Brunswick selling off Sea Ray brand

A friend in the Palm coast area sent me this article this morning.

Good article. Thanks for sharing. I found it interesting that the Brunswick spokesperson said that they've had "good inbound interest from a number of potential buyers..." Who knows what that means for sure, but sounds like things are moving in the right direction for the Sea Ray brand to live on. That's a good thing.
 
I heard a rumor that Marine Max was trying to buy Sea Ray. I don’t know how I feel about MM buying them.
 
Stranger things have happened, but if you look at the published financials for MM, they are already heavily debt laden and acquiring Sea Ray would be like an ant eating an elephant. Additionally, consider the effect on MM's non-Brunswick brands when their largest dealer all of a sudden becomes a competitor.

Perhaps with a partner, but as a stand alone purchase, this doesn't seem plausible to me.
 
Stranger things have happened, but if you look at the published financials for MM, they are already heavily debt laden and acquiring Sea Ray would be like an ant eating an elephant. Additionally, consider the effect on MM's non-Brunswick brands when their largest dealer all of a sudden becomes a competitor.

Perhaps with a partner, but as a stand alone purchase, this doesn't seem plausible to me.


J & D Acquisitions/Larsen Boat Group would make some sense. But who knows, there could be VCs putting a fund together right now for the sole purpose of buying Sea Ray. Pretty good brand to start a portfolio with....My $.02 and that's about what it's worth...
 
A lot of that loss is estimated and includes intangibles like "losses on discontinued operations", which is one reason Brunswick has elected to sell the brand……i.e. a bucket to sweep every expense possible into for tax reasons.
 
And in these types of situations the broom can be very large. Clean up time for stuff hanging around on the books.
 
Might be cheaper to buy the company than to buy a 65 Fly.... We should throw in a buck and see if they will take our offer...
 
I attended the San Diego Boat Show last week. Sun Country Marine has the distribution rights to SeaRay in that region. They had on hand the following: a 400 Dancer, a L510, L550, L590 and an L650. Seems to me that whomever buys SeaRay they should take a look at consolidating their lineup. Too many boats, too much overhead and as mentioned earlier, demographics and lower industry sales volume working against them.
 
This appears to be going to be a business acquisition, not a liquidation. The buyer will assume liabilities and warranty exposure is a liability. Sea Ray builds a substantial amount in to their cost sheets for anticipated warranty costs, so there is no reason to abandon buyers. In fact, doing so will be substantially detrimental to the brand. which is what the acquiring company is really buying.

I think your biggest risk is the dealer you are going to buy from….will they support you and treat you properly? If you buy a used boat, consider where you are going to get it serviced, Sea Ray will advise you on any warranty items you have problems with. They are treating L class customers extremely well, up to and including taking the boats back to the factory for repairs at their cost when such a repair is warranted.
 
Thank you for your insights Frank. We have a few months before we will be pulling the trigger, so we will wait & see which way the wind is blowing with the Sea Ray business aquisition. My loyalty is with Sea Ray, but decisions can be budget driven & a major purchase such as this is no different. We are in the process of melting down some assets to afford the yacht of our dreams in our retirement. The price point for a new Sea Ray yacht is beyond our budget, so we are currently looking at a few used L-650 Express listings. There is no rush and hopefully the selection will widen when the time comes to take the plunge.
 
I was considering a used L-650 Express this spring, but I'm having second thoughts. How are warranty issues, etc. going to be handled?

I've had from new: Bertram, Sea Ray (a 480DB in 2001), Hydra Sport, Nautique, Intrepid and just took delivery of a new L-Class Sea Ray. Sea Ray service is the best of the bunch. I wouldn't worry about warranty issues, at least not in the next few years.
 
I've had from new: Bertram, Sea Ray (a 480DB in 2001), Hydra Sport, Nautique, Intrepid and just took delivery of a new L-Class Sea Ray. Sea Ray service is the best of the bunch. I wouldn't worry about warranty issues, at least not in the next few years.

My googling indicates an L650 runs nearly $2 million -- this puts you in the league with some of those yachts you see in on the pages of Power & Motor Yacht -- how does Sea Ray compare to Sunseeker or other similar yachts?
 
My googling indicates an L650 runs nearly $2 million -- this puts you in the league with some of those yachts you see in on the pages of Power & Motor Yacht -- how does Sea Ray compare to Sunseeker or other similar yachts?

My short list had Ferretti and Sunseeker on it. I think quality wise, all three are at the same level. Price wise, they're at the same level once you get to negotiating a purchase. So my decision was for Sea Ray because of the maintenance and service aspect. Factory is local, so you will get factory personnel if the issue is beyond the dealer level and parts are local. I didn't get a great vibe when I saw European electrical parts and thought about how I'd source them locally. I believe the Europeans were lighter which can be positive or negative based on your POV. I had a bunch of special stuff done on my boat which would have been unlikely on a European build and I went to the factory twice and had three sea trials, which again, would have been unlikely with a European boat.

Having said that, if Marine Max buys the brand, I will be unlikely to stay on as a customer.
 
My short list had Ferretti and Sunseeker on it. I think quality wise, all three are at the same level. Price wise, they're at the same level once you get to negotiating a purchase. So my decision was for Sea Ray because of the maintenance and service aspect. Factory is local, so you will get factory personnel if the issue is beyond the dealer level and parts are local. I didn't get a great vibe when I saw European electrical parts and thought about how I'd source them locally. I believe the Europeans were lighter which can be positive or negative based on your POV. I had a bunch of special stuff done on my boat which would have been unlikely on a European build and I went to the factory twice and had three sea trials, which again, would have been unlikely with a European boat.

It's an interesting problem to have choosing among those brands. It looks like so many are made in Europe or in Asia these days that the list of boats with an actual made in a America pedigree -- especially in that true, 50+ yacht category -- is pretty small.

With regard to boats of this type, how often are there needed corrections in actual factory produced components like hull and deck and other structural elements, and how much of it is aftermarket gear like engines, propping, house & marine electronics? I didn't think about the European component selection in electronics, either, that could be a real devil to deal with even if it was bog-standard (which isn't really on a boat) 120V electrical stuff.
 

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