Brunswick selling off Sea Ray brand

Fast small cruisers like some tugs you can trailer seem to be the way of the future. We see more every year. People trailer to an area we took days to get to, put their boat in and see what we see without the cost and time we spent to get there.
Hope SeaRay survives. Who ever buys it has to be able refit to the present market requirements without loosing brand integrity.
 
I'm not sure Private Equity would be jumping at a business that is losing revenue and profit year over year. More likely one of the Asian manufacturers would be mesmerized by the loyal customer base and take a longer look at how to make it work worldwide.

Taiwan and China come to mind since those markets have a lot of cash and disposable income.
 
I'm not sure Private Equity would be jumping at a business that is losing revenue and profit year over year. More likely one of the Asian manufacturers would be mesmerized by the loyal customer base and take a longer look at how to make it work worldwide.

Taiwan and China come to mind since those markets have a lot of cash and disposable income.
Said differently "cut costs and quality"
 
I know that this forum generally caters toward the larger end of SeaRays line, but I'm new to boating and still in the small boat range. We started with an 18' Searay that I just recently sold. I wanted to move into a new (or very nearly new) boat in the 23-26' bowrider type, and Searay has absolutely priced themselves out of that market. I liked what they were offering, but there was no way it was worth, in some cases, forty grand more than a competitor boat.

Hopefully the new owners recognize that.
 
I just ordered a 270 SDX OB to get a new boat before I head into retirement. I compared it to Chaparral and Four Winns equivalent boats, and casually against Crownline, Monterey, Regal, etc.

Yes, they are all very expensive, but after negotiation, they were all priced about the same when doing equivalent comparison. So SR has not priced itself away from others in this part of their segment, but the segment is rather expensive (large day boats).
 
I just ordered a 270 SDX OB to get a new boat before I head into retirement. I compared it to Chaparral and Four Winns equivalent boats, and casually against Crownline, Monterey, Regal, etc.

Yes, they are all very expensive, but after negotiation, they were all priced about the same when doing equivalent comparison. So SR has not priced itself away from others in this part of their segment, but the segment is rather expensive (large day boats).


I agree with this assessment. I spent the majority of the summer comparing boats before I bought my SPX210. Sea Ray was right where you would expect it to be price wise. It was a little cheaper than the Cobalt, about the same as a Crownline and Chaparral, more expensive than the Regal and Monteray. All told though, there wasn't even a $20,000 spread between the most expensive and the least for comparable boats. At the end of the day, we bought the Sea Ray for the quality and the layout suited our needs better.
 
Agree with many of the comments. Watching the warranty work being done by my dealer on new Sea Rays 40 feet and up leads me to believe that quality control is an issue, and I do not like the new designs. I just do not see the value for the money.

Just not sure my next one is a Sea Ray.

My experience exactly. I bought my boat based on the praise of others who had boats made in the day when Sea Ray made a fine product. My 2014 330DA is anything but that - multiple mechanical problems combined with shoddy craftsmanship and deceptive extended warranty coverage. A company like Sea Ray can only survive on customer loyalty. My next boat will not be a Sea Ray. I'm certain others have had the same experience. It really is a shame. The new owner will have a hell of a time reviving that lost loyalty.
 
I know that this forum generally caters toward the larger end of SeaRays line, but I'm new to boating and still in the small boat range. We started with an 18' Searay that I just recently sold. I wanted to move into a new (or very nearly new) boat in the 23-26' bowrider type, and Searay has absolutely priced themselves out of that market. I liked what they were offering, but there was no way it was worth, in some cases, forty grand more than a competitor boat.

Hopefully the new owners recognize that.
My point from the mouths of babes!!! Sean is right on point here. If SR doesn't change they will go to the side and not survive.

Seems to me that SR was hanging their hat on the L series, like the L650. Nice boat, but a lot of customers are not looking for "European Styling." I think as far as cruisers Americans are looking for 34-50 footers For years part of the pricing was based on "You are buying a Sea Ray!" Said another way you were buying the Sea Ray name.
 
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My point from the mouths of babes!!! Sean is right on point here. If SR doesn't change they will go to the side and not survive.

Seems to me that SR was hanging their hat on the L series, like the L650. Nice boat, but a lot of customers are not looking for "European Styling." I think as far as cruisers Americans are looking for 34-50 footers For years part of the pricing was based on "You are buying a Sea Ray!" Said another way you were buying the Sea Ray name.
Check out the article in Boat test.com. Tells the whole story
 
ADDvanced....you had a nice post going there, well thought out, data to back up your positions. You should have stopped writing when you ended the second to last paragraph, IMO. The problem with millennials, in my view, is that they won't take advice nor listen to advice. It's hard to understand people when they are willing to buy 16 oz of water for $1.79 or more when they can get it out of a faucet or drinking fountain; it's hard to feel for someone who went to a $40,000/year school to get a degree in a field that paid $18,000/year; it's hard to accept that someone is broke when they daily purchase a Vente, half calf, double shot, skinny frappe bullshit cup of coffee that you can get for $0.79 at home.

