Originally Posted by spilman (Post 2754000)

Well said UDave. It is a shame the 25AT is out of production; with this economy I think Pat(Active Thunder) could sell a few 25's & 28's, but what do I know. I'm sure the profit in a 25-29' boat is not too exciting for the builder. Espescially a builder that puts so much into their product; some things cost almost as much in Labor to install as their big brothers, 33's & 37's.....So I do understand reluctance to build the "under 30" boats.
BTW, I agree, the Pantera is nice...& of course Laveycraft builds a beautiful boat; no doubt about it.

Originally Posted by Catmando (Post 2958327)

I think AT and others should bring back the under 30' wavecrushers for under $100k. What would a new 25AT with t/225s cost?

Originally Posted by VtSteve (Post 2943135)

This thread brought me back to a discussion I had with a pleasure boat maker. Now that the industry's downsized, as well as the consumer's appetite for leverage, how would the boat industry proceed? Many have plans to keep their new low-scale cost models in place. Lower volume, lower overhead, and lower discounts. Many boat dealer have been preparing for build to order as their floorplanning costs are now sky high due to lack of competition, and a reduced appetite for risk.

The hi performance boat market has a few up-market players doing well, and companies like Fountain, Donzi and probably Cig revamping their operations. But there is a market void since many boat builders decided to go mass market with lighter boats, wakeboard boats, as well as flooding the market with bowriders and the like. I miss the old days of solid, wave-crushing boats that didn't need to be 32' to take waves.

I told him that I really think that this is the time for boat builders to carve out their own niche here. There are many that don't want a great-riding boat that tops out at 45 mph, but are looking for a well-built wave crusher that will do 65 mph or so, and still hold up after many years. They cost a bot more to build for sure. But the cost of entry for a new Fountain, Cigarette, whatever (not to mention the size of them), is a huge turnoff in this economy, and probably for a few years as well. And I suspect prices will only rise from here on out.

This market is most likely a lot larger than most people think it is. I was intrigued by the comments about the ride and handing qualities of the Active Thunder, but now they're 28'. I believe that many of these brands could produce a boat that would deliver volume, not to mention repeat business in the future. The model should be repeat business, and capture them early on. You can't be all things to all boaters, but you can try to capture a market that is profitable, and will probably be growing for a decade or so. Keep performance in mind, but this does not have to be a pure play performance boat, which would keep the volumes lower, and defeat the purpose.

Here's what I find attractive about some of the model features I've seen, and what I think would be attractive to most buyers in this segment.

25' to 28' max
24 degree Vee, no steps
Cabin headroom
Enclosed head
Single engine power choices, even from a quiet 350 mag on up
Concentrate on cockpit comfort
ie: seating options should not be limited to stand up bolsters
I don't need to go 70 mph plus



I'm not talking about a $125k Formula here at all. But a concept not too far off from, say, a lower cost Formula SS.

I loved the features and layout of the AT 28 Savage, and think it would be a good start if refined for the broader market. It got my eye, as it actually has a usable cabin, although the beam is a bit narrow.

There's been a large market out there in the used OS boat niche, and many concentrate on ride and price, not so much speed. Many people have families and cannot justify a high-speed boat that gives limited focus to amenities such as cockpit and cabin, as they are more for Poker runners and the like. Some have even sold out and gone to cruisers.

I just think these boats would add more to the bottom line, and offer less dependence on high-cost lower volume boats.

Originally Posted by Top Banana (Post 2691659)

Uncle Dave and Towhead.

Thanks for the comments. First of all we start with the hull and deck and from that point everything is custom made to what the customer wants, from colors to interior layout, bolsters, seats, u -shaped lounge, full cabin, half cabin, no cabin, kevlar layup, carbon fiber hatches, etc. etc. If you can dream it, we know the people that can make it.

For instance, we are workinig with a customer now who has seen the excellent work and great detail that went into the 24 foot Cigarette Firefox redo, that Lip Ship just finished. They did a great job, but our customer wants to start with a new boat and make his own version of his dream using that same proven 24 foot Cigarette / Banana hull.

We use the same interior people that did that work for Lip Ship, we have access to the same engine and drive technology and with my own racing background and connections, I have the people that know me and can help me make a customer's dream come true. Bobby Saccenti, Richie Powers, Brownie, Mark McManus and Michael Aronow. We can build a boat that can run with anyone in any type of conditions, believe me.

Towhead.....you ask a question about the pressure on the transom. We have that bracket made for us by Stainless Marine.

When I decided to put our outboards on a bracket, I turned to my friend, a guy by the name of Brownie, to help me. (I'm sure the OSO people know him) He made sure that the bracket is not only engineered to work correctly, it is also engineered to make the boat go faster.

I personally have raced this boat with twin small blocks that had over 400 HP each. I know what this boat can do in the real open ocean. It is a great boat.

As far as price, the Tampa boat had a 250 HP outboard and with the custom trailer had a boat show price of $75,000. We normally would sell a boat like that with a 300 HP outboard for a retail of $83,000 with the trailer.

Custom boats, as you already know can go anywhere from there. This boat would do fine with a Merc 525 package as a sterndrive.

As you know, Don Aronow was a good friend of mine and I wanted to do something to honor his memory with a boat of his own design. We just made an agreement with Michael Aronow, to produce a limited edition of our 24 and 28 footers as special Don Aronow Signature Editions. Only Banana Boat Co will be allowed to make a Don Aronow model and obviously these will be very special boats...(Think of that Firefox on steroids).

We are still working out the details and hope to source some really exotic stuff at the IBEX show in a couple of weeks....stay tuned.

Our Don Aronow 24 and 28 versions will be sterndrive models and will have the look of the vintage Aronow types.

Originally Posted by dbkski (Post 2752760)

When I first saw this thread I thought great. Just what I've
been looking for. But the thread quickly took on a nostalgia
flavor much to my chagrin. It seems that only Baja caters
to the single guy market. My perfect boat would be 23-25ft
with a big engine, big basic cuddy (no bathrooms, cook
stoves, sinks, chairs, or other useless fluff), and a big stereo.
When I saw pics of the 25 Active Thunder I thought I found
my next boat. Unfortunately they stopped making them years
ago. What current models fit this wish list? I don't think I
would be happy with a 7ft beam. I have been spoiled by my
Cobalt's wide 8ft 6in beam.