Boat show

[Bambamski]

A Customer I've been dealing with for years called me up last week and asked me to take him to the boat show and go through all the different boats out there. He knew that I've owned a boat or two and could offer some insight. I didn't offer one opinion and let him form what he thought of each boat and company that built it. It was kind of interesting to listen to him talk about the different boats at the show. We all have our own little bias's so to look at the boats from a new perspective was kind of cool. I really have to say, the tournament boats are leaving the I/O boats in their dust.

I think the biggest observation I made was how the boats were displayed had a huge impact on what a new person thought of the boats and how much time they spent looking.

There wasn't much new out there???? MC had the X-35 and SVara had a new V-drive that looked nice. Other than that is there anything new for 2008? I have to say boats are CHEAP this year in Canada. Pricing has come way down.

What's everyone thinking of the boats show's for 08?

[Red57Bird]

Went to the boat show here in Raleigh, NC this past weekend, and it was one of the better ones I've been to. Good mix of off-shore, I/O and wake boats, and most of the companies had lots of different boats to look at. I've been to some shows in the past where they only had one or two boats to check out.

White Lake was there representing Correct Craft and they had eight different boats there, with a good mix of models and colors. Overall they seemed to get a better share of buyer traffic and there were lots of people checking out the boats.

One thing I found interesting was some of the tactics that Malibu used. They were really touting their LED light package, so they had a bunch of flashing LED lights all throughout their booth and their boats. Catchy, but VERY annoying after about 30 seconds - I thought I was going to have an epileptic fit at any moment. The best was the scantily clad blond with the very short shorts, tuxedo vest, bow tie, and the pin on her vest with the annoying red LED light. Funny thing is that there were lots of guys (including me) standing in the aisle checking out, as my 13-year old calls them, the "hottie", but no one was going into their area to look at the boats. Kind of gave me the impression of a company that was desperate and relying on gimmicks to get some buyer traffic. Didn't work, at least not that I saw.

Overall it was a good show and worth the price of admission.

[sandm]

went to my first boat show(granted it is boise idaho...).. pricing was better than what I saw last year in the summer when we bought ours. I would agree that the displays made the boat. several dealers brought very plain boats and the traffic showed. the ones with catchier displays or more product seemed to have more traffic. I really did enjoy learning about tige/nautique. I stopped at the dealer that sells those lines and started talking to the head mechanic. it was soooo much better than listening to a salesman. he didn't know price at all, but I sure did learn all about the boats, and felt I got an unbiased opinion from someone that really didn't care what I bought.

the mastercraft/centurion dealer here is offering some funky cashback option. buy a boat, and 36 months later you get a check for 10k. as near as I can tell, they take 3k of the price of the boat and give it to an investment house that cuts you a check for 10k 3 years later. I asked them why not just give you the cash off the top, but you would only get 3k off the top if you opt not. seemed a little fishy to me, but for the finance challenged, was a good line.

overall a good experience and if I was in the market for brand new, that would have been a good time to plunk some cash down.

[tball]

Yeah, a 33% annual return is fishy; hadn't heard that angle before.

[leviwynnyk]

I was at the first show in Calgary and picked up a new Mobius XLV. Show was fun, and all of the new boats were pretty nice.