Brunswick to Sell Sea Ray

I saw this news earlier. I’m not sure where they will wind up or if it affects this forum.

Thoughts?

Fin
 
This forum - ClubSeaRay.com - is independent of Brunswick Corporation and the Sea Ray brand. This forum will continue as long as we as owners continue to support it and our gracious host, Jim, continues to maintain the site.
 
Buckeye Boater said:
This forum - ClubSeaRay.com - is independent of Brunswick Corporation and the Sea Ray brand. This forum will continue as long as we as owners continue to support it and our gracious host, Jim, continues to maintain the site.
Click to expand...
Pretty sure Jim has permission to use "sea ray" in the site name.......that is why he doesnt let us badmouth searay or its dealers on here......dont want to piss off the golden goose
 
Wow. It’s interesting a company like Brunswick would seek their namesake.
 
So, they are selling Sea Ray but discontinuing the Meridian brand? I'm not sure what I read there, or are they packaged together in the sale?
 
Remains to be seen - what this means.

My feeling is that Sea Ray is emerging into the next phase. The brand has been strong for 40 years. Multiple generations of boats.

When I look at what is emerging with the L Class - very impressed. The new 520 that I saw in Fort Lauderdale knocked our socks off.

We were 3/4 of the way through our recent purchase - Admiral lobbied for changing to the L520 - the impression was that strong. Sea Ray has something about the engineering and ergonomics about boats. The only factor was the wait time and cost - but there are a lot of people who will go down that path.

I also noticed a definitive change in the display at FLIB's. Sea Ray was bold and put their brand out there - instead of the previous years where you had MarineMax controlling the scene.

Thought they did an excellent job. Sea Ray marketing deserves some kudo's for that show.

Whatever the corporate structure - I think Sea Ray is headed to a "break out" mode.

I would buy stock in Sea Ray.

Mark
 
This is a critical juncture for Sea Ray. The buyer will most likely be a private equity fund. If the new owners are interested in pumping up profits for the short term to go public and cash out it could be disastrous for Sea Ray. If they are in it for the long haul and hire quality managers that understand the industry and have a vision for the future Sea Ray will prosper. The boating industry changed dramatically after the 2008 financial meltdown. It will continue to evolve as baby boomers age and get out of boating. Gen X and Millenials do not seem to have the same interest in boating as their parents. Cruisers are out of the price range of most young families and cheaper deck boats are in vogue. Sea Ray seems to get this but many of their new deck boats are priced too high for the average family. Historically Sea Ray has had a boat offering in every price category from small bow riders to big cruisers. This may not be a viable business model going forward.
 
The entire fiberglass boating market is challenged today. The performance (triple toon) pontoon market has really taken a bite out of that 18-24' open bow runabout market and all the deck boat segment. That's made Sea Rays piece of the pie even smaller.
 
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