Boat Shows Cancelling

BigD

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Interesting. Some upcoming boat shows in the area are starting to cancel. The reasons given:

1. A financial crisis
2. Poor expected sales
3. Material and labor shortages
4. Financial institutions are freezing loans for boats
5. Not worth the time and trouble for dealers in the current economy.

It was noted there are thousands of boats on lots from the mid Atlantic to Florida that aren't sold. New boats are primarily being sold as pre-orders. The used boat market expects to remain strong.

Maybe they should blame pricing ? I just saw a reveal the other day of a new tritoon going for $360k.
 
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Interesting. We have our local show scheduled for next weekend. Was considering going but wife doesn’t want to go. We’ll see.
 
Maybe they should blame pricing ? I just saw a reveal the other day of a new tritoon going for $360k.

Someone will buy it, but volumes are coming down from pandemic peaks and will continue to do so this year according to some forecasts. Unfortunately "sane" prices will only reappear after employment, wages or both start to fall precipitously.
 
Odd that the Detroit show is split into 2 dates this year, Jan 14-16 and 19-22nd. I understand maybe not doing the "weekdays" as they maybe a down time, but that's the best time to go. You could get good 1 on 1 time with salesman and really spend time snooping around the boats.

Weekends are like cattle drives. Unless your a hot chick or a dude whos gonna drop $200K on a boat without asking any questions, they pretty much give you a business card and say come see me at the marina. :) :) :)
 
Nashville TN's boat show is going on now thru Sunday. Heard it was loaded with dealers and vendors.
My wife and I went to the Nashville Boat Show yesterday. There seemed to be as many boats and dealers as in past years but very few vendors of other products. The boat dealers did seem too interested in engaging us to talk about their boats, let alone try to sell us one. I left a little disappointed.
 
Minneapolis boat show was last week. We got VIP tickets for Wednesday evening preview, from Bennington. The show mostly consisted of pontoons, pwc's, and fishing boats. The highest priced boat I saw was an aluminum fishing boat (twin 250HP Yamaha) from KingFisher. Show price was $383k.

I spoke with a dealer post-show that sells ski/wake boarding/wake surfing boats, and he said they didn't get the action (sales-wise) that they expected at the show. An individual "in the know" indicated pricing on pontoons is beginning to stabilize, as increased production is allowing manufacturers to spread fixed costs over more units (certainly not unique to any one brand). My wife was most shocked by the price of a slalom ski blank - $1800 for an HO Syndicate.

Also saw the BRP Rotax outboard, 150HP. Certainly unique looking. It will be interesting to see if the design catches on with fishing and pontoon markets.

Now just counting the days before boating season begins. In the meantime two ski trips and a trip to FL.
 
The Rotax S is certainly interesting but I doubt Yamaha, Merc or Zuke (or Honda or Tohatsu etc) will invest in something that is very limited in application. BRP already has significant market share in compact engines so it's probably more about applying their strategy across more product lines than revolutionizing the industry. The open rear deck is nice but you're limited to 150HP, and what is your re-power option down the road? Another BRP product.

Working on it also probably involves a haul out vs on the water like a traditional OB. Pluses and minuses but it probably will carve out a little comfortable niche market.
 
Potomacbassin',

All good points.

FWIW I remember a number of years ago, when the first 4 stroke outboards came out. Many in the industry declared we'd never see a 4 stroke larger than 90HP, due to the required robustness of the block. Now we have a 600HP 4 stroke from Merc, and numerous 4 stroke 300-450HP from the industry.

I most certainly agree that one may be locking themselves into the Rotax design, limiting re-power options.
 
Potomacbassin',

All good points… I most certainly agree that one may be locking themselves into the Rotax design, limiting re-power options.
The new Rotax outboard bolts to the transom using the same industry standard bolt pattern making re-power options not just limited to Rotax. However Rotax can easily expand motor options because they already own proven marine motors (up to 300hp) from the same family as their initial offering. Now with that said I will say that this motor has significant headwinds to overcome in the market place both real and imaginary. I think it is obvious to anyone familiar with the market this motor will fail. What surprises me is no one told the emperor he has no clothes. How could a respected company like BRP do this?
 
The new Rotax outboard bolts to the transom using the same industry standard bolt pattern making re-power options not just limited to Rotax. However Rotax can easily expand motor options because they already own proven marine motors (up to 300hp) from the same family as their initial offering. Now with that said I will say that this motor has significant headwinds to overcome in the market place both real and imaginary. I think it is obvious to anyone familiar with the market this motor will fail. What surprises me is no one told the emperor he has no clothes. How could a respected company like BRP do this?

It may fit the standard bolt pattern but how do you get a traditional OB under the rear decks? You would presumably have to remove the rear deck (or sections) but that eliminates one of the reasons the purchaser got the Rotax S variant in the first place.

I also don't know if there is a well in those boats for the traditional power head to tilt into.

CA1E6D54-E938-44D9-8E23-45E3C03F4A08.jpeg
 
Instead of the Rotax, why not just get an inboard/outboard? Our Mercruiser is a Chevy 5-liter and easy to service. We have a clean transom and plenty of stern deck space (used for changing room) .

20180602_140956.jpg
 
I had 1 Evinrude , other than louder ,I didn't mind it . BUT even with a 7 year warranty I was concerned about parts availability , so it was time to move on . BRP also owns manitou that's most likely the only place you will see them .
Evinrude had/has a big following ,this could change that .
 
It may fit the standard bolt pattern but how do you get a traditional OB under the rear decks? You would presumably have to remove the rear deck (or sections) but that eliminates one of the reasons the purchaser got the Rotax S variant in the first place.

I also don't know if there is a well in those boats for the traditional power head to tilt into.
To accommodate a standard outboard one would need to remove the middle deck section. Still a lot of deck area would remain. I would think that the center tube splash well would to be the same to deal with what the designers would consider to be worst case scenarios. How would you like to be a Manitou sales person dealing with this abortion? What was BRP thinking?1674754066866.jpeg
 
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