Post Boat Show Blues

I went to the Utah Boat show yesterday. When I left, I was feeling a bit depressed. There were hundreds of boats -- but I only saw 2 direct drive ski boats: one Malibu Response and one Centurion Carbon Pro. I was disappointed that the Correct Craft offering was all about the big Super Air Nautiques. To the dealer's credit, they did have one Sport Nautique 200, but I was surprised that the Sport Nautique 200 got little or no attention from the crowds when I was there.

Every year, I'm feeling more and more like a dinosaur with the water sports crowd. I don't wake surf. I will occasionally wake board (this to appease my kids). I water ski. My buddies water ski. We're serious about it. I don't need a 6,000 pound boat that is 24 feet long and comes with its own ZIP code. I don't need 500+ horsepower. I don't need to consume 20 gallons of fuel per hour pushing the 6,000 pound boat plus another 1,200 pounds of water in ballast tanks. I don't want 18 people in the boat with me either.

I'm being left behind -- and I'm OK with it. Now I could afford to spend $125,000+ on a boat, but I can't seem to get my head around the price tag of these wake-behemoths. When did water sports get so damned expensive?

Now I acknowledge that the re-birth of the water sports industry -- and the associated growth explosion of inboard boats is directly attributed to the wake sports. I get that. But I'm also disappointed to see what appears to be a forsaking of our water skiing roots. Water skiing appears to be shrinking in popularity and participants. It's even crept into my family. The kids will waterski out of duty -- as it's a family rule that you have to learn to slalom ski first. Then all they want to do is wake board. Skiing is left to Dad and his silly old-fashioned notions.

Not many years ago, the "Holy Grail" was NO WAKE. Light, quick, agile and nimble. Now, the opposite appears true: Heavy, large and the-bigger-the-wake-the-better. Also, I'm frustrated to see "scope-creep" with the boat manufacturers. It seems now that even the water ski "purist" hull is now evaluated as a potential "crossover" hull for big wakes.

Perhaps the most depressing take-away from the boat show came the local Correct Craft dealer. I asked the Sales Manager how many direct drive Ski Nautiques they sold last year compared to the Sport Nautiques and Super Air Nautiques. His response was that the ski boats made up less than 5% of his sales. He said that he would likely not stock a Ski Nautique this year and make the Ski Nautique a "special-order" only boat.

Somebody talk me off the ledge, please!

JQ

I went to the Raleigh boat show yesterday, same thing. As expected, Chris Eller (April Coble's husband) had the only two 3-event boats at the show, a couple of Prostars. Malibu, Centurion, and Correct Craft were all about the big wake boats. White Lake Marine was there, but the closest Nautique was a v-drive 210. I actually saw a couple of my slalom buddies there. We made sure to ask everyone "where are the direct drives?"

We all see it, on a calm summer evening I might see 2 other boats on the lake pulling slalom skiers.

The manufacturers make what sells, the dealers stock what sells, so I don't see there being any blame to place anywhere. I find it hard to find slalom skiers to go out with, I often will ski a few times and then set the boat up for wakeboarding and that's what my friends want to do, so I've been learning a bit. I'm not sure if slalom was more popular simply because there were not alternatives? I get the big wake boat and surfing appeal, a guy can take 10 friends out and everyone gets a long run with little effort and the rest can talk and drink or whatever, versus a ski outing where 4 people max head out in the boat and each run is a couple of minutes, at much higher speed. Gotta accept the times are changing, and just enjoy what you like to do and let others make their own decisions.

I have noticed the same thing when I stop by dealers during my travels around the Midwest. All they have in stock are the big $125K + surf boats. Well, thats not totally true. There is a good dealer in Indy that I have stopped by a time or two that stocks some DD ski boats. Nice folks there!

Anyway, if slalom boats are not as much in demand as they used to be, and the big boats with huge wakes are the rage, does that mean that Southwind open bows, and the late 80's Martiniques are now going to be gaining in popularity for folks who like the older, classic, more affordable CC's? They are big. They aren't nimble. They do have huge wakes.

Apparently I have chosen the wrong career, and everybody else in the world has chosen the right career....or won the lotto. The dealers I have talked to say they can't keep the G-series boats in stock. Anyway, I have got to think the older big CC's may gain a little popularity as affordable alternatives to the super expensive boats??

2015 G25-$150K
1987 Martinique-$5K

I know which one I am buying.

