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Michael1 01-31-2005 12:26 AM

LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Here's the turnout for our OSO LA Boat Show Meet-up: 1. (just me) Oh, well. I stood out there with my OSO sign until 11:20, and then off to the show. Interesting stuff this year.

Mercury Marine showed their 600 hp supercharged 502. It's listed as a 2006 engine, although they are building them (did I lose a year somewhere?). The supercharger is a Lysholm unit, which is manufactured by Lysholm just for Mercury. It has a low profile intercooler. I asked the salesperson if the Bravo XR had been beefed up, and he said it hadn't. He said you just have to treat it well, meaning from Mercury's standpoint, the boat should never leave the water. OK for the lakes, but... He implied Mercury may be working on a stronger drive than the XR for a future product. Price: $75,000. They also had the 1075 hp at $150,000. Only change this year to the 1075 is a different gear box.

Fountain: When I mentioned to a sales guy that the back seat grab handle seemed too low, he said "Don't buy the boat." Then he asked me if I was an engineer (fully expecting that I would say no, so he could tell me the engineers knew better than me). To his surprise, I said, "Yes, and I now do sales, too. I try to keep things positive when I do sales. And when someone doesn't think something is right, I send an email to engineering." Jackass. Some people don't belong in jobs where they interact with the customer.

Formula: No go-fast boats per se, but they did have a full 40' cabin cruiser with a step bottom that does close to 60 mph with twin 525's. We're talking a full standup cabin. Impressive. They had a Fastech last year, but said interest was too low to bring one again. Too bad.

Scott was there with a 39' Outlimits with twin Viper V-10s. He also had a 40' Scater with twin Mercury 1075's. Either could be had for about $700,000. Beautiful boats!

Baja: 302 Outlaw has been redesigned using the University of Michigan hydrodynamic lab, and wind tunnels. Yes, you read right, a wind tunnel. They created scale models, and tested them in both. The representative pointed out some of the changes they made to the hull, based on wind tunnel testing. For instance the rear edges at the transom are beveled. There is no wood in this boat. It is all composite. They also did strain gage measurements on the hull, to locate high stress areas, and add composite reinforcing. There are also no "small parts" on the boat other than the dash. This is a true 30', and they do not count the swim platform. With twin 425's, show special price was $122,000, which seemed like a pretty good price.

Eliminator: They showed the largest 40' cat I have ever seen (except for commercial use). It is a VERY tall cabin cruiser, with no center pod. It has Arneson drives, with cavitation tubes. Engines were Yanmar diesels, with top speed of 60.

Schiada: They had a 40' V hull prototype with twin V-12 Falconers. These are great looking engines with individual injection ram tubes. Regarding their 32' boat, if the sales person was correct, they may go down for having the heaviest 32' performance boat in existence at 8500 pounds. He said they like to overbuild.

Hallett: Had their new 40 footer. It is suitable for offshore, but with a beach side door, it seemed more geared towards lake use.

Evinrude: Interesting direct injected two stroke technology. They meet all emission standards using a special fuel injector that sends fuel directly into the cylinder head. They claim better emissions, less maintenance, and fuel economy than their four stroke outboard competitors.

Overall: In the small boats, this is the year for bow riders. They are everywhere, and I heard many people asking sales people to see them. All we need now is to bring back the tri-hull. :D Actually, many of the new lake cats have such large center pods, that for practical purposes, they already are. The Hallett sales person said he gets asked how many people they can fit in the boat - some want to carry more than 12 in a 20 foot boat! :eek: "May I interest you in a pontoon party boat?"

Most Knowledgeable Sales Person Award (other than Scott): Evinrude (actually was factory tech), with Baja as Runner Up (factory sales).

Michael :drink:

LIOPA 01-31-2005 12:36 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Did you get you get to see NORDIC POWERBOATS exhibit?

