Big News from Yeargin?

[srock]

This thread will probably be more entertaining and spirited than the actual announcement.

[swc5150]

Shane, nobody wants cheap, they want value. That was always CC in my book. Yes you paid more but in the end the value remained and the resale value was there. Not so sure that is the case anymore. Far fewer people are able to write the check and you can almost forget financing. Home equity for most no longer exists, everybody is worried about tomorrows layoffs and banks don't want to get involved with boats that they don't really understand. Marine market has come back some but ski/wakeboard are still down 30% from just a few years ago. Bottom line is I may want a new Correct Craft but if I want on the water it is either going to be used or a new boat from a lessor competitor.

I am wondering if the announcement won't be some kind of partnership with another manufacturer to utilize CC's extra production capacity.

Did they cut a deal with Indmar to fill the gap when MasterCraft went to Illmor?
Did they purchase PCM to increase profits through vertical integration?
Supercharged engine?
Manufacturing in Australia?

Or none of the above, should be interesting.

Those are good guesses, in my opinion. Tuesday will be interesting.

Don't hate on me for financing, but I just bought my '08 last week with $0 down at 6%, and was approved in minutes through M&I. Are people still finding it difficult to access credit in other parts of the country? Maybe CC is bringing back that lease program they played with back in the mid 90's?

[SNMike]

This thread will probably be more entertaining and spirited than the actual announcement.

You're probably right. Something along the line of huge discounts on last year's Nautique Gear. >;-)

[NautiqueJeff]

I already told you guys once.....

The Bass Nautique!!

[tdc_worm]

With my 230's, I had issues with keeping the wake clean at 75-80ft when I added lots of weight (trust me, I tried everything - I'm sponsored by Fly High and if you saw the number of different sacs I have and how I tried setting things up you'd understand). It's not just me either. All of my friends who have 230's run into this issue when they try to add lots of weight. I've pulled several pro riders behind my boat before and they've even commented about the washing issues.

I run 750s in the rear, an arrowhead in the locker, 8 x 75lb batteries in the nose/helm area, and probably 200lbs worth of amps and subs. My quick math puts that approx 2950lb over stock if everything was full. I run with guys that can do all of the same stuff your buddies can, some compete, some dont, some are sponsored, some are not. there is no disputing that the 230 (and 220, which i also own) will throw a foam ripple down the wake. it is exacerbated 1) by being in very slight turn and 2) by a rider that comes off of edge in flats (while setting up his cut) at lets the boat rock. it can be unnerving if you are not expecting it. what is important is that said ripple is at the top of the wake and not in the face of the wake. it doesnt affect pop or release, but is more of a mental barrier that can be overcome. i will take that trade off any day for the shape of the 230 wake, which is reminiscent of the legacy MC X Star/205V, only wider (imo the best wake shape ever).

As for the value argument, unless you are an ego hound, it is hard to argue that, dollar for dollar, you have twice the experience on a $100k boat than you would on $50k boat. Remember when SUVs first came to market. They used to have UTILITY as a focus. Now the focus of SUVs are overpriced, over optioned, luxury grocery getters that every suburban soccer mom must have. Fuel prices and retail prices went up so high that luxury SUVs are (generalizing) only an option for people well above the median income line, and there has been a shift back towards smaller, less expensive, lesser optioned vehicles with smaller companies such as Kia gaining market share. Those vehicles accomplish the same thing. I suspect the same thing will happen w/ wakebaord boats, and CC will be forced to balance its supply w/ the decreased demand to remain profitable. i also suspect the number of boats put in to time share will increase in order to keep cost of entry down.

As it stands now, most of my friends that are core riders either
a) are boat whores and dont own a boat...they would rather pay for gas than gas and a $100k boat
b) are stuck in the new boat they purchased because putting over 200 hours a year is crushing their resale value or
c) have switched to wakeskating behind PWCs for ease, access to places boats cant go (i.e. smooth water) and less expense.

[SNMike]

I already told you guys once.....

The Bass Nautique!!

Dang!!! Jeff wasn't kiddin'! Case closed.

[j2nh]

Those are good guesses, in my opinion. Tuesday will be interesting.

Don't hate on me for financing, but I just bought my '08 last week with $0 down at 6%, and was approved in minutes through M&I. Are people still finding it difficult to access credit in other parts of the country? Maybe CC is bringing back that lease program they played with back in the mid 90's?

Nothing wrong with financing, 0/6% is a good deal. According to the two bank VP's I know pretty well the money is there but qualifying can be difficult. Big change from a few years ago when everyone had equity in their homes and credit scores were in some cases not relevant. My local dealer lost multiple sales due to lack of available financing in the last couple of years. Some can pay cash, some can get financing but a huge number of potential customers have had the doors closed on them. My humble and often wrong opinion is that until the housing market turns not much is going to change. Any hope for job creation and improving housing is about to be squashed by $4.00 gas and the layoffs that are coming at the State and municipal level. We live in interesting times.

If it was up to me, and thank God its not, we would be building nuclear power plants in every State and seriously looking at converting transportation fuel to natural gas.

[actman]

I may know the answer!

My guess is the company is going public. They can raise more money and change there production line along with more in house manufacturing. As for the people that are crying about the high price of boats and can't afford one or don't want to spend all that money on a boat they now can own a piece of the company instead!!!! Look for shares to be available soon!

[Erik]

I feel like the answer has been said - a larger Super Air Nautique variant of some kind.

A "240" would have been my first guess but "250" - nice ring to it too.

[oakfu]

How about a limited edition Golden Nautique. With lots and lots of gold flake! Maybe combine that with the comeback of the bass nautique.

[gride]

Home construction permits are up. Unemployment is still high. People are going to lose work health care and the ability to write it off. Purchase anarchy supplies now. Oil is at about 92$ a barrel. Utility prices are high. Am I wrong to assume that getting off the gold standard was a bad idea? Which president did that anyways? If cc has an IPO, which I doubt, I'll invest a little. Leasing boats sounds good to me. That would make it easier to upgrade w.o. Promo and dealers sales would be up on used boats, assuming financing is there.

[2gofaster]

Nothing wrong with financing, 0/6% is a good deal. According to the two bank VP's I know pretty well the money is there but qualifying can be difficult. Big change from a few years ago when everyone had equity in their homes and credit scores were in some cases not relevant. My local dealer lost multiple sales due to lack of available financing in the last couple of years. Some can pay cash, some can get financing but a huge number of potential customers have had the doors closed on them. My humble and often wrong opinion is that until the housing market turns not much is going to change. Any hope for job creation and improving housing is about to be squashed by $4.00 gas and the layoffs that are coming at the State and municipal level. We live in interesting times.

If it was up to me, and thank God its not, we would be building nuclear power plants in every State and seriously looking at converting transportation fuel to natural gas.

Financing has had a far less drastic effect on the higher end customer that purchases Nautiques and Correct Crafts as opposed to the lower end runabout customer. For example, SeaRay is still down 80% in comparison to higher end boats such as Cobalt, Formula, Correct Craft, Mastercraft, etc. who are only down 20-30% from the high point in 2006. They(Sea Ray) directly attribute this to their target customer(who typically has a lower income/higher debt ratio) inability to get financing.

[horkn]

In my industry, shoes and apparel, labor and material costs world-wide have increased substantially in the past few years, and we take a lot of heat for our prices be "out-of-control". I don't know much about boat manufacturing, but a builder on B.O.S had mentioned that the price of resin has tripled in the last few years. I'm sure new manufacturing facilities, etc. have lead to higher boat prices, but I'd imagine raw material costs aren't getting any cheaper either? I certainly wish CC could build a tow boat for the mid $30's, but I'm not sure it's possible for them. Heck, a 2012 SN 196 would have to cost more than an '09, simply due to the rise in material/labor costs. They do use top-notch materials, which can easily be seen when comparing older CC's to the likes of Moomba, Centurion, etc. To build an entry level boat, they may have to skimp on the highest quality of materials, which isn't the CC mission.

I'm thinking the announcement will some kind of new motor, with greater fuel efficiency. It would be an odd time to introduce a new model. Since the 2011 boat shows are going on as we speak, the timing would be a little late.

Resin may be higher priced than it was not too many years ago, but it isn't enough to justify the pricing of boats alone. I know that wasn't your only point as it takes more than resin to build a boat, but from fasteners to electronics to fiberglass materials, all of these commodities have gone up in the past few years. I'm a buyer of many of these same of similar (if not more technologically based) items by trade, and have firsthand seen lead times and pricing go up.

When I redid the interior of my 78 martinique like 9 years ago, polyester FG resin was like 17 dollars a gallon. Now that same gallon of the same brand in 2010 was right about 20 dollars higher than what I paid years ago. Last spring, I purchased epoxy resin for a large plywood epoxy aquarium project, and for 3 gallons of resin, pumps for measuring, and the hardener, with shipping was around 130 dollars. This was from US composites which is one of the more popular boat epoxies. That was really quite a good deal IMHO.

[2gofaster]

Fiberglass/resiin material costs for a 23 ft boat hull will range from $7k to $12k in today's dollars. With Nautiques being to the high end of that scale and others being lower. The way you lower costs is with cheaper resins, thinner layups, lighter roving. This is one big difference in boats like a Nautique, MC, Cobalt, Formula, Eliminator and lower costs variants.

[j2nh]

Latest I have. General in that it does not track by manufacturer, only by segment. As these are 12 month rolling they are better than they were but still well below a few years ago. From Boating Industry.

"In November, the numbers were relatively stable. Unit sales of powerboats 15 feet in length and above were down about 16 percent during the 12-month period ended Nov. 30, compared to the previous 12 months. Last spring and into summer, sales were running about 35 percent down and in April they were 20 percent down.

Within the outboard boat segment, unit sales were down about 10 percent during the same period, while the sterndrive/jet boat segment sales were down about 29 percent, the personal watercraft segment was down about 14 percent, and the outboard sportfishing segment was down about 30 percent. In addition, the ski boat segment was down about 26 percent."

While the above is way off the thread subject I do see the possibility of consolidation or partnering to increase factory utilization. Or maybe it will be colored decks.