Report from the Boat Show

You know the drill..

Moderators: Redneck_Randy, badmoonrising, lakerunner

Post Reply
Message
Author
Bamaman
Posts: 3679
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:44 pm
Location: NW Alabama--Tennessee River

Report from the Boat Show

#1 Post by Bamaman » Sat Jan 14, 2012 7:14 am

Went to the Nashville Boat Show last night, and have the following observations:

1. The most active floor traffic was centered around pontoon boat dealers.
2. Much of the floor was taken with 20-24' inboard and inboard outboard bow rider boats, few of which were being looked at by potential customers.
3. Relatively few bass boats were on the floor. The Skeeter dealer's 21' bass boat with Merc. 250 was $61K. Oh!
4. Bennington was the class of the pontoons, followed by Manitou, Premier and Cypress Cay. Fit and finish of these boats is incredible.
5. The dealers appeared to be pretty aggressive on prices, and made it clear they were willing to deal.
6. The Bennington dealer's prices were affordable on the 22' to 24' models with 115 hp and 150 hp engines. All included premium trailers, full covers and stainless props. The prices quoted were often in line with lesser quality boats.
7. The fiberglass pedestal drivers' consoles are incredibly nice, but they take up so much room. Many boats are being ordered with them, however. You feel like you're sitting in a Peterbilt seat--but who needs so many gauges.
8. Many high line pontoons are now equipped with rear facing sun beds--doubles and triples. It's the new trend.
9. The fit and finish of some of the second tier pontoon boats were not so good--sitting next to the "big 4". There was a noticeable difference in the quality of welding and the structure of the transoms on the premium pontoons.
10. The new Mercury 150 engine appears to be a magnificent engine--perfect for pontoons. The boat salesmen are all having to go to school on the engine, benefits and how to sell'em.
11. Few ETEC's were mounted on pontoons--Yamaha's were dominant (due to the specific dealers' franchises.)
12. The dealers appear to prefer the regular Yamaha 200-250 hp engines, due to torque, gearing, etc. They said the 20" VMax SHO's are great for bass boats, but the other models are better on pontoons.
13. One high line pontoon dealer also sells Suzuki motors, and he was especially high on their 140 hp model.
14. Pontoon boat dealers that used to sell numerous brands are now carrying only one brand--if it's a premium boat. The get more return out of marketing one full line brand over 4-5 brands and not doing a good job selling any.
14. There were only a couple of large fiberglass cruisers there. Nobody brought in any of the 80' aluminum barge houseboats (from SE KY) for the show due to their being too expensive to move.
15. The mid level inboard dedicated ski boats were running about $75K. I think the cheapest was $45K There were just too many dealers trying to sell them, and I'm doubtful many of these dealerships will be successful.
16. Floor traffic was a little slow due to unusually cold temperatures. It should improve today with a sunny 46 degree day.
17. Don't stop by Maggiano's Italian Grille before going to the boat show. We were miserable, and still brought home enough food for 3 big meals. If we'd had a couple of bottle of wine, we'd probably proud owners of a new Bennington.

If you're in the market, or if you're not in the market--go to the Boat Shows. It's an education.
'12 Bennington 24' SSLX Yamaha 150

User avatar
GregF
Posts: 3323
Joined: Thu Aug 26, 2010 8:47 pm
Location: Estero Florida

Re: Report from the Boat Show

#2 Post by GregF » Sat Jan 14, 2012 8:48 am

As for gauges, 4 strokes have more to watch. You really should have oil pressure, water temperature, water pressure, and volts. That is in addition to the fuel, speedo and tach that most boats have.
Yamaha (and others I assume) will put most of this in a single digital display. Personally I trust analog gauges more but I am old.

I am always reminded of the difference between accuracy and precision.

A digital gauge can give you an inaccurate reading, precise out to two decimal places.
1974 Harris
70 HP 4 stroke EFI Yamaha

Bamaman
Posts: 3679
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:44 pm
Location: NW Alabama--Tennessee River

Re: Report from the Boat Show

#3 Post by Bamaman » Sat Jan 14, 2012 11:31 am

One incredible electronic item was on the dash of a 36' Sea Ray. It had a radar screen, a GPS screen and the bottom half of the screen showed the shape of the bottom of the lake.

I wonder what the Italians of Costa Line were looking at when the let their 117,000 ton ship run aground yesterday?
'12 Bennington 24' SSLX Yamaha 150

bassn386
Posts: 1640
Joined: Sat Aug 21, 2010 3:45 pm
Location: Lake of the Ozarks, MO

Re: Report from the Boat Show

#4 Post by bassn386 » Sat Jan 14, 2012 2:18 pm

Bamaman, our Benni has the rear facing chaise's and those were ordered at the specific direction of the Admiral. I could have cared less because I only get to occupy one chair, but she loves it back there and because of that, the grand kids are always back there with her. On the Four Winns they always wanted to be up on the bow. Go figure.
I think it was GregF that commented on gauges, specifically oil pressure, water temp & pressure. I have the Yamaha F225 and I don't think I have any of them on my dash board. IIRC, there's rpm, mph, trim, a digital hour meter in the tach and a digital compass on the speedo. I'm not going to go take the cover off to look, but I remember the gauges being pretty clean and simple. My complaint is with the different rocker panels for accessories. Several ACCY panels mean different things and at least one of them isn't hooked to anything.
2011 Bennington 2575RCW w/ ESP
F225 Yamaha

zanemoseley
Posts: 9
Joined: Wed Jan 04, 2012 7:55 pm

Re: Report from the Boat Show

#5 Post by zanemoseley » Sat Jan 14, 2012 3:37 pm

What was your impression of the South Bay 500 series pontoons? They had a 522CPTR that had nice dual captains chairs up front with a console between them. We ran by the Bennigntons but didn't spend long as we thought they would be well above the targeted $25k price range. We were dissapointed to see Leisure Kraft didn't attend.

Image

Bamaman
Posts: 3679
Joined: Fri May 06, 2011 1:44 pm
Location: NW Alabama--Tennessee River

Re: Report from the Boat Show

#6 Post by Bamaman » Sat Jan 14, 2012 5:30 pm

The South Bay was also nice. I like the floorplan on the model above--nice.

Some of the prices quoted on the Benningtons were actually comparable or slightly less than the SunTracker. I don't know if they deal that way everyday of the year, or if it was because their Bennington sales rep was on the spot. I do know that dealer's sold a bunch of pontoons over the years. (I used to travel thru that town @ work.)

Leisure Kraft would have done well to have been represented in Nashville, since their manufacturing facilities are only 130 miles away. I would have liked to have seen'em.

Another local manufacturer I would have liked to have seen was Catamaran Cruisers--budget line of fiberglass pontoon houseboats. There are very few houseboat makers in the market making affordable houseboats.
'12 Bennington 24' SSLX Yamaha 150

Post Reply