Brunswick selling off Sea Ray brand

northern said:
If you were to buy SeaRay what would you do to make the boats appeal to the potential buyers.
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Gofirstclass said:
Northern, what a great post. This would be a good one for a separate thread on how to make SR a better boat. I have some ideas but will wait to see if you open up a new thread.
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It would be a good thread, already an interesting start....making a boat appealing to buyers vs make a better boat.
 
Woody said:
It would be a good thread, already an interesting start....making a boat appealing to buyers vs make a better boat.
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Woody, those two concepts don't have to be mutually exclusive. I guess it would depend on your notion of what constitutes "making a better boat."

IMHO, making a better boat doesn't necessarily mean making it more structurally sound. "Better" comes in many forms.

I would say if they got rid of the interiors that look like a cheap, inner city apartment with all the flat, monochromatic colors, squared corners and cold furnishings, that would make it a better boat.
 
Love the video,, lol. a few of my Son's friends could be in that video,,,
As far as Sea Ray goes, ,, tough to imagine where or how they are going to end up. I'm glad I'm not in the market for a new boat right now, they really don't offer anything appealing right now.
 
When saying they need to make a more appealing boat to potential buyers I think we have to keep in mind that many of our generation (I'm 58) wouldn't be their target market. They have to somehow draw in the younger, mid-thirty buyers who will eventually move up. That'll start with establish brand loyalty in smaller boats and more than like wake-board boats. They were super late to that party.

My boat style and price point hit the sweet spot for me but in a few years when I want to move up there won't be a Sea Ray that fills the bill. They will either be of a design I don't care for or more than double of what I paid. Many of our age are probably planning for retirement relatively soon and doubling up on our boating expenses probably doesn't make a lot of sense for that.
 
Great lakes pirate said:
Average cost of a home is 381,000??? Well maybe you should start with a 200 k house then. I don’t know or care where you live, but that kind of scratch will buy you a really nice house in my neck of the woods. Your stats are jacked buddy. Sorry.
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Or a prefab or mobile home for $800 a month.....
 
Tonka Boater said:
This article is interesting and provides some possible insight into the reasons that Brunswick may be selling only Sea Ray.

The article quotes from an SEC filing that says, "The sale was authorized, the company stated, “as a result of, among other things, a change in strategic direction and a review of the expected future cash flows, market conditions and business trends.”

Looking at this from strictly a business standpoint, I think Sea Ray screwed up with their strategy by making the decision to go into the high-end market.

Looking at their lineup, they have 22 hulls and 40 different models. For one, that's way to many options. For another, they more or less abandoned the middle- to upper middle class consumer.

Look at the prices on the first 8 hulls...

SPX 190 - $36,700
SPX 210 - $43,800
SPX 230 - $54,000
SLX 230 - $76,800
SLX 230W - $113,100
SLX 250 - $107,800
SLX 280 - $139,600
SLX 310 - $229,300

Only 4 models under $100k, and because these are base MSRP, there are really only 3 under $75k because the SPX 230 will be pushing $75 when you spec it out.

Again, that's the first 8 hulls out of 40 total models. There's nothing here that's compelling for the middle class consumer. It's jumps from $75k to over $100k very quickly. Boats are "want to have", not "need to have" and there are a ton of companies, products and industries competing for our "want to have" disposable income.
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WOW. Not much choice and spendy. So it looks like the "pre-owned" market would be better....It will be interesting how SR maneuvers through this challenge. I will be at the Seattle Boat show in about 7 weeks. I will give a report.
 
Not sure why but parts of this thread remind me of the Four Yorkshiremen skit.

You're lucky. We lived for three months in a rolled up newspaper in a septic tank. We used to hadta get up a'six in the morning, clean da newspaper, eat a crusta stale bread, go to work down the mill, for a 14 hour day, week in week out for 6 cents a month, and when we got home, our dad would thrash us to sleep with his belt.

Luxury. We used to hafta get 'out the lake, 3 am, clean the lake, eat a handful 'o hot gravel, work 20 hours a day at mill, for a penny a month, and dad would beat us about the head and neck with a broken bottle, if we were lucky.

Well o course we had it tough. We used to have to get up outta shoebox, in middle of night, and lick the road clean with our tongues. We had half a handful of freezing cold gravel, worked at mill for 24 hours for a penny a year, When we got home, our dad would slash it in two with bread-knife.
 
