onel0126

All you Trophy haters should read the review of the 2503 in the June issue of Saltwater Fishing by Dean Travis Clarke. Speaks specifically to the "trophy haters on message boards." He talks alot about Trophys overall and not just this particular model. Not trying to start flames here just pointing out an article.

truculenity

that must be why i dont get saltwater fishing anymore...

KJS

I really don't think anyone hates Trophies. I think people have fun with Trophy owners. You all spend sooo much time trying to prove to everyone that your boat is okay, it just makes it fun to poke at ya. However, since you brought it up. I have always been fascinated with how low Trophy ranks on the JD Power surveys. In the last report Trophy was 3rd to the bottom of the list only to have Sea Fox and Sea Ox (if my memory serves) beneath them. Now as you know JD surveys owners of boats to rank them. All I hear on websites is how great they are.....so who why is the JD Power report soo negative to these boats?

I was looking at a Trophy at one time, and my friend talked me out of it by explaining that after I bought it I would have to go around and constantly give unsolicited reviews to everyone I met about how great it was. I thought about it for a second and realized that he was right.

flying bridge

i dont have anything against trophy boats in fact a friend of mine has one and its great. i just dont believe dean travis clarke has ever riden in a boat he didnt think was great! after all he gets paid from his sponsers. i am not dogging him either.....if i was a smart as him i would be hanging out and writing about boats and fishing all over the world on someone elses dime.....
i wouldnt buy a boat or look at boat based on his opinion.....
my .02 worth
john

ngirolamo

Lets see what will I buy a Renken or a Sea Fix,,,or ... or Trophy or a Bayliner...Better find out which Boat has a service facility near.....

flats392

I have never once read a negative article written by Dean Travis Clarke. ;?
Trophy is owned by Brunswick. Brunswick owns Mercury and Mercury is the top sponsor for Dean Travis Clarke TV fishing show. You think Dean will write a negative thing against a product that is owned by his main sponsor.

Plus Saltwater Fishing Mag. get a lot dollars for advertising. If they write a negative article about a boat, the boat company get a little bitter and pulls their advertising and causing a lost a lot of $$$.

looneytunes

JD Powers and Saltwater Fisherman represent their sponsors.

BUT

Trophy has really come a long way in the quality department. Unfortunately, they will never get a fair shake because of the "Bayliner" association. Very few boats are able to shake a bad rep even after improving 100 million percent. Maybe someday, Trophy may get a fair shake. You never know.

My guess is if Trophy got real aggressive with their pricing (reducing) they would pick up a good piece of market share. Then after a couple of years you would see many more Trophy boats out there with the people to offer feedback. Then it would lend steam to the fact that Trophy is not bayliner. This would generate some more sales and eventually may be able to reverse the undeserved opinion of the boat at this date and time. Unfortunately, It is easier for someone to say The Trophy is the same price as the "Yadda Yadda Boat Corp" but "Yadda Yadda Boat Corp" doesn't have a bad rep like bayliner.

LooneyTunes
Dave

FearNaut

Just to highlight the difference between Bayliner and Trophy -

If you check the CGs Product Safety Recall database (http://www.uscgboating.org/recalls/recalls_database.htm) you'll quickly see that Trophy only has three recalls reported. Bayliner has 43.

Boston Whaler (a manufacturer of boats with an excellent reputation overall) has 7.

Just for clarification - These are SAFETY issue recalls only - Nothing to do with the overall quality of the vessel and non-safety related hardware. While one cannot determine overall quality using this data as a measure, I think it IS reasonable to infer that a manufacturer with comparatively fewer safety defects is likely to have been built to higher quality standards.

Mumblerone

KJS... hit the nail on the head. Their (Bayliner/Trophy owners) favorite discriptions is "...just as good as". Buy the boat and enjoy it. You'll never convince me!

FearNaut

Spoken like a true Whaler snob (and for good reason )

grahamular2

Brewhedd

You'll never convince me that a foam cored, water soaked Whaler pounding my teeth to dust is a boat worth the high prices either.

Reg23

I have to agree with several of the other posters. I don't care what brand the boat is, any review in Saltwater Sportsman, Sport Fishing, etc is going to be positive. They are more of an ad for the manufacturer than a real review. You can come up with something constructive to say about any boat but you never see it in these magazines. Now I will admit that I do get these magazines but it is because I like to read about and look at pictures about saltwater fishing, not because I think they give reviews about ANY fishing products.

This in no way represents my feelings one way or another on Trophy!

Stratocaster

These numbers don't mean a thing unless it's compared to total volume produced.

How many Trophys were built that year? How many Whalers?

Now how many Bayliners? of course there are going to be more 'defects' due to the huge sample size.

Show me how many recalls per 1000 boats produced, then that means something.

FearNaut

Actually, they do because they are based on Make and Model, not single vessels - They address design and construction inadequacies that span an entire year & model.

This is far different than accident statistics which only ascribe causes to accidents but do not quantify those relative to the total number of vessels out on the water.

skipperkeb

Have to agree that Dean Travis Clarke has never written a negative review. That being said, I loved the Trophy that I used to have. Was it the best boat I've owned? No way, but it did a great job of getting me hooked on saltwater fishing. For that, I will always remember it.

A Few Dollars

Exactly, most magizine reviews are fluff. Its nothing more than a "free" ad.

DCroller

Trophy will never live down the rep that bayliner got in the mid 70's up until mid 90's. I owned a 1973 bayliner and thought it was a wonderful boat i bought it for 1500.00 bucks and ran it for 4 seasons on the chesapeake bay with no problems. donated it to good will 5 years ago. Bayliner got the reputation of using inferior fiber glass on their hulls back in the 70's during the first Gas crunch and their hulls started cracking. There are still a bunch of guy's out there like me who remember this that's why they will always be junk to us. And will tell are son's this so the rep stays.

SweetD

Couldn't have said it better myself.

Dave

jerryk

skipperkeb, We share the same boats. Love my 2660. Only concern is some rusting screws. Really stretches the fuel with those F150s. Jerry