Value equation for objects of desire
January 25, 2016
So what are buyers looking for in a new boat today? Value? Innovation? Performance? All three and more, perhaps?
So what are buyers looking for in a new boat today? Value? Innovation? Performance? All three and more, perhaps?
Barring any unforeseen globe-rattling economic shocks, we should see a continuation of the slow to modest growth the industry has experienced over the last five years.
Who isn’t rooting for a successful comeback from Bertram? The iconic brand was such a big part of this industry, starting in the early fiberglass years, that it seemed a shame to watch it wither away. And the deep-vee hull that Dick Bertram built his company’s smooth-riding reputation on (kudos to designer Ray Hunt) is evident in the numerous iterations found on scores of boats today.
Boats are to our industry what elephants are to a circus. They’re the big draw, the main attraction.
The waters in the waning weeks of summer were brimming with boats. Warm, dry weather in the Northeast and elsewhere brought out boaters by the score.
The conversation took place maybe a dozen or more years ago at a Trade Only roundtable meeting at the Miami boat show. We were having a discussion with industry leaders on a wide range of issues, including the ascendancy of the baby-boom generation.
We casually toss around words like innovation, quality and adaptability today as if they were so much small change. But how many companies are really doing the hard work of innovation?
The question has been on the table for some time: What happens when the members of the large generation of baby-boom boaters swallow their collective anchors and exit stage left?
I was having dinner recently with an industry veteran when he shifted the trajectory of our conversation and said, “You know, Bill, you and I are stuck in this industry. We’re lifers. We’re not going anywhere.”
I visited the boatyard recently to pay my slip bill for the season, to catch up with old friends and to see what happened since winter. Tom’s 40-foot Cabo has a new teak swim platform and washboards. I eyeballed the yard’s new hydraulic trailer, which was moving boats from the off-site indoor winter storage shed to the water. Smart purchase.
So what are buyers looking for in a new boat today? Value? Innovation? Performance? All three and more, perhaps?
Barring any unforeseen globe-rattling economic shocks, we should see a continuation of the slow to modest growth the industry has experienced over the last five years.
Who isn’t rooting for a successful comeback from Bertram? The iconic brand was such a big part of this industry, starting in the early fiberglass years, that it seemed a shame to watch it wither away. And the deep-vee hull that Dick Bertram built his company’s smooth-riding reputation on (kudos to designer Ray Hunt) is evident in the numerous iterations found on scores of boats today.
Boats are to our industry what elephants are to a circus. They’re the big draw, the main attraction.
The waters in the waning weeks of summer were brimming with boats. Warm, dry weather in the Northeast and elsewhere brought out boaters by the score.
The conversation took place maybe a dozen or more years ago at a Trade Only roundtable meeting at the Miami boat show. We were having a discussion with industry leaders on a wide range of issues, including the ascendancy of the baby-boom generation.
We casually toss around words like innovation, quality and adaptability today as if they were so much small change. But how many companies are really doing the hard work of innovation?
The question has been on the table for some time: What happens when the members of the large generation of baby-boom boaters swallow their collective anchors and exit stage left?
I was having dinner recently with an industry veteran when he shifted the trajectory of our conversation and said, “You know, Bill, you and I are stuck in this industry. We’re lifers. We’re not going anywhere.”
I visited the boatyard recently to pay my slip bill for the season, to catch up with old friends and to see what happened since winter. Tom’s 40-foot Cabo has a new teak swim platform and washboards. I eyeballed the yard’s new hydraulic trailer, which was moving boats from the off-site indoor winter storage shed to the water. Smart purchase.
