live wire

I 've noticed alot of negitivity on this and other sites about boats shows . It seems that alot of the " performance vendors " have stopped attending. In my opion if we dont go to these shows and show support the " non-performance vendors" start to drop out and the boats shows will be cancelled indefinatley. And even if the economy picks up it would be real hard to get that ball rolling again.

I just went to the NYC show this week with my old man . We stopped at a LI propeller vendor ( who happens to own a hustler ) to BS about prop labbing and before we left my dad is having him fix the stuts on his 45' pilot house and possibly a new radar arch.We stopped by numerous other vendors, by the time we left I dropped $500 on a jacket , lines , cooler & some saftey gear.

So my point is just because Donzi , Fountain, Sunsation ect...didnt show up with some performance stuff is no reason not to stop by and show your support for our marine industry during this bad economy.

So go to your local Boat show this show season.

Catmando

Great post!

AB From Windsor

The lack of Performance boats at some of the Boats Show isn't anything that was associated with the down turn in the economy. At the Cobo Hall, Boat Show in Detroit, there was a stead decline in Performance Boats for years before the down turn in the economy. I can say the same thing about Toronto Boat Show, lack of Performance boats. I support the marine industry by owning a boat and always fixing it, I don't want to go to a boat show to look at canoe's, sailboats, runabouts, etc.. I want to look at Performance boats and performance merchandise. Maybe if the Dealers and Manufactures of Performance boats would bring there products to the shows they would not only be showing what is available but they would be promoting their product and Performance Boating. There is no excuse for it, if other boating manufactures of sail boats, Jet Ski's, cruisers, runabouts and dealers can bring their product's there, then why not the Performance Industry. Metro Beach in Michigan use to have one of the best in water boats shows around here of Performance boats but that has been on a steady decline over the years. Performance boat builders and those in the business of selling Performance boating merchandise, must support those who support them also. I will never buy a sailboat and I'm sure a sailboater will never buy a performance boat. That is just the way it is, hopefully we will start seeing the Performance boat manufactures and dealers start to bring their boats and merchandise to the boat shows in the future.

live wire

Good point ... But I consider myself a marine enthusiast and like all types of boats , true I'll usually walk right past the sail boats & canoes myself . But I can appreciate and enjoy all types of boats sport fish , skiffs , , picnic , express crusiers , down east , trawlers etc... I enjoy looking at the latest electronics to foul weather gear not just "performance stuff ". And I agree that the performance industry should make more of an effort at the shows to promote performance boating . But unfortunatley the performance industry is the smallest part of the marine industry and has been hit hardest among the other types of recreational boats.

My point is if there isnt a crowd showing up at these events to show interest in the recreational type boats that make up 95% of the industry eventually there will be no show availble for the 5% of performance boats.

So if I have to force myself to walk past a sailboat or two to see something I enjoy or buy a stupid hat with my boats name on it so there is boat shows in the future ,thats the price I'll have to pay

MC-BOYS

Agree, well said

frankenstein

i agree with all points. I do just enjoy being around boats so I attend boat shows regularly. I missed NY show this year because of a conflict with the Jet game. I should have went to the boat show.

FeverMike

I will be at the Miami show for the 7th year in a row and only missed the 2003 show due to hospitialaztion...but I have been going since 1998. I go to my local shows but they are mostly about fisihing witha few CC's thrown in.

502ss

iTrader: (3)

The Boston boat show has a very weak performance turnout which is a shame because I think there are a lot of performance boaters in new England. I traveled to miami 2 years ago to see a real show.

halfbuzzed

I just went to the cleveland show last weekend, which is not a huge show. But still there was not one performance oriented thing present. I was looking for rack storage for my 38, so i spent a few thousand. But I was only there for two hours because there was absolutely nothing interesting to look at(except some well made old school wood boats). The performance guys should really at least have some sort of showing there. Just my .02

TEAMBAJA

I was at the show too and the only thing that caught my attention was the detail on some of those old wood boats. Im not really a fan of those boats, but you can sure appreciate the time and effort that went into them!