Catamaran Choices
 

OK, obviously I'm new to offshoreonly. I'm also nowhere near being able to afford a decent offshore boat. But, I've been fascinated by them for a long time, and I try to stay on top of what's happening in the sport.

I've been on a couple poker runs now and I'm trying to understand the mentality of the average poker runner. Yes, I realize that there are a wide range of personalities that participate in poker runs, but it's the high end offshore cat buyer that I'm trying to figure out.

Anyone have any insight about how people decide on an offshore cat. Skaters obviously have a huge offshore history to their credit. MTI's are newer but still have experienced some success offshore. So I'll make the generalization that offshore wins can translate into sales. But, I've never seen a Nor-Tech on the offshore circuit and they are still selling quite a few high end cats.

On the other hand, looks obviously matter. Fountain reintroduced the executioner series mainly because (as far as I can tell) they look better than the high windshield hulls.

People are also willing to drop big money on a custom paint job so that their boat will look nice.


So my question is about Platinum. Platinum is fairly new on the scene, they've had some success offshore, and they make a darn cool looking boat in my opinion. Yes, looks are subjective, but it seems to me that they would at least sell some boats to people who are looking to stand at the dock with something different. Is it just a matter of time before we are seeing Platinum hulls at all of the major poker runs, or will they remain strictly a race course anomoly?

Re: Catamaran Choices
 

Platinum are very nice boats. The boat has a great pedigree (It's a Mike Peters design) I belive they are tooling some type of pleasure deck for the boat. There are several great new choices out the in the cat market including the Platinum and the new 38' Doug Wright (Aero Speed Marine) but not alot of are willing to seperate from the SKATER, NORTECH, MTI fringe on something thats not proven as a pleasure configuration.

Re: Catamaran Choices
 

Yahhh what the big guy said...

Re: Catamaran Choices
 

I don't know if it's just a generational thing or what, but a lot of the companies that advertise to my demographic try to appeal to the desire to be unique, to stand out from the crowd. But, from my limited poker run exposure, it seems like the majority of the boaters worship at either the Fountain or Skater altars. It's almost like everyone wants to be part of the club. Paint jobs seem to be the main way people try to stand out.

Yes, I have a marketing communications background just in case my train of thought didn't make that obvious. :rolleyes: