Brunswick selling off Sea Ray brand

It is sad to read.

I'm surprised that the range was 24' to 40'. I would have thought their sweet spot was 24' to 50'. That said....I don't know their financials or have a view of their manufacturing facilities/capabilities.

It doesn't surprise me that the latest luxury offerings are being targeted since it takes years to recover new development and tooling costs.

I'm guessing that fpmarine.com is one of the bidders sorting through the stranded assets and inventory.
 
From Brunswick investor relations:
 

Attachments

  • Sea Ray June Announcement Call Presentation - FINAL.pdf
    1.3 MB · Views: 265
This is a sad day for great American workmanship delivered by Searay for 50 years. I've grown through the brand with a 240, 320, 420, and now 48DA. Giving up on the 40+ range tells me something is wrong in management. People are purchasing these boats in fact an entire market has opened up for the euro boats coming into the US. Prestige and Galeon, are selling well in this range. America has got to figure this out.....I cant even buy a ford Van anymore that isn't made oversees. Very Sad..... we've lost the competitiveness.
 
Rocket said:
Prestige and Galeon, are selling well in this range. America has got to figure this out.....
Click to expand...

I know that brand-bashing isn't endorsed by CSR, but if any thread warrants it...

There's something about these cheap imports, because you're right - they're expanding while SR is shrinking, but I don't get it. I looked at big Prestige for a friend of mine. I rejected it outright before I even stepped aboard. The rail had so much slop to it that I let go in fear of pulling it out of the gunnel. It didn't get better as I looked deeper. Same thing with Galeons. I walked through them and couldn't stop saying, "they must be kidding".

SR seemed to be losing some identity. Some models are Euro, others were just odd and disproportionate. All were expensive. I guess that was just a losing formula?
 
RollerCoastr said:
I know that brand-bashing isn't endorsed by CSR, but if any thread warrants it...

There's something about these cheap imports, because you're right - they're expanding while SR is shrinking, but I don't get it. I looked at big Prestige for a friend of mine. I rejected it outright before I even stepped aboard. The rail had so much slop to it that I let go in fear of pulling it out of the gunnel. It didn't get better as I looked deeper. Same thing with Galeons. I walked through them and couldn't stop saying, "they must be kidding".

SR seemed to be losing some identity. Some models are Euro, others were just odd and disproportionate. All were expensive. I guess that was just a losing formula?
Click to expand...

I don't disagree, the euro boats scare me as well. But they figured out a formula to work for that price point. Honestly Ive been searching for our next boat and I cant find a replacement for my 48DA. I was at the Miami show and thought the 52DA was well done and it was on my list. Or even the L550..... where to look next?
 
Rocket said:
I was at the Miami show and thought the 52DA was well done and it was on my list. Or even the L550..... where to look next?
Click to expand...

I've always thought that 80% of Tiara's were "aesthetically challenged", but the 53 coupe and Flybridge stop me in my tracks. I don't know how they're selling, but I wish SeaRay had gone that way. They're fresh-looking, without going euro. There's something about them to me that look solidly, unapologetically American.
 
Rocket said:
This is a sad day for great American workmanship delivered by Searay for 50 years. I've grown through the brand with a 240, 320, 420, and now 48DA. Giving up on the 40+ range tells me something is wrong in management. People are purchasing these boats in fact an entire market has opened up for the euro boats coming into the US. Prestige and Galeon, are selling well in this range. America has got to figure this out.....I cant even buy a ford Van anymore that isn't made oversees. Very Sad..... we've lost the competitiveness.
Click to expand...

Something wrong in management or something wrong in economics? I guess I'm inclined to think that the economy just isn't producing enough people in the income ranges that can afford to buy these boats. Combine that with boats that have gotten much more expensive as they've added complex features and electronics and you have a product that's accelerating in cost while the number of buyers has shrunk.

I'm also not sure that Sea Ray benefits by having MarineMax so dominant. My experience with their service department was pretty bad. The work was done right, but off the written estimate by 40%, including parts that were estimated at half their actual price. I've seen other complaints in this forum about bad service there, too.
 
I wonder if inboards & I/Os might be part of the reason. More and more I see folks around here opting for outboard-equipped boats. I know the Venture 37 wasn't big hit, but there were some idiosyncrasies to that one. Perhaps SR needs to emulate Intrepid's cruisers, and similar boats, a bit.
 
Third Edition said:
I wonder if inboards & I/Os might be part of the reason. More and more I see folks around here opting for outboard-equipped boats. I know the Venture 37 wasn't big hit, but there were some idiosyncrasies to that one. Perhaps SR needs to emulate Intrepid's cruisers, and similar boats, a bit.
Click to expand...