63 Skier wrote: I get the big wake boat and surfing appeal, a guy can take 10 friends out and everyone gets a long run with little effort

there's the answer, wakeboarding and surfing are easy. our society is willing to pay more for the easy way out. there is hope though, I bought my boat for wakeboarding 5 years ago and can count on one finger the number of times I was on a wakeboard last year. dying breed? maybe, but we're still out there.

I really think it is more about instant gratification or doing what requires the least amount of effort or skill. Tubing seems to be the most popular pulled sport right now, surfing is all the rage because it is so easy to do. What I find most disturbing is how disruptive the "popular" events are to all the other recreational boaters and fisherman. Those massive or constant waves created by each are giving all of watersports a black eye. A vast majority of the wake boarders out there don't need a 3 or 4 foot wake when they can't even jump, so what's the point?

Now if we wanted to point fingers mine would be at the parents who are not willing to put in the time and effort to teach the more skilled events. My solution is teach anybody who wants to learn.

I am on a smaller lake so one tuber can pretty much make the whole lake garbage conditions. Nothing more frustrating then when you are working with a brand new skier and the tuber comes past turning the area into a "wake zone".

Most of your buyers don't use DD boats like our demographic here.

I much as I hate the lack of DD boats at the shows I can understand it.

The darn things cost so much to put on the showroom floor only to finally have a client for one come and want to special order because of colors or options.   I would also imagine that 95% of anyone looking to buy a direct drive tournament boat already knows whats available and probably already has their mind made up on exactly what they want. It just doesn't make any sense for a dealer to floor plan one and then discount it to unload it later.

Who buys a DD ski boat anymore? promo drivers, ski schools and a hand full of hard core 3 event skiers. Really pretty sad state of affairs for 3 event water skiing.

Nothing at the show interested me this year, we spent more time looking at motorhomes than boats.

Motor homes are sweet.

Ooops. I stand corrected.. There was a Ski Nautique 200 and a M/C Prostar of some flavor at the Dallas Show. The prostar was crazy blingy.

Another interestng trend I have noticed is the popularity of pontoons, or tritoons. Both my brother-in-laws have traded off their 23' I/O cruisers in the past year or two, and have gone with pontoons. I wonder if the cruiser I/O mfgrs are crying the blues due to a decrease in volume in their sales the last few years?? Sure seems like as people age, they now want to put their kids, and their grandkids on the toon, and take 12 people out on the lake for a nice slow cruise. And, not all these boats are slow. I have seen some toons recentley that have been speeding along at 30+ MPH.

Just saw an article on Mercury Marine recently. They have apparently developed their own engine block which is more friendly to the boat builder market. One of the comments in the article was that they have seen volumes decline from ~200K units/yr. to ~20K units/yr. for the I/O's. They didn't comment on the outboards, but, I have to wonder that as pontoons are gaining in popularity if they are seeing an increase in demand for outboards for the that market!?!

Ive notcied that Master craft only has 1 version of their prostar. it has a cover to make it a closed bow.

The Ski 200 is already 6 years old! Where's the buzz on the next model?

To Bruce's point...Why bother?

I took my two sons and 2 nephews out on a water ski/wake board run, I pulled all 4 while they wake boarded, they were aged 24-29. After they were done I noticed the lake had laid down really nice and asked them to pull me for a ski. I was lucky and had near glass, the other boats out, mostly wake board boats were parked changing riders. I got a straight nice run to make the best cuts I could muster. Granted I am mid 50's now and can't pull it down like I used to but after the run I was loading into the boat and one Wake board boat had people clapping and another drove past saying that was really cool to see.
My nephew feels the excitement and says he wants to try skiing so we pulled him up, first time on a ski in many years, he got up made some nice cuts and got back in the boat asking how to get more speed and how to pull it down in the turns. After him, my son's asked for a ski ride also, again after many years of wake boarding. They were trying to out do each other, cousins competition. It was great.
I want to Thank the wake board boats on the lake that night for confirming that a good ski run is a cool thing to do. It made my family revisit the sport and see there is fun on a ski also.
I have been on a wake board many times and know all the basics but I have no love for the wake board, my passion has always been in the one on one battle between the boat and the skier, you get back in the boat knowing you challenged yourself and it feels great.

I've seen pontoons well over 100K which seems to defeat their whole purpose to me.

They'll keep building DDs as long as the competition does. Malibu has built the old Response since 1998 and they don't even put it in their catalog. There must be a niche market that they don't have to advertise to that buys enough of them to keep them in production.

The best thing we all can do is teach kids to ski.