Hatteras Yachts Was Sold, Again.

[Cricket]

Just heard Hatteras was sold to Johnny Morris's Bass Pro World.
Word is there's Mako's on trailers as well as Knit Witts inside the factory for the press conference today.

Don't know any other details on what their plans are for Hatteras, think they currently build Mako's up in the NC mountains that's relatively new with a lot of incentives from the NC government.

If I were to guess I think Hatteras is probably gone, or soon to be. There's 4 boats under construction and some others in the molds already laid up, not sure if they have owners or not.

 

[administrator]

https://www.witn.com/2021/05/20/whi...buying-hatteras-yachts-creating-500-new-jobs/

 

[Cricket]

Press release

Refers to support and grow the Hatteras brand, what ever that actually means we will have to wait and see.

https://governor.nc.gov/news/major-...acquires-legendary-hatteras-brand-will-launch

 

[zigzag930]

Well, let's hope this is a good thing. Sounded like Hatteras was not going to survive it's financial and operational concerns, so any move to acquire the company would seemingly be better than the alternative.

 

[Hat52MY]

If memory serves, Hatteras was also owned by AMF at one point in time and survived. Fingers crossed,…

 

[JuiceClark]

It just amazes (and disgusts) me that this hideous monster is the best selling yacht right now (Galleon) while Hatteras struggles. Society is in bad shape...and bad taste.

Gross.

I hope Bass Pro renews interest in the art of strength, because I do love it.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

IMHO, anytime companies consolidate the design and production of items of dissimilar quality or scale, the quality of the lesser tends to improve while the quality of greater tends to diminish. This is because the bean-counters seek economies of scale through uniformity of design, engineering, component sourcing and construction.

Think you were buying a Maytag after Maytag bought Magic Chef in the '90s? Think again. Think you're buying a Maytag today? The name remains, but you're buying a Whirlpool--just keep peeling the labels back and you might find Samsung on some the line. I use this example as one for which I can personally attest. Probably everyone on this site can cite a plethora of examples.

I personally hope that this is a good thing. But I remember before AMF there was Rockwell. I recall everyone was glad to get Hatteras away from Rockwell and into a sports oriented corporate group. AMF had just one line of boats.

 

[krush]

News talker says "they bought it for $34million", but article says they are investing 35 million in plant. I wonder what purchase price was.

 

[SKYCHENEY]

AMF had one line in New Bern, but they also owned Slickcraft, S2, and some others. Not to mention non-boating things like bowling equipment and Harley Davidson.

 

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Thanks for the correction.

 

[oscarvan]

Wondering why Hatteras couldn't keep up in a hot market......

 

[rourkeh]

Hatteras could not keep up because of Viking taking almost all the market share for convertibles. They also moved the design over to someone who had no idea what the market is. Hatteras survived by listening to feedback from owners and making incremental improvements to their boats, when this stopped their sales ended. The 70' motor yacht was their only hot seller in the end, and it was a very nice boat but one model cannot carry the company. I got this feedback from a friend who was a decades long Hatteras dealer in the northeast and dropped the brand due to weak sales.

 

[Pascal]

I m not familiar enough with the sportfish market besides the overwhelming number of viking convertibles you are out there

As to motoryachts, the problem for Hatteras is pretty clear: cost and design. Until recently their new models were best described as uninspiring... what shame for the company who pretty much invented the mid size MY in the 70s... the new 70 and 90 MY are amazing but it s probably too little too late. And then you have coat. Hatteras can not compete with boats built in the Far East like Horizon, Ocean Alexander, Cheoy Lee etc. or from Europe like Ferreti, Mutts, and all the others. Yes Hatteras offers a much better engineered and built boat but for most buyers that s not enough. Quality cost money... same reason why Lazzara folded back around 2013: they couldn’t make money building quality boats in the US.

Now that Viking has stopped rebranding UK built Princess yachts and is building their own, it s going to be interesting to seen how that works out.

I really hope Hatteras MY line survives this and expands. We were docked next to a new 90MY in Staniel Cay a few months ago and it is one impressive boat

 

[Westfield 11]

How do the European builders do it? They have high taxes, strong workers unions, it’s nearly impossible to fire or layoff workers, and the workers have had their work ethic destroyed by their cradle to grave social supports. But they are still successful making boats of this size locally and the US is not. Why?

 

[RyanB]

Are Viking's really that much lower in quality to offset the build costs? With the amount of them out there, I'd think they have to be building a quality product or it would have caught up to them by now.

I read somewhere they're putting out ~90 convertibles a year now... all while making a profit.

 

[jim rosenthal]

A damn good question. And I get it about Viking taking most of the convertible market- but look at all the custom builders like Weaver Marine, F&S, and all the other small builders. They are all doing just fine. Hatteras convertibles are as well-made as anything out there, and I don't understand why they can't sell more of them.

 

[Cricket]

The biggest differences between Viking and Hatteras are, first leadership, everyone knows who is steering the ship at Viking, the family lives and loves building and using boats. Second, Viking's 2 service locations in NJ and Riviera Beach FL, dealer network is STRONG, they actually deliver their boats on time. Dependable resale market because there's so many of them for reference.
For me the the latest Hatt's are probably a tad better than a new Viking, but it's very close. Apparently Hatteras has been unable to deliver boats on time, even pre-covid. There's so few of the newer ones on the water nobody gets to see them. Went to the Palm Beach boat show in April, 2 owners offered up their boats for the display, no new ones, a terrible statement of their viability.

The most important event for the big boat builders is the Ft Lauderdale boat show, Hatteras needsto have at least 1 of every model on display, new ones, not much time to bang them out at the rate they've been producing.
Think Johnny Morris is going to have to become the face of Hatteras and really work it to be successful.

 

[Cricket]

Link to another press release, I think.

https://www.theoutdoorwire.com/releases/7008d53a-33be-454a-8c80-b929d31ac750

My take is the main focus is going to be sportfish boats.

"While White River plans to continue to produce a limited number of exceptional Hatteras yachts, the primary focus will be devoted to building the next generation of the very finest sportfishing boats ever made. Uniting the Bass Pro Shops family of brands with Hatteras Yachts promises good things for the offshore sportfishing industry."

 

[Pascal]

How do the European builders do it? They have high taxes, strong workers unions, it’s nearly impossible to fire or layoff workers, and the workers have had their work ethic destroyed by their cradle to grave social supports. But they are still successful making boats of this size locally and the US is not. Why?

The quality of the average euro builder is nowhere near Hatteras. There are exceptions obviously like Sunseeker and a few others. But ferretti, Numarine, Azimutt, Galeon, prestige etc are not build to the same standards. Delamination on mutts is a frequent issue. Their electrical systems are messy in part because they farm it out to contractors so no two boats are wired the same way.

 

[Retired1]

The fish stinks from the head first. As far as the success of new products, you want the product to also look new. If they look the same as preowned ones, why not just buy the preowned and put the money (especially since new stuff immediately depreciates) back in your pocket? Buy a new Italian yacht, your neighbors KNOW you just bought a new yacht.Viking builds a quality product, there’s job security for their workers, and they are always improving and innovating. As far as why European builders can stay in business whilst American soulless corporate builders repeatedly fail- they don’t work their employees to death, or fire them for wanting to spend some quality time with their families. American workers who choose boat building for a career, had best be living in something mobile, be stacking cash, and have no children of school age.