishermen can relate to. And we have a whole new program and a new site and a new magazine, just for anglers called, funnily enough, "BoatUS Angler."

And so, we do have a magazine and we have a special insurance program for anglers that has some special features designed just for fishermen. It could be you're going to a tournament and perhaps you've paid you fees but can't make it – we'll refund your tournament entry fee. We protect some of your fishing equipment and things like that. So it's very tailored to the passionate angler.

Anything coming up that we can look for in terms of expansion or new lines that you are going into?

Michelman: Well, we are always looking to improve on our member service. We're always looking to expand our services that we deliver. I'll tell you, though, in this economy, we're really focusing on our core businesses. We're focusing on doing the best we can with insurance and with towing and with membership services. So I'd say, we're tightening our belts and we're looking for ways to help members save money. And we're doing a whole lot on Capitol Hill and some more in the states to make sure that boating doesn't become a hassle. You know, governments are looking for taxes and fees wherever they can find them. And we hope very much that they don't start looking at the boater as sort of a free ride.

Monitoring the government is anything but easy. Are there situations boaters should be aware of?

Michelman: It's interesting. We've got a very small staff, but we've got a very loud voice. It helps to have 600,000 members because when we go and talk to (congressional or administration) staffers it's nice to say, "Well there are 600,000 boat owning members of the association." That's pretty powerful.

I'll tell you, right now, we're very concerned about ethanol and the energy groups that are trying to get ethanol increased from E10 to E15. There is absolutely no testing or information research on how that's going to affect small engines, whether that's your boat, whether it's your lawn mower – whatever small gasoline-powered engine you may have. You have no idea how this is going to affect warranties, how it's going to affect performance. So we're asking that the EPA do research and determine how this will impact engines before they implement E15.

Do you play in state politics as well and monitor what's going on in the states?

Michelman: You know, I wish we had the staff to do that. Unfortunately, we don't. We do have a lot of activity in Florida, because it has the highest concentration of members. We're also pretty active in California beause that's another large group.

A lot of issues come to our attention actually from our members. They will call us, they'll email us and inform us. They'll let us know what's going on in their area and if it's something that we feel we can have an impact on, we'll jump on it. May times when we hear about something, what we do is we broadcast that information to our members and it's kind of a grassroots, rolling thunder. The members respond to what we're saying and they're the ones who take action. Very, very powerful.

Maybe you could tell us a little bit about the history of BoatUS and how it came into being.

Michelman: BoatUS started 43 years ago, back in April of 1966. It was founded by Richard Schwartz who was a lawyer on Capitol Hill at the time. He had lots of boating friends who would complain to him about how they were being ticketed for things that were going wrong on their boats that were actually put there by the manufacturer. So, individual recreational boat owners were being cited for manufacturers' defects. Richard said, "Well what about your association? Aren't you asking them for help?"

He found out that there was no association for boat owners. And the light bulb went off in his head. He's an entrepreneur and he'd been looking for the right niche. He found a need. And back in 1966, after a lot of research, he started the Boat Owners Association of The United States. He started it, really, based on safety and service and representation – so there was advocacy for boat owners. He was instrumental in passage of the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, which installed an office of boating safety in the Coast Guard headquarters. So he's been promoting boating safety and he's been promoting fairness to boaters since the very beginning, as well as savings.

He always knew that to grow a large organization, he needed more than just advocacy. So he started with a couple of small products that he offered through a newsletter to members. And he also started researching insurance. He figured he'd do group rate marine insurance. And he had to rewrite the entire insurance policy because back then it was simply insurance by Lloyds of London – he is a lawyer and even he couldn't understand the policies back then. So he totally rewrote the policy and he began group rate marine insurance for boat owners. He sold a couple of products and he did a lot of work on Capitol Hill. Now we have 26 services, 43 years later.

Is he still active in the organization?

Michelman: Absolutely. He's still here today. He's an amazing individual that a lot of us have incredible respect for. He loves to meet members and talk to members, and loves to tell stories about meeting them at our old store openings, and going through airports, and riding in taxi cabs as soon as people recognize him, because we use his picture all over the place. He's like a rock star.

Can you tell us a little bit about how BoatUS is organized?

Michelman: Well the best way to describe it isa three-legged stool. We've got BoatUS, the association, which basically provides the advocacy and provides the magazine and those kinds of services to members. And we've got another arm of the company that does the for-profit services, which would be towing and marine insurance and those sorts of things.

And then the third leg would be the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water, which is a 501(C)3 charitable organization that is basically supported by member donations. We ask that members donate to the foundation when they renew their dues, and over 60 percent of members do that on an annual basis. So the Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water puts out brochures, gives out local grants to communities to promote boating safety and clean water initiatives, and they are funded by Coast Guard grants and by members.

They do a tremendous amount of work over at the foundation, things like lifejacket loans and product testing.

Michelman: You mentioned the Lifejacket Loaner Program. That started out as one of the local grants that we gave to a group. They wanted to lend children-sized lifejackets out in their community. You know, you've got to have a properly fitted lifejacket or you might not as well have one at all.

Lots of times grandpa and grandma would bring their grandkids and the kids would bring more kids and you wouldn't have enough of the right size lifejackets on board. So we started this as a pilot project in one area and now have over 350 sites around the country that lend out lifejackets – children-sized lifejackets – for a day or a weekend. And what's great is that, over 90 percent of the lifejackets come back to the loaner sites. It's a very successful, very popular program.

Now, you guys were in the retail business at one point. Obviously, that has changed. Maybe you could walk us through that.

Michelman: Well, as the old addage goes, if you can't beat them, join them. Our largest competitor was West Marine and they had a whole lot more stores than we did. They were doing a bang up job with their retail division and started to migrate into the benefits and the services that we provide. We eventually sat down across the table from each other and said, "Hey guys, how about you do retail and we'll do services," since that was our forte.

So, we sold our stores and our catalog in January of 2003 to West Marine. They immediately grew their chain by 62 stores. And as part of the agreement, they sell membership in all of their retail locations. So in almost 400 stores around the country, BoatUS membership gets exposed to the boating public, which is very helpful for us. It's a great partnership.

You've been at BoatUS for 20 years. Have you seen a lot of change in that amount of time?

Michelman: Wow, I've seen a lot of change but I'd have to say, it's not a whole lot different from the way it used to be. Of course, we're larger. We have more divisions. We don't have a whole lot more layers. Unfortunately, I think we have a whole lot more meetings – at least I do.

But on the other hand, it's still run much like a mom and pop operation. We're very friendly, very open door. Any member can pickup the phone and call me. As President, I still answer my own phone. Richard will talk to you as well. We're boaters. You know? We're just passionate about what we do and who we do it for. So it's very friendly, very low-key. And, you know, as big as we are, I think we're still pretty small and friendly.

Obviously BoatUS is a huge organization, the largest of it's kind. But as big as you are, you still only represents a fraction of the overall boats out there. How you go about reaching people and growing membership?

Michelman: Well we try to put programs in place that will attract boaters. I swear we get members one at a time. Our biggest source of members is existing members – word of mouth. To know us is to love us. The question is, how do we get people to know us? And I think that's our biggest challenge is to get out there and to get the name in front of as many people as possible.

Talk a little bit about your role in the organization and how do you spend your days? What does the President of BoatUS do?

Michelman: No day is the same as the next. Everyday is absolutely different. I wear a lot of hats. One day I may be working on some website re-design, I might be writing a brochure, working on advertising copy. It's fascinating. It's diverse. It's dealing with operations. It's dealing with marketing. It's dealing with HR issues.

And then of course always talking to members, emailing members. I feel it's critically important that all of us stay in touch with what's happening on the water and happening with our constituency. I love to talk to members. I love to email them. Any member can email me at president@boatus.com and I'll answer. If I don't answer somebody else will.

For me communication is key, whether it's communicating with boaters, communicating with staff or communicating with the industry.