Brunswick Corp. is putting its Cabo and Hatteras brands up for sale

[captddis]

Very sad! It seems to be the norm in the marine business. Small quality companies are bought up by large mediocre companys then destroyed.

Remember Hynautic, Morse, Datamarine, Sea, Danforth, Cruisair,Par,Aquameter, Detroit Diesel, Hatteras, Chris Craft, Californian.......................................... I even heard on Sat that Snap on tools are being made in China! Disgusting!!

 

[saltshaker]

Yet at the same time Viking has over 700 employees and is building the tooling for a new 92ft SF. Seems the owners of the Viking 82SF are looking for their next boat.

 

[Boatsb]

Viking has stayed pretty try to the battlewagon sf community and has most of they boats target to the serious fisherman. Hatteras diluted their sf line and pushed the my lines. Between being a sister company to carved then searay they lost their way.

 

[jim rosenthal]

It would be ironic if Marlow ended up owning Hatteras and Cabo, wouldn't it.

 

[SeaEric]

The sportfish market retracted right about when the car business and building business did likewise. It's been my general observation that many of the serious SF guys are car dealers and guys who dig in the dirt for their livelihood. Am I generalizing, or just flat out wrong?

 

[bigbill]

jim, if marlow bought hatteras, maybe we would get back to some classic looking motoryachts. i bet they would sell better than the clorox bottles of todays hatteras

 

[34Hatt]

The sportfish market retracted right about when the car business and building business did likewise. It's been my general observation that many of the serious SF guys are car dealers and guys who dig in the dirt for their livelihood. Am I generalizing, or just flat out wrong?

If so why is Viking selling and still expanding?

 

[saltshaker]

If so why is Viking selling and still expanding?

They're expanding the line but still not as busy as they were 6 years ago. They've managed to retain a fair share of their market. Not to mention all the big customs being built. Many have gone away but others like Spencer are busy building big high dollar customs.

 

[fissioneng]

if marlow bought hatteras, maybe we would get back to some classic looking motoryachts.

Marlow Explorers are classic looking in my eye, but the smallest is 53'. Since Marlow bought Hunter and Mainship, he's saying that the new Mainship 32 to be revealed at MIB will have a resin infused Velocijet Strut Keel hull used in the Explorers. This sounds like he's taking Mainship upscale quite a bit.

Wouldn't it be cool if Marlow Mainship turns into a high quality smaller trawler/motoryacht company (30'-50') like Hatteras was?

Probably never happen because to produce Hatt quality in this size range, there'd be no market.

 

[34Hatt]

They're expanding the line but still not as busy as they were 6 years ago. They've managed to retain a fair share of their market. Not to mention all the big customs being built. Many have gone away but others like Spencer are busy building big high dollar customs.

As in expanding I did not mean as in bigger building but new models which have been all new designs and molds which is no small undertaking or $$$$.

 

[TopHattandTails]

If so why is Viking selling and still expanding?

The #1 Hands down reason Viking captured and is taking names on its boats is due to the continual R&D and reinvestment back into the plant. My opinion is that Hatteras gave up on their bread and butter (SF's) in the late 90's. THey didn't have any new tweaks to their product. During the same time, Viking came out with prop pockets in the hull, vacuum infused layup's, Viper independent rudder steering, and incorporated the Penta running gear platform (albeit not wide spread yet due to HP). During the same time, Hatteras changed its interior design 3 times, then tried to relaunched a stripped down SF called the GT. Yes Hatteras changed some window lines, but nothing performance oriented. That attitude continues from the mid to late 90's through today (justifiable today when your selling the platform). That is why I think Viking took over the market and Hatteras did not.

The thing to watch will be Spencer... He makes as many customs as the rest of the custom builders put together. Paul and Daniel are putting cutting edge technology and performance enhancements into their boats faster than Viking can (simply due to being non-production). My opinion is that "any" custom will have about a 8-10 year jump on any "production" boat, simply due to the mfg process of a production boat (it has to be affordable). in fact, a Spencer boat will be less expensive (not equal price) than a Viking boat and have way more technology into it (especially in the 40 - 60 foot range). Once the days of Production building die (now, unless you want a Carver or Bayliner), I think you will see Spencer and a couple of the other larger custom yards start to take over the market.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Eric, your comment IS true. A lot of the folks who bought Hatteras convertibles were either in the car business or the construction business, especially from the Carolinas. Those two businesses are doing better than they were a few years ago, but we aren't back to the salad days, and much of the business that does exist has moved to other companies inc the smaller custom convertible builders like Weaver and F&S. Years ago, many of those sales would have gone to Hatteras.

 

[saltshaker]

Take a look around any marina in a good fishing location. The customs are filling the slips at the serious SF docks. Mine was 1 of 4 Hatt SF in the marina at Morehead City, NC. The newest one was an '02 55C. There were at least 10 or 12 customs that were no more than 5-6 years old. Same was true when we visited other marinas. When I was shopping for my boat, there weren't many marinas that had more than a couple of Hatts, although I was amazed that there were 2 86C's at Pier 66 in Ft Lauderdale.

 

[jim rosenthal]

Look at Jarrett Bay- they started out as a builder of custom yachts, then they took over a Hatteras Franchise. Are they big enough to buy Hatteras? They are a successful outfit as far as I can tell.

 

[saltshaker]

Look at Jarrett Bay- they started out as a builder of custom yachts, then they took over a Hatteras Franchise. Are they big enough to buy Hatteras? They are a successful outfit as far as I can tell.

From what Ive heard, things aren't so good at Jarret Bay. The yard is busy with regular repair and maintained customers but the refit and new construction side has been very slow.

 

[Boatsb]

No builders are having banner years where they can't keep up with demand. Some continue development and have boats to build. Others cut back on it and build less and less. I hear Bertram built 2 boats last year. There has to be a reason they built so few.

 

[Artzco]

Look at Jarrett Bay- they started out as a builder of custom yachts, then they took over a Hatteras Franchise. Are they big enough to buy Hatteras? They are a successful outfit as far as I can tell.

Even Jarrett Bay's Brokerage was hurting and they merged with Bluewater and was totally absorbed into Bluewater's operation.

 

[Beckytek]

I heard from a Hinckley yard in Oxford that you'll have to wait 2 years if you order a new Hinckley.

 

[Angela]

I heard from a Hinckley yard in Oxford that you'll have to wait 2 years if you order a new Hinckley.

My neighbor put his boat up for sale about 6 weeks ago and ordered a new Hinckley. He's expecting to be ready soon.

 

[34Hatt]

The #1 Hands down reason Viking captured and is taking names on its boats is due to the continual R&D and reinvestment back into the plant. My opinion is that Hatteras gave up on their bread and butter (SF's) in the late 90's. THey didn't have any new tweaks to their product. During the same time, Viking came out with prop pockets in the hull, vacuum infused layup's, Viper independent rudder steering, and incorporated the Penta running gear platform (albeit not wide spread yet due to HP). During the same time, Hatteras changed its interior design 3 times, then tried to relaunched a stripped down SF called the GT. Yes Hatteras changed some window lines, but nothing performance oriented. That attitude continues from the mid to late 90's through today (justifiable today when your selling the platform). That is why I think Viking took over the market and Hatteras did not.

Yes that was my Point I asked that question which was directed to Eric's point saying it was do to Car sales