Many Millennials are in debt with collage loans because they "insisted" on going to collages that neither they or their parents could afford. Throw on top of that 50k-100k weddings and exotic honeymoons followed by expensive annual vacations. Follow that up with new car leases and dinner out 3-4 times a week and you have what the chart above shows. State universities, back yard weddings and 10 year old 100k mile cars with weekend camping trips in the woods would bring that chart into line.
 
You can obviously tell I didn't go to "college". But I have graduated from "the school of life". Try it sometime and stop complaining.
 
ADDvanced said:
No, I found it stupid and offensive, and if you believe most people in the millenial age bracket act like that, you're living in a bubble. I would say about half the people I know my age or younger have never even gone to starbucks because they don't want to spend $5 on a cup of coffee.

I guess if I start generalizing old people it's fine, right?
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Dude,

You are 37 years old.....in less than 3 years you will be 40. Do you think just because you complain about not having money....people are going to give you what they have earned because they feel sorry for you? That is pathetic.

If you believe that set up your GoFundMe site, solicit donations and whine about how the deck is stacked against you....who knows you may get some rich liberals who take pity on you.

I have zero sympathy for you. I have four daughters ranging from 29 to 39 and they all have college degrees, zero student loans and solid jobs. Three have bought houses. They all worked jobs from 16 years old on up and they learned you had to work in order to make money. More importantly they learned that they had to create value in the workplace to build a career.

Take the socialism crap somewhere else.
 
ADD, do you REALLY expect us to believe the crap in your post #216 when it is put out by an organization called "Millennials for Revolution"?

“There are lies, there are damned lies, and then there are statistics”. --Winston Churchill

The implication was that statistics and the manipulative way they were presented were the biggest lies of them all.
 
Millennials for Revolution aka Bernie for President
 
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Why are you guys feeding this idiot?
Doubt he even has a boat, just signed up to stir it up.
 
ADD - You sure have published a lot of charts and graphs, and have studied the numbers. It may be an indication that you are smart... maybe very smart.

The problem is your lack of wisdom. You profess socialism as the cure. Yet, the downfall you complain of has occurred concurrently with this country's adoption of more and more socialist leaning economic policies. Socialism is the cause, not the cure. One small example... the increased cost of a college education you are complaining about is directly related to the government getting in the business of ensuring virtually anyone could get a loan for education. That created a much bigger pool of customers. As a result, this allowed colleges and universities to charge more money. So, the leftist solution to the problem of some people not be able to afford an education has been to make it unaffordable for a whole lot more people.

Free market capitalism (like all economies) is incredibly unfair. However, it has created far, far more wealth, and a greater standard of living than any other in all of human history. Society as a whole does far better under free-market capitalism. Socialism destroys wealth and lowers the standard of living everywhere it is tried. Society always does worse under socialism. And it is having the same effect here. So, if you want improvement for yourself, and that of your children, learn to say 'no' to the elitists like Sanders peddling envy-ism, and victimhood, and suggesting the solution to your problems is to have the government confiscate from others to give to you.
 
Well my daughter graduated from a private college at 20 years old. First person in the history of the school to graduate from the honors program in only 3 years. This is pretty prestigious (and expensive) college (http://www.westminster.edu/index.cfm). The tuition was about $145,000 for 4 years (remember she graduated in 3). She busted her butt and got a bunch of grants and the rest was student loans. She graduated in 2015 and 2 months later bought a $40,000 vehicle. In December of 2016 she bought a house on her own. No boyfriend, fiancee, etc. This year at 23 she made 6 figures. How? She busted her butt, worked hard, saved, and did it. She just started a real estate investment company. She could sit here and cry about having $50,000 in student loans but instead she worked harder than the next person and has a goal of being a millionaire by 30. She won't get there by going on a forum and complaining.
 
Well ADD, if this country is so bad for you, I am sure a fundme account could be created to raise the $100 for a passport. Then you could use that passport to immigrate to a better country of your choice and stay......Off my box.....Back to the sale of SR...

So how do you think SR dealers are feeling right now? Future to them may seem bleak. With all the boat shows coming up, who would by a new SR when you are not sure where the company is going?
 
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