When Dockwa recently announced a partnership with PSG, the story wasn't really about the investment itself. It was about what the investment reflects.
PSG focuses on high-growth software businesses in large, underserved markets. The marina industry — a $57 billion economy supporting nearly 4,000 marinas and 450,000+ boaters — fits that profile exactly. And the data we're seeing in real time confirms why.
We pulled together what our platform is showing heading into peak season 2026. Here's what stands out, and what it means for the marinas operating on Dockwa.
Bookings are up 13% year over year. That's meaningful on its own, but the breakdown tells a more nuanced story.
The 0–30 foot segment — the most active cohort on the platform — is up 15.7%. These are daytrippers, weekend cruisers, and coastal explorers who book frequently, often on short notice, and are highly price-aware. The 100+ foot segment, by contrast, is the only cohort that decelerated, growing at just 8.7%. Larger vessels plan further ahead and are less sensitive to seasonal swings.
The takeaway: the boaters driving volume growth are the ones who decide where to dock based on what they find online, in the moment. That puts a premium on discoverability, availability, and price.
The most striking signal in our 2026 data isn't bookings — it's fuel search behavior.
Fuel-related searches on Dockwa are up 5x. Marina operators updated fuel prices 35 times more often than this time last year. And diesel prices at the dock are up 52% year over year.
What's happening: boaters are actively shopping fuel prices before they commit to a destination. With diesel up that sharply, the fuel dock has become a deciding factor in where someone chooses to stop — not just an amenity. Marinas that are pricing competitively and keeping their listings current are showing up in those searches. Marinas that aren't are invisible to a growing share of traffic.
This is exactly the dynamic we designed Dockwa Deals to address. When you run a fuel deal — especially for Dockwa+ members — you get surfaced to boaters actively comparing options. The data suggests that audience is larger this summer than it's ever been.
PSG's thesis on Dockwa is the same thesis our marina partners have been acting on for years: the marina industry is large, growing, and dramatically underserved by modern software.
Most marinas still operate across disconnected systems — one for reservations, another for billing, spreadsheets for waitlists, and phone calls for everything else. Dockwa started as a reservation platform, but we've been building toward something more complete: a single operating system for the full marina business.
That vision now includes Telescope for dynamic pricing, Spaces for slip and storage management, Leads for capturing and converting prospective members, and — launching soon — a Service module for work order management. The PSG partnership accelerates our ability to build, support, and expand across all of them.
Dockwa tracks demand across nearly 4,000 marinas and 66 million nights booked. That scale gives us a real-time view of what's happening across the industry — and it's the foundation for the insights we're able to share with marina operators like you.
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How to make the most of this demand
Update your fuel prices consistently. The 35x increase in marina price updates we're seeing isn't noise — it's marinas responding to a market that's checking prices in real time.
Run a Dockwa Deal, especially on fuel. Boaters doing fuel price comparisons are actively looking for a reason to choose you.
Make sure your profile is complete and current. Photos, amenities, and accurate slip details convert a search result into a reservation.
Consider enabling Telescope. Dynamic pricing adjusts based on real occupancy and local demand so you stop leaving money on the table during peak windows.