March Hot Boat Article
02-21-2002, 07:38 PM
#12
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Thanks Blue American,
But whats this about having fun and living, this is a 24/7 deal for us, but we like it that way!
I come from the automotive racing industry where I worked for companies such as Edelbrock, MSD, Crane, Comp Cams ...etc. About 8 years ago, my conned me into the boat industry, of course it would be doing what our hobby was then, now it is work! We developed a compact jet for Sugar Sand and helped with the R&D of that, from there we were hired by the Seebold ? Emerald company where we worked with Bill Seebold closely and later worked closely with Brad Collins of Mirage fame. Needless to say we had some pretty good teachers and learned a tremendous amount.
Sales for us has increased, so far by about 140% last year and we already are ahead of last year to date sales by over 200%.
We like what we do and work hard to get the customer what they want! As much as I like racing, we just cannot do it and pay attention to business and I think that that was the downfall of the other guys. They were good guys with different priorities.
Scott
But whats this about having fun and living, this is a 24/7 deal for us, but we like it that way!
I come from the automotive racing industry where I worked for companies such as Edelbrock, MSD, Crane, Comp Cams ...etc. About 8 years ago, my conned me into the boat industry, of course it would be doing what our hobby was then, now it is work! We developed a compact jet for Sugar Sand and helped with the R&D of that, from there we were hired by the Seebold ? Emerald company where we worked with Bill Seebold closely and later worked closely with Brad Collins of Mirage fame. Needless to say we had some pretty good teachers and learned a tremendous amount.
Sales for us has increased, so far by about 140% last year and we already are ahead of last year to date sales by over 200%.
We like what we do and work hard to get the customer what they want! As much as I like racing, we just cannot do it and pay attention to business and I think that that was the downfall of the other guys. They were good guys with different priorities.
Scott
02-21-2002, 07:45 PM
#13
Scott, When you worked for sugar sand did you design and help on the 'Heat XRS'? We have one for my son and all of us love it. Too bad they stopped building it. It would be a screemer with the new 240HP V-6 Mercury jet!!
02-21-2002, 08:21 PM
#14
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Hey Cobra,
We tried it with the 175 v-6 and it proved too fast and agile for the consumer we thought, so we canned the v6 project. It's just too much, the final answer was the last day it was tested, it launched fairly high and ended up injuring one of the passengers pretty bad, Aimee and I are still very good friends with the owner, Gary Rutherford. Aimee played an important part in the interior lay out of the heat, in fact the little step ups in the footwells are called Aimee steps. She's 5 foot tall on a big hair day! Our first heat 120 test boat ran 56mph and we tested it down in the Louisiana bayous running from bar to bar!
By the way, the fresh water cooling was basically designed after an oil cooler, works great! It just clutters the engine up.
Scott
We tried it with the 175 v-6 and it proved too fast and agile for the consumer we thought, so we canned the v6 project. It's just too much, the final answer was the last day it was tested, it launched fairly high and ended up injuring one of the passengers pretty bad, Aimee and I are still very good friends with the owner, Gary Rutherford. Aimee played an important part in the interior lay out of the heat, in fact the little step ups in the footwells are called Aimee steps. She's 5 foot tall on a big hair day! Our first heat 120 test boat ran 56mph and we tested it down in the Louisiana bayous running from bar to bar!
By the way, the fresh water cooling was basically designed after an oil cooler, works great! It just clutters the engine up.
Scott
02-21-2002, 08:52 PM
#15
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Steve and I worked very hard on our 3100 with the Eagle and flag down the side of the boat. We wanted to try to bring the best boat that A.O. has ever brought to the Miami show.
Some loved it and some didn't...can't please everyone but we did not fail for lack of effort.
No one wanted to see the good movies on the 11.5 flat screen T.V. down in the cabin
We have alot of ideas for the next 3100. Can't tell you guys yet...Scott knows us,we kept him in the dark until the day before the show.
If anyone has ideas or improvements please let me know. Hold on for the next one
Rob
Xtreme Dream Machines
Florida's only A.O. Dealer
Some loved it and some didn't...can't please everyone but we did not fail for lack of effort.
No one wanted to see the good movies on the 11.5 flat screen T.V. down in the cabin
We have alot of ideas for the next 3100. Can't tell you guys yet...Scott knows us,we kept him in the dark until the day before the show.
If anyone has ideas or improvements please let me know. Hold on for the next one
Rob
Xtreme Dream Machines
Florida's only A.O. Dealer
02-22-2002, 07:01 AM
#16
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Those guys at Xtreme did a GREAT job with the graphics. I thought that everyone loved them, Look for it to appear in the May issue of Powerboat Mag. As far as I am concerned it was the best that has been to the show. Bob Teague and HOTBOAT Mag both said that the AO's are getting better and better!
Dino Dog, We just didn't want to offend anyone with those special movies! This boat was the American Eagle, maybe the next one should be named "Rated X"!!!!! Put a pair of those new Merc 1050's in it and give the "cat eyes" boat a run for it!
Good Job Guys!
Hey Mltdwn,
We have been with AO now for over a year, why they said "new owners" again? I'm not sure. Ed founded the company in the late eightys and had it until 1999, the other owners took over for a short run, made improvements, but lacked in sales experience, we have been here over a year and have had sales improvements as well as model improvements and have added a dealer base in selected markets. Through it all, AO has always run on a strong platform, we are known as being one of the Fastest best built Cats out there and they are built to last as witnessed by Tex Taylors boat and a ton of others. We still have a lot of happy early ninety's owners. And yes, boat building is a tough business!!!! Give me a call!
Scott
Dino Dog, We just didn't want to offend anyone with those special movies! This boat was the American Eagle, maybe the next one should be named "Rated X"!!!!! Put a pair of those new Merc 1050's in it and give the "cat eyes" boat a run for it!
Good Job Guys!
Hey Mltdwn,
We have been with AO now for over a year, why they said "new owners" again? I'm not sure. Ed founded the company in the late eightys and had it until 1999, the other owners took over for a short run, made improvements, but lacked in sales experience, we have been here over a year and have had sales improvements as well as model improvements and have added a dealer base in selected markets. Through it all, AO has always run on a strong platform, we are known as being one of the Fastest best built Cats out there and they are built to last as witnessed by Tex Taylors boat and a ton of others. We still have a lot of happy early ninety's owners. And yes, boat building is a tough business!!!! Give me a call!
Scott
02-22-2002, 07:34 AM
#17
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I'm typically not a fan of large bright graphics on powerboats, but the 31 AO at the Miami Boat Show was very clean and tasteful. Spent a lot of time looking at 31 foot cat's this year. AO is definitely in the running for the choice of purchase.
-Bayley
-Bayley
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