Rather than bitching that millennials are victims, maybe they should employ some of the mentality that made baby boomers so successful. I call it "Depression Era Mentality". Some may call it "waste not, want not, or a penny saved is a penny earned.

And as far as your comment about boomers "getting all the money"...well boomers PAID all the money! And if you think Bernie Sanders is the answer to the problems in this country, well, just circle back and re-read this post......over and over and over.....

Rant over,

Jaybeaux
 
Businesses absolutely love to blame millenials for not spending money, but we largely don't have any due to the greed of corporate executives.

Skip this response if you don't want a dose of the hard truth.

We don't blame millennials for not spending but it is certainly not because of the greed of corporate executives and big business - they are the ones who will give you a job.

Stop and look in the mirror - that is the person responsible for your financial destiny - no one else. Stop crying about executives making money as that will never help you - in fact the opposite may happen. Stop crying that education cost too much and you don't make enough money - that was the choice you made - I am sure there were plenty of alternatives including community colleges that were highly subsidized as well as work in trades that did not require college or work in the armed services. The more you want government to get involved the more of your freedom you will give up that you will never get back.

Go out get a job, build a career and stop expecting everything to be given for free. Hard work ethic is what results in success. College education only give you tools to succeed the rest is up to you. What happened to work hard and play hard - well I am sure most of the owners on this forum worked hard to enjoy their play on their boats.

If you really want to be able to afford a nice boat the work hard for it or if unwilling too then please crawl back wherever you came from and stop complaining.

-Kevin
 
I have no idea why I am responding to this , but here I am.

The recession of 2009 meant young graduates like myself were competing with people who graduated the past 5-10 years, and in one case I lost a position to a guy who had 17 years experience in my field.

Do you not see something wrong with the quote above? A guy had 17 years experience and you think it is wrong that he got the job instead of you? Really?
 
The cruiser market has definitely fallen off, at least on LKN. I am out on the lake about every weekend through the summer and for every 10 boats I see maybe 2 are cruisers, sedan bridge etc and the rest are some sort of day boat. Been boating on LKN since 2000 and 15yrs ago it was the opposite. I don't even look at new cruisers these days, so can't speak much about cost, I have been looking at 25' range bowriders - (SeaRay SLX, Sundecks and Cobalts) - new some of these boats exceed $100k - the used ones I am looking at are in the $30-$50k range. That's a lot of money for a toy, at least to me. Sure there are plenty of people that can afford or will figure a way to spend $100k for a bowrider or $500k, $1m or more for a cruiser or sedan bridge, but I personally don't think that market is sustainable for a production boat company - maybe I am wrong.

I do hope things work out, I have owned more SeaRays than any other boat, love the brand and would hat to see it go away.
 
I have a career. I've worked my fucking ass off since I graduated right in the middle of the recession.

Per your own statements, you were born in 1980. The recession was 2008=2010....took you the better part of 30 years to graduate?
 
It looks like this topic took a turn for the ugly.

Anywho, looks like winter is finally settling in..... Who can I blame for that :)?
 
An hours work does not buy you as much beer as it used to. Or a boat for that matter.
 
It looks like this topic took a turn for the ugly.

Anywho, looks like winter is finally settling in..... Who can I blame for that :)?

I just wish it would start warming up as soon as the days started getting longer. Alas, that isn't the case.
 
Yikes. ADDvance you really need to figure out a way to communicate and make your arguments without the nonsense and profanity. You are 37 years old and frankly pushing "wealth redistribution" is a dead subject. Both Bernie and Hillary lost the election so ranting or publishing manifestos won't change a thing.

Also, if you want to rant politically we have a section of this site reserved for that which is the The Holding Tank where you can say whatever you want.
 
I was totally unprepared for the amount of time and money it takes to keep a 30'+ twin engine boat ready to be used at all times with everything working like things do in your car and your house. I want my boat to be ready to go, so its essentially my retirement job. You let something on it sit unused for a brief while, and pow, it doesn't work when you need it. So I look after stuff for hours almost every day. Now the money part is a challenge. Slip fees, insurance, annual maintenance, property taxes. Those are the must pay items. You could just do that and let it rot in the water (like many, many do). If you can afford to hire someone to take care of it for you, then you are all set. For the rest of us, its gotta be a family love or you are going to back out of it after enough frustrations.

Boating simply isn't an affordable pastime for the majority of the world. It just isn't. And as more and more of the money continues to go for the rich to get richer (see current tax plan) - well, that's where the boating market needs to go. Which means less buyers for all the manufacturers (I mean, how many boats is one billionaire going to buy).
 

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