Brunswick dumping Sports Yachts and Yachts. Where do we stand?

Prestige 50 - 60 feet are all over the northeast. Ive seen in Conn, East end of LI, Rhode Island. There are buyers out there and every one I speak to is happy with them.
 
Prestige 50 - 60 feet are all over the northeast. Ive seen in Conn, East end of LI, Rhode Island. There are buyers out there and every one I speak to is happy with them.

Not sure you have been on one of these but there is no comparison in overall quality to the SR's of similar size. Prestige sells for quite a bit less for a reason. Displacement is typically a third less because they use lighter less dense materials that are of lesser quality. Just walk aboard and you can feel the floor give as you walk. I am not saying they are awful boats, they are quite good but just not the same as the SR's. When I told the Prestige salesman I was going with SR all he could say was "those are great boats" and tried to get me to switch based only on price. Lucky for them, SR will not be a competitor any longer.
 
Not sure you have been on one of these but there is no comparison in overall quality to the SR's of similar size. Prestige sells for quite a bit less for a reason. Displacement is typically a third less because they use lighter less dense materials that are of lesser quality. Just walk aboard and you can feel the floor give as you walk. I am not saying they are awful boats, they are quite good but just not the same as the SR's. When I told the Prestige salesman I was going with SR all he could say was "those are great boats" and tried to get me to switch based only on price. Lucky for them, SR will not be a competitor any longer.

I agree and most of us on this board wouldn't buy this quality of boat as we are enthusiasts. My argument is that prestige found a niche of buyers that took the bait. Their management and marketing teams did their research and built a decent boat with a great layout at a price point. Why couldn't searay Management do this? I see Princess yachts all over as well. I'm just soured that Searay abandoned a loyal group.... I was set on a new 520 as my next boat. Not sure if you all saw this new sundancer or flybridge.... they hit it on this one.
 
My argument is that prestige found a niche of buyers that took the bait. Their management and marketing teams did their research and built a decent boat with a great layout at a price point. Why couldn't searay Management do this?

Brunswick/Sea Ray already tried.... remember Meridian?

Back a few years ago when the L Series was announced, I had envisioned Brunswick/Sea Ray separating the L off to be marketed as a distinct brand much the way Carver did with Marquis. I’m sort of surprised they weren’t able to sell it off as a separate brand/entity as a turn key operation. Getting some number of millions of dollars for the assets/molds/real estate/business seems better to me than shuttering it and essentially hoping to find a buyer for the two skeleton plants. Then again, I wasn’t in the board room.

I’ll say that while the Prestige, Galeon, etc. are probably substandard to a Sea Ray, they will undoubtedly fill the market now that Sea Ray has waved the white flag and handed it to them. There are other better options IMO such as Riviera, Sunseeker, Princess, and even Marquis that will attract this segment as well. For instance, a friend just took delivery of an ‘18 60’ Riviera and that is a beautiful boat despite Volvo pod drives.

The remaining market must be jumping up and down at the opportunity to step in and court the high net-worth customers that Sea Ray chose to leave curbside.
 
There are other better options IMO such as Riviera, Sunseeker, Princess, and even Marquis that will attract this segment as well. For instance, a friend just took delivery of an ‘18 60’ Riviera and that is a beautiful boat despite Volvo pod drives.

Put Tiara in that Mix as well. Agreed on the Riviera, they produce a really nice yacht.
 
Put Tiara in that Mix as well. Agreed on the Riviera, they produce a really nice yacht.

I agree on Tiara but purposely excluded them since they don’t build anything larger than 53’. My post was from the position of us that are already over that LOA and thinking of our next step up.

I should’ve listed Hatteras as well, their 60’ yacht is a true high-quality contender for the 60’+ buyer.
 
Will take me awhile to sort this out personally. I have owned BC for many years and understand the business dynamics and customer changes taking place. However, I have noticed that while I used to always wear my SeaRay shirts/caps/coozies with great pride...but now.. well, a bit less so...
 
International 'mid-sized cruiser' builders
-------------------------
Riviera -- Australia
Prestige -- French
Azimut -- Italy
Sunseeker -- UK
Princess -- UK
Galeon - Poland

US 'mid-sized cruiser' builders (ex. SeaRay and Meridian)
--------------
Regal -- Florida (35 models offered, only 4 above 40')
Tiara -- Michigan (9 models, 6 > 40')
Cruisers -- Wisconsin (21 models, 7 > 40')
Carver -- Wisconsin (7 models, 1 > 40')

So where does/did SeaRay fit in this market?? The company (specifically their capital investment in the yacht division) was simply struggling with the wrong product manufactured in the wrong country.
 
The reality is the 25-40 foot length is probably a sweet spot for must of us mortals. Gas engines cheaper than diesel. Can be handled single handed. Not completely killer to wash, wax and keep clean. Slips, storage and such remain "reasonable."
 
I'm biased with the Riv's and love their new 68 and 72 Sports Motor Yachts - not that I have the coin to buy one or operate one. When I casually enquired there was already a 2 year waiting list. I'd happily settle on a Riv shaft drive 47 Sports Yacht, 47 Fly or 51 Fly though.

