The Brunswick Corporation announced late this afternoon that it was shutting down the Boston Whaler boat manufacturing plant it had reopened off Colbert Lane in Palm Coast just four years ago, dealing a severe blow to the city’s and county’s largest manufacturer and their local economy.
Brunswick is consolidating the Palm Coast plant with the manufacturing facility in Edgewater by next summer, with most operations winding down in winter. All local workers are being offered jobs in Edgewater.
Around 300 workers are employed at the Palm Coast plant off Colbert Lane. It is the second time in seven years that the plant will have shut down. The plant shut down in 2018, when it operated as a Sea Ray Boats manufacturing facility, also under the Brunswick Corporation’s umbrella. At the time, some 440 employees had jobs there.
Workers at the Palm Coast plant were directed to a large covered patio at 3 p.m. this afternoon, where Boston Whaler President Lenn Scholz announced the coming closure and the Egdewater offer. What job cuts would happen would do so through attrition, though the company expects that not all its local employees will be willing to make the drive south.
A Brunswick communications official had contacted Flagler Beach City Manager Dale Martin and Flagler Beach Mayor Patti King earlier this week to tell them of the coming closure, saying operations would end in summer. Martin said the company has no future plans for the location, since it will still be operating there for several months yet, but that it is looking out for the workers’ interests, down to making provisions for gas expenses for those who will commute. “It sounds like they seem to have the employees’ well-being at the forefront of their mind,” Martin said.
The explanation the Brunswick official gave Martin and the mayor was economic: “Because of the downturn in the retail,” Martin said. “They said retail boat sales have been declining for the past five years.”
Flagler Beach City Commission Chair James Sherman had “no idea” the closure was being announced. “I’m shocked to hear this news, but I guess it’s business. In the same breath, looking at it holistically for our county, that’s a really big hit,” Sherman said.
According to a worker who was at today’s announcement at Boston Whaler, who spoke with FlaglerLive, the news came as a “punch to the gut” that no one was expecting, though there had been discussions previously about “economic uncertainty” and tariffs disrupting orders, with an increasing number of buyers holding off. The plant had been manufacturing about 14 smaller boats per week, two larger boats per week and taking two weeks to manufacture its biggest models, he said, with workers asked to work overtime. But as the company was drawing down its pre-tariff inventory of raw materials, the outlook was becoming less promising.
Mettawa, Ill.-based Brunswick made the announcement public shortly after 4 p.m. through a press release posted at its website, calling it the “consolidation of its global fiberglass boat manufacturing footprint designed to reduce fixed costs and unlock greater productivity and efficiency while maintaining the necessary capacity and flexibility for future growth.”
The company is closing a plant in Reynosa, Mexico, and consolidating workers with two plants in Vonore, Tennessee and Merritt Island, Florida. “In addition, its Flagler Beach, Florida production facility will be closed and production of models currently manufactured at that facility will be consolidated into the Edgewater, Florida operation,” the release states.
“It’s terrible news to hear that they’re consolidating down in Edgewater,” Flagler County Commission Chair Andy Dance said. “This is the first I hear of it so I don’t have any other details to add to it. But it’s not what we are working hard to do.” He recalled the previous closure and its disruptions to workers and their families. “Nobody wants to be put through that.”
The Brunswick release claims the company is “collaborating closely with local government agencies and economic development partners to support a seamless transition.” But Dance said he was not aware of any contact from the company to the county ahead of the announcement.
Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri said she had heard intimations of a change at Boston Whaler several months ago, “but there was never any concrete information that was provided to be reliable.”
“There have been uncertain economic times I think since Covid,” Pontieri said. “It’s just another challenge that we have to get through. First and foremost, I do hope that the workers are able to get employment with the Edgewater plant or that they can find employment elsewhere in the city. We don’t want to see our unemployment rate continue to rise.” The reliance on one large manufacturer–and the consequences of that reliance–should be a reminder that the city and the county should strive toward a more diverse economic base, she said. “Bringing in jobs into this county has got to be the top priority for our governments. Has to be–our city and our county.”
Defund gop says
Orange terror did this. Tariffs have consequences… lost over 1 million manufacturing jobs this year alone. Virtually no jobs created in months nationally ! Prices keep going up! Fight the Reich!
Ai on its way says
I am sorry to hear so many will lose jobs. Unfortunately, the AI revolution is already starting and these type of jobs are going to be gone everywhere within 10 rs. Silver lining, that area was the highest polluted area within this county.
Shark says
Someone should remind Pontieri that the storage facilities that she helped approve are not hiring !!!
Mike says
Thank you captain bone spurs !!!
Stevr Verrier says
I guess Edgewater treats companies better. Not surprised.
C says
No surprise there. I thought they would’ve closed aboit a year or so ago.
JimboXYZ says
I predicted this would happen 4 years ago. Some of the reason(s):
“The explanation the Brunswick official gave Martin and the mayor was economic: “Because of the downturn in the retail,” Martin said. “They said retail boat sales have been declining for the past five years.””
