Breaking News
 

Thursday July 10th, 2008

About two hours ago our good friends at Sea Ray / Brunswick found it in their best interest to destroy the original 399 Skater mold that was going to be Faction Power Boats.

What a waste, what a shame.

Is there anything else they can do to Baja or the good folks up in Bucyrus at this point?

Remember you saw it first on OSO and not TBM!

Rest in Peace:eek:

P.S.

Yes that was a hull in the mold. They cut it in half and ran the forks from the fork lift through it!:rolleyes:

Ouch, that hurts. I hate to see any mold destroyed.

WHY???? I guess a better question is why had Faction not taken ownership of the mold?? Did brunswick not sell it?? WHo did it belong to? Wow what a waste!!!

If Faction did not own it why didn't Fountain take it??

WILL:violent040:

Brunswick owned it.

Faction wanted it but they would not sell.

Fountain did not want it.

I wanted a 36 back when it was discontinued and they would not sell and destroyed all of them along with the 25 and the 29 and the 33OL!

Any other questions?

Well thats what I figured, damn what a waste. I have seen some crappy things but to destroy a mold for the simple reason that you can is crappy. Sea ray would never have used it.

To be honest with you I am surprised it just didn't end up missing??????????? You know with all the trucks and molds going down the roads???

SAD

Now that is funny!:evilb:

If you only knew the half of it. I could tell you some stories that I heard about how this mold almost escaped and was hidden and you name it.

Just too many people knew about it.

If Faction never owned it, I'm not sure why they were even discussing producing the boat to the public. I would think they would have kept things low key until the transaction was made & the mold officially changed hands. Then announce it to the world.

I guess they could still use a different mold, but probably lost some credibility next time they announce a model.

I hope someone gets kicked in tha nuts for that decision! WTF is wrong with people!

Phuckin cocksuckers...:angry-smiley-038: :angry-smiley-038:

That thing should have 'walked' out of there a long time ago.

Thats terrible news...

That mold was one of the last things I looked at before I walked out of that place forever. Alot of work went into that mold earlier this year. :rolleyes: They'll run the whole Brunswick boat group down the sewer before its over. :angry-smiley-055:

Rick Stone, President of Sea Ray, was determined to destroy it, he did not want anyone, especially ex -employees to have it. The story they will probably use is because of liabilty, but that argument went out the window when they sold the place to Fountain, the liabilty, spin a boat out kings. Let's name the Hall of Shame, First and foremost, BILL REGAN, then a VERY close second, arm around Bill- ROB PARMENTIER and lastly, but not forgotten, RICK STONE! Great job running one into the ground boys, use whatever story you want to sleep at night, but a lot of people know the truth..............

But of course, this is just my opinion........

Bastards!!!

I still can't believe somebody around Bucyrus didn't pull in there with a flatbed and yank that thing long before that happened.

But then again I suppose it probably would have been a little difficult to shuffle around a 39 foot boat mold until the heat settled down.

I think I would have heat shrunk it about 3 times and buried it in the woods somewhere for a year or so had it been me...

Doc,

While many people (TMB) may never know the names behind Faction, they really did try to make a go with this tooling in the Bucyrus area, but were cut short on their efforts. I consider them as good friends that tried to make something happen. The one thing you can never take away from Bucyrus, is the sheer number of performance boat builders in this town with over 45 years of Checkmate, & 37 years of Baja knowledge.

XT

Well said and I appreciate and fully support all the good folks up there. I do know they made a great effort to pull off the Faction deal and it is sad it did not happen.

My guess is that Brunswick has too much invested in Fountain at this point for them to allow any additional competition.

Good luck to all.

Must be so many boat companies out there doing
so well that Brunswick doesn't need another customer
to sell their powerplants to

Had to get the TBM jab in eh?

I was never convinced that Faction was ever going to get off the ground.

Yeah, but he forgot to use the word exclusive.:D

Maybe Sea Ray has plans to do more than just a new 22' Pachanga (expect official announcement soon), and they want no competition for a bigger version... :p

Honestly, its very unfortunate when these high level execs get in pissing matches. If these ass-clowns had any business ethics, they would have at least sold the mold to interested buyers. Destroying it is pathetic and wasteful.

Hall of Shame..........I love it!


Bill Regan...........the inspiration for Mr Burns on the Simpsons. Or Krusty the Clown. Or ass-clown combo of the two!

