The 67th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show: Dates, Hours, and Venues for 2026

The 67th Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show runs October 28 through November 1, 2026, across seven locations in Fort Lauderdale. This is the confirmed schedule per the show’s own release, and it anchors everything else in this article: your travel plan, your dock time, and the window in which any financing conversation needs to happen if you intend to act while you’re there.

FLIBS confirmed the 2026 dates in its official press release, “FLIBS Launches Ticket Sales for 2026” (FLIBS, 2026). For owners who’ve attended in past years out of habit more than strategy, it’s worth treating this year differently. Interest rates, refit backlogs, and new-build lead times have shifted enough since your last visit that the show is now less a browsing exercise and more a benchmarking exercise, whether or not you plan to buy.

Show hours, according to the FLIBS Exhibitor Resource Guide (FLIBS, 2026), are as follows:

• Wednesday, October 28: 12 p.m. to 7 p.m. (Preview Day)
• Thursday, October 29: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Friday, October 30: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Saturday, October 31: 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.
• Sunday, November 1: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

The show itself spans seven venues, per the European Confederation of Yacht Brokers Associations (ECPY) event listing, “Fort Lauderdale Boat Show 2026” (2026): Broward County Convention Center, Bahia Mar Yachting Center, Hall of Fame Marina, Las Olas Marina, 17th Street Yacht Basin, Pier 66 Marina, and Superyacht Village at Pier 66 South. If you’re coming from Palm Beach, plan your day around one or two venues rather than trying to cover all seven. The distances between marinas are short on paper but the crowds, dock walks, and shuttle waits eat hours you’d rather spend with a broker or builder.

What Palm Beach Owners Will Find on the Docks This Year

FLIBS 2026 is expected to feature new and brokerage yachts side by side, worldwide model debuts, marine equipment and accessories, and a dedicated superyacht showcase at Pier 66 South. This mix matters because it lets you compare new-build pricing against brokerage value and refit cost in a single afternoon, something no online listing service replicates.

Boat International describes FLIBS as one of the world’s largest in-water boat shows (Boat International, “Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show 2026 Guide,” 2026), and the prior 66th edition gives a useful sense of scale. FLIBS reported more than 100,000 visitors, over 1,000 exhibitors, and more than 1,300 vessels on display at the 2025 show, with exhibitors from more than 50 countries (FLIBS, “FLIBS 2025 Global Economic Impact,” 2025). These figures describe last year’s show, not a confirmed count for 2026, but they’re the best available yardstick for what you should expect on the docks this fall.

Galati Yachts’ 2026 event page notes the show’s dedicated superyacht showcase, and the ECPY listing confirms Superyacht Village at Pier 66 South is positioned specifically for larger yachts, builders, brokers, designers, and high-end suppliers (Galati Yachts, “2026 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show (FLIBS),” 2026; ECPY, 2026). If your interest runs toward 80-foot-plus vessels, refit consultations, or specialty marine trades, that’s where your time is best spent. If you’re brokerage-shopping in the 40 to 65-foot range, the Bahia Mar and Hall of Fame Marina docks tend to carry more inventory turnover.

A Boat-Show Itinerary: Before, During, and After FLIBS

A show this large rewards preparation more than spontaneity. The owners who leave FLIBS having actually moved on something, rather than just collecting brochures, are the ones who arrive with a shortlist, a valuation baseline, and a financing plan already in motion.

That middle step, comparing what a broker quotes against what a lender will actually recognize as collateral, is where most first-time show buyers lose leverage. It deserves its own explanation.

Why an Asking Price Is Not a Collateral Value

A yacht’s boat-show or broker-quoted asking price and its collateral value are two different numbers, arrived at through two different processes, and confusing them is the single most common misstep among owners financing a FLIBS purchase. The asking price reflects what a seller hopes to get. The collateral value reflects what a lender believes it could recover.

