Boat Show - Raleigh, NC

[SNMike]

Take the same girl, put her in a pair of khakis and a golf shirt, and it would have portrayed a much more inviting, professional image.

Agreed!! But, uh.......can we still keep the pole idea? Yellow_Flash_Colorz:

Mike - good point. I guess they could use one of the towers on their boats. That's about the only thing they would be good for :razz:

Yessir..............and hanging towels up to dry!! :mrgreen: :shock:

[dba4life]

I was at the Raleigh show. Funny you mention the Malibu booth as I was put off by it as well. I certainly don't mind hot women...and they were hot but it just came off totally wrong. This audience could probably care less about a Malibu dealer but keep in mind Grandpa's took over the Malibu line last year from a pretty popular dealer. There are a couple of guys that came from the former dealership that are very helpful. There are a couple that have been at Grandpa's for a while that don't have the best reputation. I was the target of one of them and he just would not stop trying to sell me. No matter how many times from the beginning I told him I wasn't buying. Basically chased me from the booth. I like Malibu's and I left with a bad negative feeling. Not the experience I hope they are looking for....whether I am a serious buyer at this time or not.

I enjoyed the Whitelake booth. My 94 Sport originally came from them. First we chatted with Luke who we know from the local lakes. Then Diane came over while we browsing and we reintroduced ourselves. She asked if we were looking. I said not really. We chatted for a couple more minutes and she was on her way. A very pleasant experience and when I am ready to buy they will have the first shot. Pretty simple.

I have had positive experiences at both White Lake locations. The one in Graham saved our 4th of July one year after I dinged a prop. 10 minutes before closing on the 3rd they took my order on the phone and left the prop where I could pick it up later that night. We had 15 family members at a rented lakehouse and it really saved us. (Yes now I always have a spare). The White Lake location always has come through when I needed them as well.

[Red57Bird]

I really liked the way that White Lake had their display laid out. They had three boats in a line bow to stern, with a raised wooden walkway running parallel to the boats. On the other side of the walkway, they had 4-5 boats running perpendicular with the stern towards the walkway. You could walk up on the platform, look down into each boat, and easily board for a closer look.

They also had different models, and each boat was a different color scheme. It gave you a good look at the available options and what you can do with hull and interior colors. In contrast, I think most if not all of the BUs were black or dark in color, and I believe the MC display had mostly white or light colored boats. I could be wrong on this since I only passed by these booths and didn't spend any time there. I can say that, in my opinion, the Nautique display was far superior to anything else at the show.

[mcbridek]

I attended the Raleigh show - nautuque / White Lake has a excellent display and plently of staff working, I spoke to a number of people at the display. I also spent almost 45 minutes at the malibu crawing through the Red and White VTX. The dealer sales person was very knowlegable. I opened every storage compartment, got inside some, all over the engine compartment. I don't think Nautuque has a boat that competes with the VTX - I was very impressed. That boat has now become my number one recomendation when some is looking for a wakeboard boat at the low end of the price range.

[SkiTower]

The VTX is the 'other' boat I visited in length also. It's good, but I still lean toward CC. The side window crowded me and looking through the storage on the left I had to remove all cushions just to put one back. They also have no provision for a CD player, with the explanation being everybody has gone to Ipods and thumb drives. I'm also still not convinced the IllusionX tower is as strong as necessary. The one HUGE plus was the driver legroom. CC direct drives need to work on this.

But all that aside, I like that Malibu isn't trying to copy CC but forge it's own niche. I would love to see the VTX ski wake that they are bragging about.

[SkiTower]

One thing that really impresses me about CC is that they use the boats to sell the boats, not what may be laying on them.

[Hollywood]

You guys got any pictures of the Malibu booth?

[Red57Bird]

Hollywood - are you looking for the booth, or for the girl? 8-) I didn't take my camera to the show, but wish I had, so I can't help you out with the pictures.

[Hollywood]

The girl duh, I went and asked on the Malibu site.