Why would a corporation expand when they knew that the year before reopening 4 years ago their retail boat sales was declining ?
““It’s terrible news to hear that they’re consolidating down in Edgewater,” Flagler County Commission Chair Andy Dance said. “This is the first I hear of it so I don’t have any other details to add to it. But it’s not what we are working hard to do.” He recalled the previous closure and its disruptions to workers and their families. “Nobody wants to be put through that.””
It’s not a shocking revelation that Edgewater, FL is where Boston Whaler, Inc. was relocated from Massachusetts. The history of their company is leaving Massachusetts for Edgewater, FL 1989-1990, that was the time frame that BWI was sold to Reebok. Same MO, gather all their employees and break the bad news that at least a massive restructure for the Reebok buyout. This 2026 leave is a consolidation & closure.
“The Brunswick release claims the company is “collaborating closely with local government agencies and economic development partners to support a seamless transition.” But Dance said he was not aware of any contact from the company to the county ahead of the announcement.”
Seamless Transition ? Facility closure(s) are never seamless. The timeline they have set is to find the Nepotism/Cronyism jobs that every corporation has to find safe landing zones for those folks. The remaining locations for facilities, those operations will have a restructure. Edgewater or anywhere else won’t be immune to restructure layoffs.
“Palm Coast Vice Mayor Theresa Pontieri said she had heard intimations of a change at Boston Whaler several months ago, “but there was never any concrete information that was provided to be reliable.”
“There have been uncertain economic times I think since Covid,” Pontieri said. “It’s just another challenge that we have to get through. First and foremost, I do hope that the workers are able to get employment with the Edgewater plant or that they can find employment elsewhere in the city. We don’t want to see our unemployment rate continue to rise.” The reliance on one large manufacturer–and the consequences of that reliance–should be a reminder that the city and the county should strive toward a more diverse economic base, she said. “Bringing in jobs into this county has got to be the top priority for our governments. Has to be–our city and our county.””
Let’s not blame Covid again for this. Bidenomics was no soft landing for anyone. Alfinville for growth leaves the City of Palm Coast exposed to cater to the all of the approved residential growth for developers & contractor types that now have even fewer consumers to buy unaffordable housing. Biden-Harris Build Back Better unfunded & grossly underfunded. Can’t wait to see more lawsuit threats for economic development that simply unsustainable as Delaware Lies. The sooner anyone realizes that the unsustainable inflation of Biden-Harris era Bidenomics is crashing hard. We all paid for this over the last 4-5 years. And under Trump-Vance the economy is clinging to the Bidenomics model of rampant inflation. In other news, the Fed finally lowered interest rates. Again, we’ve been paying for anything Biden-Harris claimed as prosperity for those 4 years “Delaware Lies”. Add that the Labor Reports have been doctored for 2 consecutive rolling year periods. Biden 810K jobs overstated & restated labor reports . Trump 900K overstated & restated labor reports that was a period of time that was 9 months of Biden-Harris runout. The traiffs were nothing more than the Ivy League Experts of unsustainable Bidenomics of failure. Every spreadsheet the City of Palm Coast has for a budget is “WRONG”, based on a fantasy of growing Flagler County for growth & money that was never there to base growth on. What are we going to see ? Is there enough to finish new residential construction approvals ? Is there more tax increases & inflation to extort & force the existing taxpayer base to pay for the smoke & mirrors of the politicians & experts. Let the Home Builders sue for higher impact fees, the rest of us were picking up the tab for those inflationary profits for new residential construction for the last 4 years.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/tylerroush/2025/09/17/fed-lowers-interest-rates-and-signals-more-cuts-this-year/
See here’s another impact, all those apartment complexes for unaffordable rents/housing \on the same road that Boston Whaler is located in the Colbert Lane/Roberts Road area, all the new residential housing there too ? That’s going to be affected as well. Between Biden & Alfin being gone, neither will be given their full credit for the collapse. Trump & Norris get to eat the era of collapse for it happening under their watch. We’ll be paying for Biden-Harris for a long time coming. Had Harris-Walz happened, we’d be seeing more of the same for even higher inflation than what Trump-Vance have slowed inflation to. Norris, all he inherited was Alfinville. Sad to read that Bunnell, FL is going to expand their city to become 7-8X larger than it’s ever been in easily the last 100+ years of it’s existence. Somebody make that make any sense. Where are the jobs that are going to make Bunnell, FL grow like that ? Who will buy those new residential construction homes. Tax increases to pay for the growth ? And so the HBA will sue for higher impact fees, they don’t want to pay for the growth either. Developers claiming profits they threatened lawsuits for City of Palm Coast over a moratorium. It’s obvious that the STF is debt that the existing City of Palm Coast will pay for. Because the other townships county wide are such a small portion of the county population. Palm Coast being +/-90+% of the population base to tax & inflate against, the extortion that nobody wanted.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flagler_County,_Florida
Biden, worst POTUS ever, Alfin, worst Mayor ever. Those 2 partied and left the hangover for their successors. And that is the economics lesson that was Clinton-Bush-Obama, relived in 2021-present, brought to us by the Ivy League experts of Economics fraud. And not to leave DeSantis & the State of FL ? The State grants never had any real money to accomplish the fantasies of Biden-Harris. If a politician is preaching something will be better, it certainly will be for them, not the rest of us. Trump on his tariffs ? Sometimes you have to take the medicine. The medicine of tariffs is the relative Narcan antidote for 4 years of the Biden Fentanyl Bidenomics OD. When fiscal incompetence ruled the era.
