BillR

I know that Rinker and performance boat are mutually exclusive terms.
But has anyone seen that new boat?

To me it looks like Baja's old 272. In fact I think Rinker named it a 272???

Odd

No I don't want one, just want to talk about BOATS.

Milord

I have the copy of Family & Performance on my desk with it on the cover. It's a good looking boat, I'm not much for the big windshield but what can I say, mine has one!

I don't think it's going to break any speed records but it seems like a nice package. Oh and it's called the 262 Captiva SS.

29Fever

Rinker flirted with a 31 or 32 sport boat in the late 90s. It never made it out of concept stage in into production. I have seen pictures and it looks pretty nice.

I owned a 1995 Captiva 232 and really liked it. I had it for three seasons and sold it for $100 more than I paid for it. Very functional, low maintanence, all around good boat. I've seen pics of the new 262 and it doesn't look too bad. I think you get a lot of boat for the $$.

seanclong

I kinda liked it too!!! But that's just me and I only have a lowly Baja...

There was a thread some time ago about this boat. Here it is if anyone cares to peruse it: http://www.offshoreonly.com/forum/sh...ghlight=rinker

Intolerant1

I liked the photos but saw it in person at the boat show and didnt like it.

MikeStar

Not necessarily - yes all of their production boats are runabouts or cruisers (and the 31' cruiser we looked at was pretty nice for the $$), but one of the Rinker sons races the outboard tunnel hull boats (can't remember the series name) and has for a while.

Problem is, it's tough to make money in the high performance boat market. I'm guessing Rinker would sell 20 cruisers for every 27' performance boat. Look at any of the big volume manufacturers - Bayliner, Sea Ray, Four Winns, etc - they ain't selling 24 degree deep vees.

Even "performance" builders like Fountain (fishing boats, performance cruisers), Donzi (fishing boats), Formula (cruisers, performance cruisers), Powerquest (performance cruisers) etc, are having to branch out to pay the bills. Unless you have an unassailable "name" like Cigarette, Outer Limits, etc, that folks are willing to pay big bucks for, it's got to be tough to stay in business. Look how many performance companies have changed hands or gone out of business completely.

I talked to an industry guy sometime last year (?) - he said that the high performance market is something like 3% over the overall boat market. Don't know if that's true or not, but it doesn't seem like there would be a lot of room to break in with a new model or a new manufacturer.

Anybody have any industry insight?

29Fever

I could see the amount of performance boats only being 3%. I would think the dollar amount would be larger only because of the high price tag on sport boats. I could buy 4 Rinkers for the cost of one Fountain.

MikeStar

I'm betting that the costs involved in producing and selling a Fountain are more than 4 times higher than Rinkers. Things like:

• warranty costs - more stuff to break on a boat that gets run with big power in rough water
• advertising / marketing. Racin' ain't cheap...
• generally high quality materials

I'd be really interested in seeing what the net profit per boat is for an outfit like Fountain as opposed to a Four Winns or Rinker. How's the old saying go?
The more I think about this, the more it seems like "pure" performance manufacturers are really the custom shops, where a lot of overhead is eliminated. In other words, they don't build boats until the $$ is there.

Of course, there are exceptions like Checkmate, Baja, etc. But Baja has Brunswick's deep pockets. For "production" builders, it seems like their are expanding product lines into other segments.

mediaman

Strangely enough, one of my test writers just finished his take on this 2002 Rinker 262 SS Captiva - the builder's first "official" foray into the performance market. He was pretty happy with the boat (despite the fact that he had to test it on a bitterly cold lake in the Frozen North!). All told, Rinker puts together a solid quality product with an attractive package price. Of course this 26+ footer won't compare to the heavy hitters, but...well hey, read it if you're interested in the next issue of Poker Runs America (Vol 5-2).

FLY'N RYAN

I was there the day the magazine tested the boat. I drove the boat before they went out in it. It was in late October and a mean storm had come through the night before. The temp. was around 32 deg. and the wind was a stromg a steady 30 to 60mph. Lake Wawasee was pumping up some 3 to 5 foot waves. Perfect test conditions. The boat handled fantastic. Don't get me wrong. We sell Checkmate's and Sunsation's and at one time Fountain's. The boat did not quite handle as good as these do but is was unbelievably close.Plus there is one thing that rinker does better than anybody else, give you a fantastic product at a great price with more standard features than you can get any where else in the Marine industry. All in all a very nice boat at a fantastic price and pretty respectable performance. 67mph with a 496Mag H.O. on 3-5 ft. chop. GPS reel speed not gauge!!