Are there many Maritimo's in the US?
 
I agree and most of us on this board wouldn't buy this quality of boat as we are enthusiasts. My argument is that prestige found a niche of buyers that took the bait. Their management and marketing teams did their research and built a decent boat with a great layout at a price point. Why couldn't searay Management do this? I see Princess yachts all over as well. I'm just soured that Searay abandoned a loyal group.... I was set on a new 520 as my next boat. Not sure if you all saw this new sundancer or flybridge.... they hit it on this one.
It’s a nice layout but the power package I believe is only Zeus pods. It would be better if you can order with straight shaft drives.
 
It’s a nice layout but the power package I believe is only Zeus pods. It would be better if you can order with straight shaft drives.
The 520 Sea Rays that were built were all Zeus pods with Cummins. There was a straight shaft with MANs version being developed but it never made it to production.
 
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Between foreign tariffs and Sea Ray shutting down larger boat mfg - I’m glad I don’t have a boat under warranty and the used market for popular models just got a 25% increase in value. That’s my take! The guy wanting a new boat just got a 25% price hike and the 420 & 48DA’s (built between 2003 and 2007) just got more expensive.
 
Not to confuse disposable income with facts but:

https://www.statista.com/topics/1138/recreational-boating/

The US boating industry has been flat and declining for several years. Sea Ray and everyone else sees the same numbers. Yes, disposable income plays a role and any kind of boat ownership is expensive.

That said....when I talked to a friend in the boat building business he said that the industry sold 240,000 boats in the US last year which includes jet skis and pontoon boats. The most popular models had outboard power. He said across the board new customers are shifting what they buy and that there are 10-12% fewer customers from 2016. I can't validate that statistic but if it is true.....it would support a consolidating market place. The only winners in that story are companies like MarineMax who can sell new or broker older boats.

He said the manufacturers have been in denial for a long time. They just have a hard time believing that the next generation of customers would rather spend time on social media than go boating.

My Dad is a golf manufacturer and golf is declining rapidly and I find a lot of similarities to boating declines. It seems that people are not interested to a great degree in outdoor activities in the ways that they used to be, especially activities that take more than a couple of hours. I do believe that social media does have a lot to do with it. I think that lower stagnant wages, worse jobs and student loans also play a big role in keeping people from expensive recreational activities. My daughter is a teen and her friends dont even want to drive or have a car.
 
I agree that people just don’t want to spend that much of their time playing golf anymore.
I dabbled in it for a lot of years. Playing a couple of times a season. About 15 years ago I decided to take lessons, up my game, and spend more time doing it.
That lasted about a year. Not an easy thing to do around here, and I say this as someone who lives a chip shot away from Bethpage Black. You literally either turn in to that parking lot, or turn the other way in to my street. Very long days often made longer by waiting for tee times and slow foursomes in front of you.
It was even harder to explain to my wife why I was spending one full day of my short weekend away from her and the kids who were little at the time.
Boating is much more of a family pastime.
I’m not so sure that finances plays as big a role as I would think they should in the decline of some of these activities for younger adults.
Between my wife and I we have a bunch of nieces and nephews in the mid 20’s - mid 30’s age bracket. Some have kids, some are still single. Most had a fair amount of student loan debt. Very few of them let it impact on their leisure time or activities. They like vacations, going out to expensive dinners and drinks, nail salons, Starbucks, etc..
They place a lot more importance on living the good life than they do about debt, investing, home ownership, or owning a lot of the things my generation cared about.
Sometimes I think they don’t care because they are just waiting for my generation to croak so they can get all our stuff instead of worrying about getting their own.
I think it’s a recipe for disaster.
 
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There was a time ago (10 years ago) I played golf 3,4,5 rounds a week.

Pretty much consumed. Had played for 25 years. Over the top consumed. Boating broke that addiction. Have not played in years.

mark
 
Frank,

Robin Williams (may he rest in peace) will explain golf to you:

 
From what Ive seen of SOLD PRICES over the last 3 months used Sea Ray boats are selling for more than they were over the previous two years imho. Now that Brunswick Corporation made the decision in my opinion to shut down the SR 40’+ line of boats that have stood the test of time an we’re & are well proven sellers for the Euro style crap it’s a dam shame.i think they have built the best in there past but not in short term last several years.

I had hoped someone with foresight would have determined what worked & what didn’t and corrected the poor path they were on. Yes it’s tough out there with the competition but SR past record and this forum prove the demand is, was & will still be there for quite sometime. They could probably have picked almost any ten people off this forum to help advise them with what the customers whom have been loyal fans and users of their products want the boats to be compared to where they went.

My sincere apologies to all the many loyal men & women whom helped make SR who they were and regret hearing of so many terminations and plant shut downs. During recessions and tough economic times these things weigh on everyone’s minds.

While we know very few of you, everyone that we do know was a strong advocate and personal sales representative in everything they did for SR.

Many thanks and may you find your needs met somewhere somehow as quickly as possible.

John Martin
2001 420AC
2006 52DB
 

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