I mean there are reasons to gripe about the maintenance with I/Os, but if outboards were the only option I would be a lot less interested in boating generally. Anchoring and integrating the boat with the water is a huge part of the boating equation for me. Big ol' outboards on the transom may not bother center console guys (in fact, I think the bigger the better actually drives some center console sales), but if it was the only option I would be a lot less interested in boating.

I owned a Yamaha SX-190 jet drive boat before my 310 Sundancer. I would trade my I/O for a jet drive any day of the week but would not even consider an outboard powered boat. If I won the lottery I would almost definitely be on a plane to Maine to place my order for Hinckley.
 
mobocracy said:
I mean there are reasons to gripe about the maintenance with I/Os, but if outboards were the only option I would be a lot less interested in boating generally. Anchoring and integrating the boat with the water is a huge part of the boating equation for me. Big ol' outboards on the transom may not bother center console guys (in fact, I think the bigger the better actually drives some center console sales), but if it was the only option I would be a lot less interested in boating.

I owned a Yamaha SX-190 jet drive boat before my 310 Sundancer. I would trade my I/O for a jet drive any day of the week but would not even consider an outboard powered boat. If I won the lottery I would almost definitely be on a plane to Maine to place my order for Hinckley.
Click to expand...

I feel the same way. Outboards on cruiser-class boats just don't do it for me. If I won the lottery I would also head to Maine for a boat. But it would be to Rockland, ME, home of Back Cove. I would definitely NOT but optioning their new 34O twin outboard cruiser, however. Yuck.
 
RollerCoastr said:
I've always thought that 80% of Tiara's were "aesthetically challenged", but the 53 coupe and Flybridge stop me in my tracks. I don't know how they're selling, but I wish SeaRay had gone that way. They're fresh-looking, without going euro. There's something about them to me that look solidly, unapologetically American.
Click to expand...
My buddy has a 44 Coupe Tiara and the quality is excellent, all around. It runs well and is efficient.
 
MonacoMike said:
The upper middle class that built Sea Ray is mostly gone. What are the demographics of the family that can afford a new $400k boat. It could be wrong, but my feeling is boat prices have risen way above the incomes of the type of folks they used to sell to.

MM
Click to expand...
I think boating is general is like this, and not just Sea Ray. Boats are just darned expensive. 11 years ago my boat's MSRP was ~$110k but I paid ~$65k. I would not have considered something above $150k. I thought about a 290 AJ but the price jump was too big. Even now I wouldn't realistically be in the market for a $150k boat.

I've noticed fewer boats in the yard where I keep mine. Both in total during the season, and for storage. Around here more people seem to be moving towards smaller boats they can store at home in the off-season.
 
mobocracy said:
Something wrong in management or something wrong in economics? I guess I'm inclined to think that the economy just isn't producing enough people in the income ranges that can afford to buy these boats. Combine that with boats that have gotten much more expensive as they've added complex features and electronics and you have a product that's accelerating in cost while the number of buyers has shrunk.

I'm also not sure that Sea Ray benefits by having MarineMax so dominant. My experience with their service department was pretty bad. The work was done right, but off the written estimate by 40%, including parts that were estimated at half their actual price. I've seen other complaints in this forum about bad service there, too.
Click to expand...

Labor, its not like the Euro boats are 3rd world countries. Like all skilled laborers they get paid and I am sure have unions and benefits.
Materials, its been a world market, we should be able to source the materials for the same cost if not better.
So it has to be management.... if direct costs are similar, what are they doing wrong. Marketing, poor product development, technologies....
I would agree that this market has diminished but Galeon and Prestige are selling.....At least in the NE.
Searay should be able to build a quality boat in this range and stay in the game. Dropping 825 skilled laborers is a problem for US production. Sorry for the rant all, just really unhappy with this news.
 
mobocracy said:
I'm also not sure that Sea Ray benefits by having MarineMax so dominant. My experience with their service department was pretty bad. The work was done right, but off the written estimate by 40%, including parts that were estimated at half their actual price. I've seen other complaints in this forum about bad service there, too.
Click to expand...

Service - well this has been a problem at 90% of the marinas ive worked with. Searay should be working with MM on quality of service. I left a MM marina to a privately owned one. It cost me about 15% more a year but in the 8 years ive been there, no downtime. Owner involvement in a service business has always proven to be better than a corporate scenario like MM.
 
MonacoMike said:
The upper middle class that built Sea Ray is mostly gone. What are the demographics of the family that can afford a new $400k boat. It could be wrong, but my feeling is boat prices have risen way above the incomes of the type of folks they used to sell to.

MM
Click to expand...

I'm guessing you haven't priced new boats lately! The demographic you mentioned is the one the SeaRay is targeting, not abandoning. The 400 SLX bow-rider starts closer to $600,000 and can easily be optioned way beyond that.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Forum statistics

Threads
113,117
Messages
1,426,443
Members
61,031
Latest member
ratatat1975
Back
Top