Brunswick selling Baja to Fountain (which I am sure they also own the majority of).... While Fountain PB lost $4 mill last year..


Looks like a Brunswick Three Card Monty in order to can the Baja employees with less flack.

Good point.
Now Reggie is the bad guy, not the bowling ball company.

Now that's the funniest thing I've heard all day. :D

It's unlikely that this deal could be considered an "upgrade" by either company,
and seems more likely that consolidation, survival and stop-loss may be the motivation.
Although pure speculation on my part, unless Reggie hit the lottery, his P/L
statement is probably not that different from Baja's, and Brunswick knows it!

One last point to keep in mind, 300 boats from one plant rather than
300 boats from two plants ups the odds for survival, and hopefully, a ROI.
The alternative, Baja dissappears and Fountain becomes a memory.

Just remember the term ... LOWEST COMMON DENOMINATOR!

I know the plants been there since the mid 80s. Brunswick dumped a lot of cash adding to the facility back in the late 90s

Severance packages are only short term buy outs. I've been to the plant 3 times, 2 this year. The employees I've met are happy and take a sence of pride in what they do. To take that way only fuels anger towards corprate america and there greed.

Hay Roger
This May Not Interest You But My Whife And I Spent A Week On A River Cuuse 10 Yeara Ago With Beaver On The River Queen Out Of Nashville Up Some River Called Cumberland It Was Great.
Richard

There is a Federal Plant closing law that probably dictated this timing. If sufficient notice is not given then the employees are entitled to pay after the shutdown ( a costly situation). The tradeoff, unfortunately, is that the employees in the remaining days have no loyalty, enthusiasm or pride, but like every Federally mandated idea.....at best you get a bad result.
One might also keep an eye on an Arisa avoidance play here or any number of other regulations and "orderly shutdown" requirements in sales of this type. I could also see someone playing Reggie's ego here and selling him on being a "corporate turnaround artist" if he pulls this off. He certainly thinks he can do anything...... and has a history of ignoring stark financial reality.

Bottom line I would stay away from Bajas made from now until May, lest you find a lot of lunch sandwiches "accidently on purpose" laminated into the hull, steering wheels that turn the drives in the wrong direction....etc, etc, etc....


This a sad day indeed. Ohio was once a mecca of high performance boat manufacturers. Even though Baja started out as a Checkmate wannabe at the beginning, it did manage to out run them in the end......or maybe not....

T2x

I have known about this possible sale for a couple of weeks now and also heard that there were others that we trying to buy the company also that would have kept the work force in place.

While I like Reggie and respect him and was excited about what he could do with the brand I changed my focus as I heard the plant would be closed and moved to North Carolina I could not help but be upset and concerned for all the folks I have become friends with at Baja and consider family after ten years and three Baja's.

There are many here on the board that have been very verbal about their opinion of Baja and it was very unfair for all of those people that I have met and the ones I have only heard of that reported daily to Baja trying hard to build a quality product and brought Baja back to a company that had the largest market share, and the largest selection of models. Not to mention the highly successful poker run tour and many very loyal and happy owners. These people take a lot of pride in their work and did not let those that wanted to cut them down interfer with the work at hand.

When you trash a brand because a cousin of a cousin had a bad experience with a used Baja you are bashing all the hard working people that build the product and you are bashing the people on this forum that spent their hard earned money on the product that best served their needs. We all need to think about that in the future.

It is definately a very sad day for those of us that own Baja's and those that have devoted years to the company.

I hope that Reggie keeps the brand alive and gives us all a product that we can continue to be proud of and offers us products that we will want to move up to in the future.

Yes as Ray with Raylar mentioned there are some warranty issues. I personally have two friends that had issues with early model 30 Outlaws which were the first liner boats and Baja completely replaced their boats. You hear the bad things and people want to condem Baja on quality but Baja stepped up and took care of the problem and made the customers happy. I commend them on that as I know custom boat builders that have left the customer hanging out to dry on when they spent a lot more money. There are some issues but I'm sure they will be resolved.

My dealings with Baja and all the folks there have been excellent and I will miss them.

Our thoughts and prayers are with all the employees hoping they all move on to bigger and better things and enjoy a brighter future.

Reggie we are proud to be a part of the Fountain family now, make us proud!

Dock

I agree I would be careful about buyng a boat from baja from here till the plant closes. Boats take alot of care to build, when the one paying for the care says they no longer want to pay for it, what do you think will happen...