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Random Quote: Beauty is in the eyes of the beer holder.
HOLY SMOKES the show was DEAD. Same size and same vendors as last year (maybe slightly smaller but hard to tell). Big news was that the place was empty. My buddy who was working the MSSA booth said that Wed night was as dead as when I was there. Industry must really be HURTING. While I already bought my boat for the year, there were pleanty of eager salesman ready to "answer questions" for anyone looking.
Notes from the show:
Favorite boat of mine, my kids and my wife was the 34 Parker. Boat even looks bigger indoors and the cockpit is ballroom dance floor.
I will say the new Everglades 35 Express was VERY cool and wins the coolest boat of the show in my eyes.
Other boats I dug were:
1. the new whaler CC's. I kinda really like the new lines and consoles
2. Pursuit 345SF.. the center tackle/rigging station is very unique and Pursuits have very nice lines in general
3. New console on the Parker 23se. Not only did it add dry storage to the boat but I think it improved its lines on a classic looking boat.
The Craziest over-priced boats the new 28 Albemarle with twin 300 verados. Boat show special price was over 216k..... its competitor the 28 Southport Express was 169k I believe. yes the cockpit on the Southport is very small not "Fishy" enough IMHO but for 45k and a nicer cabin, give me the southport.
Best value of the show was the Sea Hunts. Nice boats for the money and appeared finished very nicely. The loaded 22' walkaround with a nice hard top and f200 was in the lower 40k range if I remember correctly. There were other value lines too but for some reason the Sea Hunts finish shined against them.
Of course these are the brief mental notes I took based on what I saw. I toured the show with my wife and 3 kids as a way to get the kids out of the house and walk around a bit. I certainly didnt look hard or spend anytime comparing models. Great part about the show is that I like my boat better than anything else we saw there. My wife was glad to hear me say that
If you went to the show or another show and had some thoughts about what you saw post them up. (even if they are based on just passing by a particular boat or brand)
Show was much smaller than in the past, reported that 10-14 dealers did not display this year. This afternoon it was EMPTY... A good number of the booth vendors were missing too.
NMMA show, the organization that is suppose to protect and support the industry has done little. Show space prices are extremely high, Discover Boating Campaign was a miserable failure that extorted funds for all the NMMA members.
There are just too many Boat Shows, dealers cannot afford to participate, they have to select one or two shows that will work into there budgets. Promoters have relaxed some requirements on the product years that can be displayed, but more needs to be done to help the Boating Industry weather this storm.
Until the financial institutions come back, wholesale and retail, we are facing big seas and force 5 winds.
jmo
wow. I didnt realize it was that much smaller. I guess they spaced it out better or the big water pool and all state insurance displays just took up more space. You also enter in a different location this year so you get a different perception of the show. I did notice that there were less non boat vendors though. (less marinas, no tackle dealer/rod makers, etc). However on the boat side there were some brands missing that are usually there like Pro-line. However I saw a few new brands to the show like Osprey. Not being one who is actually looking for a boat or caring about what we saw, it appeared to be close in size to years past. As noted before, it was completely empty. Very few visitors.
i've never been an opening night, so i don't know how to judge the crowds...i wouldn't think it would be crowded on a thursday night. i'll be there saturday afternoon...
every time i see a sea hunt i think they are great looking boats. haven't heard much bad about them on performance or quality either. my buddy will be looking at 21-23 walk-arounds there on saturday, so i'm sure we'll be checking out the sea hunts.
can't believe pro-line wasn't there. i think jaws marine carries them...were they not there?
osprey makes i pretty nice boat, but danged expensive!!! guy at my marina has a 26 w/ twin honda 225s...paid over $160K for it! that's more than a 28 BW conquest which is way over-priced.
The 24 Osprey was like 80k on blow out pricing. I thought that was crazy myself. The 2520xl parker was about the same price and a much larger boat (I think the 24 osprey competes more closely with the 2320xl Parker in size) . Heck I paid less than the bothe 24 Osprey and Parker 2520xl for my 27 Judge Chesapeake. I guess even in a slow market the prices will attempt to climb. The quality of the osprey didnt stand out against either brand as well.
Jaws Marine had a little booth there but didnt have any boats.
I'll be attending the Atlantic City Boat Show in early February. Based on what you guys are saying and what I heard about the New York Show I don't expect it to be anything like previous years. I checked the AC Show website and there are a lot of dealers and manufacturers missing from the floorplan list of exhibitors.
A couple of you guys mentioned Sea Hunt boats. The NJ dealer that used to bring SH to AC lost the franchise in October so I am wondering if SH will be there this year. I have had two Sea Hunts and will say that they are an outstanding value. Quality, styling, layout and performance are exceptional for what is considered to be a "mid tier" boat. Actually, I think the only thing "mid tier" about them is the price but it can be easily said that I have a definite bias.
Just got back from the richmond boat show. Nothing new or exciting there. Prices are dropping. Even the new grady 232 with the 350 on the back was down to $85K and the dealer said he could deal from there. The best price I saw there was the 23' parker your choice of the WA or PH for $62 and change on a trailer. If my memory is correct that is down from mid 70's last year. the 25' PH was either 72 or 74.
My wife & I went Thursday afternoon. Place was dead. We were looking for some specific info on batteries & insurance. Lucked out. Also met the author's of the Managing the Waterway guide books. Great folks, made the day worthwhile. Since we weren't looking for a boat it made for a short show. I suspect that some of the seminars would be interesting. I friend of mine claimed to have gotten some great deals on tackle. With free parking & only $10.00 admission; heck, its warmer inside than out & there are boats to drool on.
We went this Saturday morning. There did not seem to be as many people as other years. The show did seem to be smaller. Most of the exhibtors seem to have more time to talk this year. Did not purchase anything that was a first.
Baltimore Boat Show notes 