Brokers set asking prices based on comparable listings, market appetite, and negotiating room built in from the start. A private lender values the same vessel differently, typically relying on an independent survey or a broker’s opinion of value, then applying a loan-to-value limit against that figure rather than the sticker on the dock. The gap between those two numbers can be meaningful, and it’s rarely disclosed until you’re mid-negotiation and asking a lender to move quickly.

None of this means the asking price is wrong. It means you shouldn’t walk into a financing conversation assuming the two numbers match, and you shouldn’t wait until after a handshake at the dock to find out they don’t. The fix is simple: get your valuation expectations calibrated before you fall for a specific hull.

How Private, Asset-Backed Financing Works for Yacht Buyers

Asset-backed financing lets a yacht owner borrow against a vessel’s value, whether the one they already own or the one they intend to buy, without selling other holdings or going through conventional bank underwriting. It’s a structure built for speed and privacy, and it comes in several distinct forms depending on what the owner is actually trying to accomplish.

Purchase financing covers a new acquisition, secured against the vessel itself. Refinancing replaces an existing loan, often to free up better terms or restructure around a new asset. Cash-out financing draws liquidity against a yacht you already own outright, useful if you’ve spotted something at FLIBS but don’t want to touch a brokerage account or a trust distribution to fund it. Refit or improvement financing covers the cost of upgrades, engine work, or interior overhauls, common after a walk through the show floor leaves you rethinking your current vessel’s spec rather than replacing it outright. Cross-collateralized structures, meanwhile, let a lender consider more than one asset, a yacht alongside a watch collection or a piece of real estate, for owners who’d rather not concentrate risk in a single vessel.

Each of these structures depends on the same set of documentation, and this is the part most owners underestimate the time required for:

• A current survey or independent valuation
• Clear title and vessel documentation
• Maintenance and refit history
• Insurance declarations page
• Ownership entity documents, if the vessel is held through an LLC or trust

Owners who bring this file to the table already assembled move noticeably faster than those who scramble for it after falling for a boat on the dock. If you want the fuller mechanics of how marine assets are appraised and structured as collateral, our companion piece on yacht and boat loans using marine assets as collateral walks through that in more depth.

Questions Worth Asking Before You Sign Anything

Before committing to any purchase agreement or financing offer tied to a FLIBS find, a short list of direct questions protects you far more than a long negotiation ever will. Ask these of the broker, the lender, or both, and expect straight answers to each.

That last question about consequences deserves a plain answer from any lender you’re considering, private or otherwise: borrowing against a yacht, like borrowing against any asset, carries the risk of losing that asset if the loan isn’t satisfied. A reputable private lender will say this to you directly rather than gloss over it.

Preparing for a Confidential Financing Conversation

A confidential financing conversation moves faster and produces a more accurate picture when the owner arrives with documentation in hand rather than assembling it after the fact. The goal is a private lender who can assess your asset and your intentions without requiring a credit pull, a tax return, or a bank statement.

Bring what you’d bring to a serious survey appointment: title or documentation papers, insurance declarations, any prior survey, and, if you’re financing a purchase rather than a refinance, whatever the seller or broker has provided on the vessel you’re considering. If cross-collateralization interests you, a general sense of what else you might pledge, a watch collection, jewelry, fine art, is enough to start the conversation; nothing needs to be formally appraised before the first call.

What you should not need to bring: pay stubs, a credit report, or a stack of financial statements. A private collateral lender is evaluating the asset, not auditing your finances, and that distinction is the entire point of choosing this route over a conventional bank loan.

A Discreet Alternative to Liquidating Assets Before FLIBS

If FLIBS puts a vessel or a refit in front of you that you want to move on quickly, liquidating a brokerage position or drawing down a trust distribution is rarely the fastest, or the most private, way to do it. Palm Beach Loan Company works as a private collateral lender to owners who’d rather borrow against what they already hold, a yacht, a watch collection, fine art, than disturb the rest of their financial life to fund a new one.

There’s no credit check, no financial disclosures, and nothing reported to any bureau. The conversation stays between you and us, and it can start well before you’ve signed anything at the show.