They were supposed to show this new set up ....1 MOTOR feeding 2 DRIVE units

Reportedly a lighter back end with much less drag...it sounded interesting

BajaFresh 01-31-2005 12:38 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Great report, Michael. Where are the photos? :D

I worked all day today (yesterday too) so couldn't make the show. :(

So, I guess you didn't buy a Fountain? :eek: :D

LIOPA 01-31-2005 12:38 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Also FORCE OFFSHORE was to debut their new V-BOTTOM line and 32 Canopy Cat

Attack 01-31-2005 08:54 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Was there anything new as far as Bravo drive upgrades or replacments? I heard weismann and Konrad were working on new projects. Did the BMAX guys show up?

Ms PatriYacht 01-31-2005 09:09 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
nice report, thank's for all the info very interesting. I can't believe no one else showed :(

Indy 01-31-2005 09:35 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 

Originally Posted by Michael1
Fountain: When I mentioned to a sales guy that the back seat grab handle seemed too low, he said "Don't buy the boat."

What an ass...I'm sure Fountain/Mercury would be interested in knowing how they're being represented at a boat show :(

Panic Button 01-31-2005 10:08 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
1 Attachment(s)

Originally Posted by LIOPA
Did you get you get to see NORDIC POWERBOATS exhibit?

They were supposed to show this new set up ....1 MOTOR feeding 2 DRIVE units

Reportedly a lighter back end with much less drag...it sounded interesting

Is this what you're looking for?

Michael1 01-31-2005 10:41 AM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
I did see the Nordic exhibit, but did not see the dual drive setup.

Sorry Al, I didn't bring my camera.

Force was there. I saw their V-bottom, but did not see the canopy cat (could have missed it though - there were a lot of boats).

It took a lot longer to see the boats than I thought this year. Next thing I knew the hall was closing, and I never made it down to the accessories exhibits hall. Not sure if BMAX, Konrad, or others were there. When I asked the Mercury Marine guy about BMAX, he said if you beef up the transmission, it moves the failure point lower in the drive. Makes sense, but I'm not sure if BMAX makes other changes, too. We've all heard how little IMCO's upgrade does (not too much), so I didn't bother asking about that one.

Volvo - I forgot to mention this. One of the best outdrive alternatives may come from Volvo. We could be in for a nice surprise from Volvo later this year. Their representative mentioned they are working on taking the outdrive used on their diesels, and streamlining it for use in with big block gasoline performance boats. Because all the parts are much beefier, it could be good for 700 horsepower or more. Looking at their diesel drive, it is a stouter unit, to handle the diesel torque. They are also working on a 525 horsepower engine to use with it. Also in development is a very unique drive to replace straight inboard. It is essentially an outdrive that passes through the bottom of the hull (rather than the rear), and the outdrive (really "underdrive") portion is turned backwards with the prop facing forward (the prop pulls rather than pushes). The "underdrive" is steerable to 180 degrees in either direction, so can actually produce side thrust. Very unique.

Mufflers - With the new California 85 db noise limit, the industry is in absolute chaos regarding meeting the standards. :eek: They really needed another year or two of testing and development. I saw one muffler arrangement on the 30' Baja, that had a baffle opening of about 1 inch! My finger barely fit in the hole. I can't imagine how much that cut the original 425 horsepower down to. Other manufacturers are scrambling around trying to find mufflers to meet the standards, but had no real answers yet. I've heard the noise fine is a ridiculous $250 (unconfirmed). How many boaters own sound meters? The problem is there just isn't enough room on most boats to house an effective low restriction, large volume muffler. Formula has the advantage here, because they have their Silent Thunder system that uses the swim platform to house a large muffler. Bigger is better.

Person With the Best Job Award - this goes to the guy I met who runs the Formula race program down in Florida. Some guys have it made. :D

Michael

DPT MOTORSPORTS 01-31-2005 01:48 PM

Re: LA Boat Show Highlights
 
Any photos???


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