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2093qgx14po
Pig Farmer says
It is a shame the plant is closing down. I wonder how many of the workers there voted for Trump. I wonder how many will vote MAGA in the mid-terms.
Bogdan says
Looking at all the empty boat docks along the intercostal, this is no surprise.
Deborah Coffey says
It’s not Covid, Ms. Pontieri; it’s Donald Trump’s terrible, awful economy that couldn’t care less about working people.
And, are you aware that I cannot find a Covid vaccine anywhere in Florida? Ladapo is working hard to ban the mRNA vaccines in all of the state. (https://www.fox13news.com/news/florida-surgeon-general-signals-push-ban-mrna-covid-19)
Of course, the Trump administration wants all seniors dead so that it can end Social Security and Medicare. More money for his oligarchs.
The dude says
#TrumpSlump
Steve says
When you lose out to Edgewater you really lose
Laurel says
No, Ms. Pontieri, it’s not COVID, it’s Trump.
Laurel says
COVID was six years ago. It’s the uncertainty of now. It’s tariffs. Y’all got to get out of your denial.
Just say'n says
Yea it may be a hit to the county coffers and we need these types of businesses but the wages they offered for the jobs was a joke.These are some of the most expensive boats you can by but pay 16 bucks an hour to sand fiberglass which is a brutal job with all kind of health effects. Nobody is driving to edgewater for a 16 dollar an hour job.
The chosen one says
This county is going to be dead in the water in 10 years. No jobs, giant real-estate ponzi scheme going on here and fat cat local government directors and administrators making nearly 200k. The mosquito control director makes 180k a year for watching 12 employees. Governors of entire states makes less than that. Crumbling infrastructure and unchecked local governments.
FedUp says
Keep building more homes for those people moving here from other states! Boston Whaler in Edgewater is hiring! Oh wait, they’re consolidating employees from the Flagler location, never mind. The Flagler Commission looks like a deer in the headlights. This county has got to be the biggest failure in the country, run by inept morons.
Sorry for the workers under trumps' dumps economy says
“Trump and his team are simultaneously arguing that the jobs report was good, that it was bad but would get better after revisions, and that it was bad because the people who run the data analysis were biased against them. These things obviously cannot all be true, and in fact none of them are. …”
Yup … Can’t make this stuff up – But trumpy pants can!
GO MAGA BABY!!!!!
Kevin says
This has nothing to do with Trump or tariffs. The fact is boats became too expensive for the regular guy to afford.
A 19-ft Boston whaler is 60 K. 22-Ft Boston whaler is 125K a 13-ft boat is 23K
No one’s buying these boats, although they’re made well. They’re just too expensive.
Ed P says
The Flagler County commercial business desert is now going to experience an extended drought as well. County/City leaders need to get serious and attract non retail, non medical, non public sector employers here in short order. We need a commercial base.
Boston Whaler’s plans are part of a larger consolidation strategy by its parent company, Brunswick Corporation, to reduce fixed costs and enhance efficiency in its fiberglass boat manufacturing. Vertical integration efficiency was the primary reason for their 22 acquisitions across 5 sectors. The closure involves consolidation from Flagler Beach and Mexico into better performing U.S. centers including Edgewater , Florida with the goal of positioning the company for future growth.
Brunswick is investing 5 million dollars to enhance capabilities at its other high-performing centers. Their manufacturing foot print can absorb the current volume, still support growth, improve productivity and profitability. It’s a preemptive response.
It’s about right sizing not just down sizing. They are offing employment to the Flagler Beach group and still expect to add 200 more positions nationwide.
Any businesses only does 1 of 2 things, they grow or they shrink. They can’t just maintain status quo for any sustained period of time. The revenue and profitability slump that started in 2023 highlights challenges with market positioning and softening demand.
Trump and tariffs are not to blame.
Land of no turn signals says says
If it wasn’t for Trump Boston Whaler would have relocated to friggn Mexico taking Edgewater plant with it.
Laurel says
Trump and tariffs are to blame.
Businesses are having a very hard time trying to budget, buy and figure out what to do with an uncertain economy. Countries will put up with us for as long as they have to, and find other markets and trade routes while Trump puts a wall around us. Some countries are already starting work around us.
Blame it on COVID; blame it on Biden. But by doing so continues the denial and the excuses.
Business hate instability. We have become unstable.