The 400SS grows on me more and more every year... I had a great conversation with Scott Porter. They did a great job of saving the company over the last few years, and are looking forward to better days soon. The pricing deals they were offering were incredible.

True Bay watch girls,celebs galore I met a lot of famous people and most important plenty of go fast boats boy time flys

In years past, I went to the NYC show, mainly because it was a few subway stops away from my office. There'd be some performance. Maybe a couple of cigs and a nice formula display. Typhoon used to bring a few nice Donzis, but now that they're out of the new boat business, they wouldn't be there. I remember a few years that the the show was on Superbowl weekend. Definitely not good for attendance.

I think the AC show is a ton better. We'd make it a 2 day thing. Nicer facility and a lot more performance boats. After spending a few hours at the show, I'd head over to the casino and play for a while, have a few beers and stay the night. Never won enough to return to the Cig booth with an aluminum briefcase, but it was fun to try.

Anyone hit the Motorcycle/Quad Show in Javits while they were there at the Boat Show???

That was giving 2nd thoughts about going, but I will need to make a decision real soon....

Think they would build that with Ilmors......

Well............to explain in a brief nut shell....

It costs about $40,000 to have a basic 50 x 50 booth at a show. (including space, labor, hotel rooms, etc...)

So to exhibit at a show you have to #1 sell some boats to recover your investment #2 to recover the investment you have to sell them at a fair profit

Then you add in the average consumer today who doesn't even want to pay for boat show tickets (they call everyone under the sun to get free ones), then you have a customer who might be interested in a boat, then he gets on the computer and shops 10 dealers across the country grinding the chit out of all of them and he winds up buying the boat for a few grand over the dealer's cost IF the dealer is lucky.

So............based on that scenario the performance manufacturer's are only doing the 2 major shows. Lauderdale & Miami. Some aren't even doing those shows and just having open houses at their factories.

"Now you know the rest of the story - Good day!"

OK, I get that these shows are expensive to rent space, but what really pissed me off is the false advertising on the show's web site and even the "official guide" to the show. They have the nerve to include a section on "Hi-Performance Boats" - what a joke! With all due respect to these manufacturers, Boatmax, Chris-Craft, Malibu, Monterey and Sunseeker are NOT Hi-Perf by any stretch of the imagination. At one time, maybe Glastron, but no more. Gimme a break. On the flip side, those Hacker-Crafts were awesome.

DaveP hit the nail on the head when he tries to demonstrate the cost versus benefit for manufacturers, builders, etc., when they attend a show not to mention the cost of air travel, food, hotels and time away from their business when they attend these shows.
I know for a small company like us at Raylar we cannot begin to justify the expense or time required to show and even attend these various shows all over the country. I think the future of the performance boat industry and the few remaining commercial entities will be forced to only invest in maybe 2 to 4 annual boat shows in two or four regions of the country and the interested boaters will have to travel to these locations to do their "tire kicking, and updating" and show buying of their boats and products. I am sure many manufacturers who are bankrupt and gone today had their show budget and expenses help nail the tops of their coffins!

Its a sad commentary on today's market, but lets face it their are not enough current real buyers of especially new boats to even probably cost justify the profitable attendance at a show even like Miami! Lets hope this situation changes this next few years for all our sakes!

Best Regards,
Ray @ Raylar

Amen to that, Ray!

I agree with DaveP.

The costs of doing a show is tough to recover.

I think most manufacturers would be far better off having a person like myself come in and shoot their latest and greatest products and upload it all on the Internet.

It would most likely hit their target audience for one, and reach many more people than you would at any given show.

Now once you have caught the eye of a potential customer, they will certainly take it upon themselves to make an appointment to come see the product in person.

One example:
Nortech 40 Roadster.

I created a Slideshow after doing a Photoshoot of the boat.

Within a week I believe the boat was sold without even having the buyer come see it in person.
Being thorough on the shoot and leaving nothing to the imagination was probably key to why it worked...

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nIuPz6WFsDI[/youtube]