I agree, that's why I used plenty of question marks ... Would be interesting to see how fast a predator 25 could go with economical power, might get some more buyers interested in that segment again.

Ahhhh...gotcha. Yeah, although not outboards.... I have a 2016 Hustler Talon 25 with a Merc Racing 565, and I am right at 100mph.

Just over 100k for a new turnkey boat on trailer sounds pretty good. I'm sure buyers would spend a few more bucks on cosmetics and stereos etc but that is a great starting point. The 25' is a relative of the 24' Skater isn't it?

The huge popularity of cats and outboards, at that price, it would have to be a success.

RR

I personally would be happy with a 80 to 90 mph 25 foot cat....this is just me.


100mph on a 25 foot cat is lookingfor trouble in the open ocean of the Jersey Shore where I boat.

the new 225 3.4L has so much to offer. I personally like the fly by wire option so that I can use Mercury DTS shifters. I also like electro-hydraulic steering.

the new motor allows you to rig it with non-fly-by-wire if that is what your boat currently has

also as a friend pointed out, the new 4-stroke was not meant to replace the 250/300 motors. If you watch the unveiling one more time, Mercury specifically identified the smaller motors that the new 4-stroke is replacing.

i don't want to create a stir, but it seems bigger motors are on the way still to replace the 250/300 ? Not soon enough though






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Merc 225's > 30" props > 6000 rpm > 1:85 gear = 85 mph with 8% slip (dreamers may go faster) ;-)

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how much cheaper could these motor's be then say some 300 xs motor's maybe a few thousand if that , it all come's down how much profit one wants to make on a boat , to go from 25 cat to a 30 cat does't cost that much in materiel or labor , its all about larger profit from a larger boat , " That's it "

question how can some of these company's build a boat a few years ago for low $ 100 k range and now they are in the low $ 200 k + range , material and labor didn't double in price so why does the boat ?

Volume died.......Fixed overhead went up! Lets say you could make 10% net on 100K boats and you built 50 boats a year. Total revenue is 5mm, profit was 500K! Assume fixed overhead was 250K per year (rent, utilities, insurance, whatever it takes to keep the doors open). IF you make 0 boats you still need 250K to stay in business. Now lets say you made 10 boats, 25K for each boat goes just to cover fixed overhead. So in your 100K boat model, that means the price just hit 125K for nothing simply because the overhead is what it is. Go back to the 500K fantasy profit, since you have to still pay your bills at home, you need to add another 50K per boat (X10) just so you can make the same money you did in 2007! So that 100K boat is 175K now plus all the cost increases from parts manufacturers.

How many of those companies that built 100K boats are still around?

there still around building the same boats for 200 k range :) Just maybe if they brought down the price they could sell more boats and make a larger margin :)
I think a lot more people would buy boats again " including myself "

Lower prices = lower margin but if the volume increases then maybe they could earn more money......tough to nail down the pivot point. Performance boats and volume are tough to put in one sentence.