God Ugly 64MY

[hcalmar]

I feel horrible saying this, like a traitor. I had occasion to go to the Newport boat show yesterday. It was disappointing in many respects. Many trawlers, quite a few sailboats but very few convertibles. Grady White had a single Bow Rider. Nothing from Viking. And then I saw it, right in front of a beautiful 43 foot Cabo Sportfish.

The Hatteras 64 Motor Yacht.
http://www.hatterasyachts.com/64about.cfm

I was with my buddies, one of whom owns a 52 Tiara . He knows I love Hatteras, I am proud of my Hatteras, but this boat was an embarassment. Put aside the fact that it is a motoryacht and looks like a big Silverton. (I apologize in advance to anyone on this site who owns one) It looked like Hatteras does not care. "Extreme Luxury", 3mil! -The boat looks nothing like the pictures on the website. No wood on the swim platform, cockpit or deck , no wood in the interior to speak of. No fit and finish. Plastic. Crappy appliances. No effort to make it look special. The interior is pure white, simple, stark. Clearly it was just a bare bones version straight from the factory without any owner input. If so they should not have brought it to the show. Hundreds of people looking to see what a Hatteras looks like and this is their first impression. My heart sunk. If this is where Hatteras is going then the brand is dying. Consensus; The ugliest boat at the show.
H

 

[SKYCHENEY]

I know what you mean. They are not like the classics.

Last weekend I was docked next to a brand new Selene. The owner, a looper, wanted to talk about my boat more than his new trawler. He kept going on and on about the lines of the old Hatteras and the seaworthiness. I almost asked why he didn't buy one.

 

[MikeP]

Like so many things, it doesn't appear to me the "Hatteras" of 2009 has anything whatsoever to do with "Hatteras" of the classic era.

But that can be said of many things and frankly, most folks prefer the "newer" stuff to older stuff. I mean, who REALLY wants to record a band using a circa 1958 100lb Ampex 351 (tube) tape recorder when they can do it with a 3 lb laptop? Who wants to drive a 1989 Ferrari 328 across country when they can do it far more comfortably in a Lexus? Who wants to carry paper charts when they can just look at their all-in-one GPS/radar/depth/ system?

Well, who besides me I mean?

 

[Sparky1]

First, that boat is NOT ugly. It's the reflection of Hatteras knowing their market having spent tons of money researching it. You don't think these guys just dream this stuff up and hope it sells, do you?

That being said, I agree that the boat has no personality. How many of us have met beautiful women with no personality? As with that Hatt, they're pretty, but I wouldn't want to take one home to keep.

 

[Walter P]

Randy,

Well maybe not to keep, but it could be fun for a little while....

Walt

 

[Brian Degulis]

I think it just reflects a changing buyer. I think years ago the buyer was someone with money who was really into boats. Today I think the typical buyer is someone who sees a boat as just one of many toys a person with money but no real love for boats. I could be wrong but I don't think anyone on this forum has one of the late model modern style boats?


Brian

 

[Captned]

What’s the saying? Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

Shakespeare expressed a similar sentiment in Love's Labours Lost, 1588:

Good Lord Boyet, my beauty, though but mean,
Needs not the painted flourish of your praise:
Beauty is bought by judgement of the eye,
Not utter'd by base sale of chapmen's tongues

Benjamin Franklin, in Poor Richard's Almanack, 1741, wrote:

Beauty, like supreme dominion
Is but supported by opinion

David Hume's Essays, Moral and Political, 1742, include:

"Beauty in things exists merely in the mind which contemplates them."

Captned
MBMM

 

[bigbill]

you got that wrong.... it's.. beauty is in the eye of the beerholder

 

[ThirdHatt]

Last summer an '08 Hatt 64MY was in a slip right next to me for one month and I thought it was God Ugly too, at first. After looking at it and comparing my 58YF to that boat over the month, I started to rationalize a bit. After I spent a bit of time on board and got the feel of the layout, the large engine room, the A/C flybridge , etc I really started to convince myself that I could live with one of those boats (if it weren't 10x the price of mine). I started to realize that as much as we all love the look of Classic Hatt's the fact is that once we own a boat we spend much more time inside and on it using and enjoying it rather than simply looking at pictures, etc.

The new, clean smell vs the infamous "Old Hatteras Smell", the nearly silent blowers for the A/C that is nicely ducted through slats in the gorgeous high gloss cherry paneling, the gloss-white bilges, the color-coded water lines throughout the boat, etc really made me understand how far these boats have come. Unfortunately, the exterior lines are nothing to drool over at all as the classics are, but the technology and new boat feel is quite impressive nonetheless. Using windows to create lines of a boat is inexcuseable, as is only ONE pilothouse door.

 

[Sparky1]

Randy,

Well maybe not to keep, but it could be fun for a little while....

Walt

Catch and release is the only sporting way to do it.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Last summer an '08 Hatt 64MY was in a slip right next to me for one month and I thought it was God Ugly too, at first. After looking at it and comparing my 58YF to that boat over the month, I started to rationalize a bit. After I spent a bit of time on board and got the feel of the layout, the large engine room, the A/C flybridge , etc I really started to convince myself that I could live with one of those boats (if it weren't 10x the price of mine). I started to realize that as much as we all love the look of Classic Hatt's the fact is that once we own a boat we spend much more time inside and on it using and enjoying it rather than simply looking at pictures, etc.

The new, clean smell vs the infamous "Old Hatteras Smell", the nearly silent blowers for the A/C that is nicely ducted through slats in the gorgeous high gloss cherry paneling, the gloss-white bilges, the color-coded water lines throughout the boat, etc really made me understand how far these boats have come. Unfortunately, the exterior lines are nothing to drool over at all as the classics are, but the technology and new boat feel is quite impressive nonetheless. Using windows to create lines of a boat is inexcuseable, as is only ONE pilothouse door.