Tristar,

Maybe your right, but why let the New Hammer X, go with FOUNTAIN??? I think Sea Ray will stick to their same boats.

WILL

What do you expect? :traurig001:

In this thread it was going to happen: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forums/s...hlight=faction, now it's not and somehow that's a "scoop"????

Faction didn't have a chance; that was obvious to most.

I was just trying to be funny about the Pachanga comment. :D I dont think there would be competition between a Sea Ray performance boat and Bajas, which is why I was confused when the Pachangas were dropped when Baja was bought by Sea Ray/Brunswick.

I still find it very curious that a month after Baja was sold, Sea Ray magically had a 22' Pachanga program that will be officially announced in late August. Im a Pachanga fan, but I really wonder how much of the boat is shelved ideas from years past. Now Im getting off topic.

Its very interesting to me how boat molds get bought and sold, almost like giving new life to an old design. Why did Baja buy the mold in the first place? New direction for design?(at the time at least) Did Baja plan on buying any other "old" molds before they were dumped?

Either way, if nothing else this drama makes the boat industry that much more interesting to me.

There was nothing magical, and no shelved ideas from the past. This would/will be a new model from the ground up.

New model ground up in a few months? Thats magical for most of the engineering firms I have worked for, :)

Do you know anything more about the new Pachanga 22? Not trying to go too off-topic, just curious since I might consider it if its close to the 80's P22.

My source has gone quiet, and all I know is 70+ mph, red hull for the 50th Anniversary edition, and an official announcement late this August.

Not the same. New from the ground up. It IS the same hull as the Baja Hammer that was being built and tested when Baja shut down. Baja built the hull and liner for SR. Baja also had the plug for the SR deck nearly complete. SR is finishing it up. SR does not really build anything that goes much over 55 mph. That is why they relied on Baja to do the design and testing. Now they will put their cosmetic touches on the deck and call it a pachanga. :greenchainsaw:

Beauuutifullll
You won't mind if this becomes my avitar....

Hmm, I love learning new info. How was the hull before being handed over to sea ray? I would Personal Message these questions as to not change the subject of the thread, but I dont seem to have that capability.

Sea Ray seemed to do a decent job designing the P22 in the 80s, Im not sure why they couldnt have done the same this time around.

Once again, thanks for the inside info. The more the better, :)

I would expect no less........

I say leave it right here in the open. How often does the average thread stay on course anyway? :food-smiley-009:

Saw a best of 76+ on GPS with minimal prop testing with the 496 Mag HO in the original NEW Hammer (real world Gulf of Mexico testing).

I believe WOTW2E had some wind tunnel testing he still wanted to do!
:evilb:

It's good to know you guys got it all figured out.:ernaehrung004:

Will do. So I take it the two of you worked for Baja before things went south?

Does Sea Ray intend for the new Pachanga to have a windshield? Honestly, Ill buy beers for info, haha. :ernaehrung004:

I wanted a Pachanga in the 80s, but I was just a kid. Hence my interest in the new boat, sort of a promise to myself if they ever came back out.

So any other info you might have, Id be more than greatful. Its always fun knowing what is not supposed to be known yet, :)

:angry-smiley-038:

Like most 22' hulls the weight of a small block would give you better handling and CG, but you neeed the HP of the 496 block engine to get the speed. Wait for the new engine from Mercury Marine that will replace the 496 block and is based on the vortec 6000!

XT

When is that supposed to be released. I figure I wont be buying anything until next summer at the earliest. Less weight and similar horsepower is always good!

Not real sure,:rolleyes: but maybe WOTW2E knows a better time frame?

Fountain Powerboats adding 250 jobs in NC
Tuesday July 22, 10:43 am ET
Fountain Powerboats will add 250 new jobs in North Carolina county to build new boat line

RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) -- A North Carolina motorboat maker will add 250 jobs over the next five years at its company headquarters in Beaufort County as it builds a new boat line.
Gov. Mike Easley announced Monday the $12 million expansion at Fountain Powerboats Inc., located along the Pamlico River.

Fountain will expand to begin building the Baja boat line that it purchased earlier this year from Brunswick Corp.

The overall average wage from the new jobs will be $35,800 plus benefits. That's more than the Beaufort County average of about $28,000 annually.

Easley's office said the company could receive up to $2.5 million in incentive grants should it create enough jobs and sustain them for 11 years under an agreement with the state.