Article: Buyers find secondhand crafts float their boat; An auction designed to help goose the local marine industry brought out a crowd, despite cold weather and a soft economy.(NEWS)

Byline: JOSEPHINE MARCOTTY; STAFF WRITER

Minnesota's love affair with boats is alive and well, and it's coming at a lower price these days thanks to the tepid economy, the weak dollar and the price of gas.

Crystal-Pierz Marine held its first-ever used-boat auction Sunday at Minneapolis Auto Auction in Maple Grove. Luke Kujawa, president and chief operating officer of Crystal-Pierz, said he organized the auction in part to scare up some enthusiasm for boating in a soft economy and to loosen up a tight market for used boats.

These days, many of the used boats from Minnesota are being sold to Canadians because of the weak dollar, he said. Still, "there's lots of ...

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