Years ago we bought a 60 MY on a repossesion I didn't like the way the boat looked. But it was late model in great shape and a great buy. The interior was very nice and the systems were great with very little use. In a word it was very practical so I bought it even though I didn't like the lines. We put quite a few miles on that boat and lots of people thought it looked great but I didn't like it. I used to sit out on my patio and stare at it for hours trying to figure how to change the look of it but there was no practical way. One night while I was staring at my wife came out and said Why don't we just sell the F$$#@ ing thing. I did and bought something I liked. As far as what looks good to each his own. But never again would I buy a bought I didn't like to look at.

I'm not a convertable guy but the new models look great to me. It's the MYs that look like space ships.

Brian

 

[ThirdHatt]

Years ago we bought a 60 MY on a repossesion I didn't like the way the boat looked. But it was late model in great shape and a great buy. The interior was very nice and the systems were great with very little use. In a word it was very practical so I bought it even though I didn't like the lines. We put quite a few miles on that boat and lots of people thought it looked great but I didn't like it. I used to sit out on my patio and stare at it for hours trying to figure how to change the look of it but there was no practical way. One night while I was staring at my wife came out and said Why don't we just sell the F$$#@ ing thing. I did and bought something I liked. As far as what looks good to each his own. But never again would I buy a bought I didn't like to look at.

I'm not a convertable guy but the new models look great to me. It's the MYs that look like space ships.

Brian

Great story, I like your wife's attitude! I have always liked the looks of sportfish. Some of them are so damn sexy, it's just incredible. I wish I could convince myself to get one, but the lack of living space and no sheltered aft deck simply rule them out for our use. Even so, I find myself looking at some of the redicuous deals on the market today. There are 1999-2000 Hatteras 70' Enclosed Bridge Sportfish for $1M ASK! Even 2000-2002 60' Convertibles asking in the $800's! WOW! Those were $4-5M boats less than 10 yrs ago!

It used to be that it was easier to sell a sportfish than a motoryacht because there were so many hardcore fisherman out there and many will partner up to go in on a boat to fish. These days with this economy, those boats are sitting for the most part and of the boats that are selling, more of them are motoryachts because if people are going to spend money on boating it's going to be all about the quality family time on the water and a motoryacht does that better.

 

[Brian Degulis]

I've got a 61MY sitting next to a 60C in my back yard. And as far as appearance goes I've come to this conclusion. The Cs are sexy like a hot 20 year old girl sitting on a beach in a skimpy bikini. The MYs are more sophisticated like a woman in her late 30- early 40s who really takes care of herself cruising down the road in a Mercedes with the top down.

Brian

 

[jim rosenthal]

I think the new Hatteras MY IS ugly. Not all modern boats are ugly, but that one is. I think the styling is cluttered and poorly proportioned. I'm sure all the systems work great. You'd expect that from a company that has been building yachts for nearly fifty years.

I hope they are able to find buyers- I don't want to see the Hatteras name become a thing of the past. I hope that my tastes are not those of the majority, especially the majority with enough money to patronize the company and keep it afloat.

And, FWIW, I think the modern convertibles are no great shakes, either. But at least I can stand to look at those.

 

[Trojan]

I think your beating a dead horse. If you look around at the age groups and there desires you will find that you or they like what you grew up with. You like and buy the things that you grew up with during your late teen year. Think not? Look at the cars you drive, the music you like, the boat designs, the houses you live in. These are the things that you dreamed about having then. These images are planted in your head years ago. Look at your music selection. My father loves the big bands, I have no use for them. Dance types, your dancing was a lot different than today's. The people buying today were yesterdays children. Streamline was there yesterday dreams. Think about it. I grew up with Elvis, can't stand the Beatles. Or the little girl singers. But my grand children love the young cutie singers. I'm sure if Hargraves was still alive he would go crazy trying to except the new designs.
Think about it. Were caught in between the areas. I hate the new car designs and love my old 34 Ford sedan. Hatteras is keeping up with the times we are not.

BILL

 

[nyrussell]

I am keeping up with the times.... putting in color pex so I am color coded like the new ones today!!!!

 

[Trojan]

I am keeping up with the times.... putting in color pex so I am color coded like the new ones today!!!!

I try, but it gets harder and harder every day.

 

[hcalmar]

As a follow-up to my initial post, let me say that there are two issues. Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder and Hatteras bringing an unfinished 4 million-dollar boat to the boat show. I appreciate that as a Boomer, "moralistic and values driven" my tastes are different from Gen X. I can accept that and appreciate that the systems are well designed and easier to work on. But the second issue, is that someone decided to bring an unfinished motoryacht to the boat show that looked nothing like the boats in the brochures. The fridge didn't even fit the space it sat in and looked like someone picked it up at Home Depot, there was no teak or even furniture on the deck. No class. No pride. Not the case for the Turkish Vicem which had three yachts at the show, 48 to 72 feet, dressed to the nines. Maybe Hatteras just doesn't care about anyone in the Northeast. Are there even any dealers up here?
H

 

[Passages]

Maybe Hatteras just doesn't care about anyone in the Northeast. Are there even any dealers up here?
H

Can you blame them? New England doesn't have much in the way of new money coming in. Stocks, real estate, bonuses, all down from 2 years ago. Very few left up here who are willing to plop down $4 Mil on a depreciating toy.

Smart money will buy late model, pristine boats at distressed prices.

I bet most new boat buyers will be from overseas and and will try to strike a deal at Ft Lauderdale, Miami and maybe the NY show.

 

[nyrussell]

So not going then was a good thing... I would have been disappointed to say the least.