thirdchildhood

iTrader: (6)

My yes vote made the poll dead even at 18. I would love to have a Donzi 27ZR but I'm kind of married to my 22 Classic. Oh, and I do boat on the Great Lakes. Mostly Huron, Erie, St. Clair and the rivers. Been on Lake Michigan twice.

sailtexas186548

Gotta be 28-30 for me, but I don’t boat inland lakes, a 25’ is just not enough unless you pick your days.

Without some decent form of sportsman racing in classes that reflect the new boats available, I don’t think the market will come back. grass roots style automotive racing has revived the car scene in young people. There hasn’t been anything similar in boat racing, much less an offshore style powerboat race within 300 miles of me in a decade, maybe more? I’m 29 FYI

ToMorrow44

That market is alive and well on the west coast. Companies like LaveyCraft, Shockwave, Advantage, Cobra, and Interceptor are all busy building those boats right now.

kdshouston

I voted yes for a lot of the reasons that Twin OB made. I recently bought an older Cobalt 243 that I am in the process of rebuilding. It will have all of the attributes that I want in a boat. I'm going for 550 hp. I sure don't want to buy and maintain a twin. IMO anything bigger than 25' needs twins to run well with any long term reliability. I wanted a good combination of comfort and speed that I can get out of the Cobalt.


I can't speak for the millennial crowd. Most of those people are so much less tactile than I am. I have no Idea how they could buy a car that they never have seen in person baffles me. How the hell can there be such a thing as car vending machines?

lavey jr

Lavey Craft still makes their 24 NuEra. It can be fitted with I/O or single O/B. Closed bow, mid cabin open bow, full walk through open bow.

https://www.laveycraft.com/models-24-nuera

thisistank

I think you're definitely seeing a market shift. But maybe not the exact one you're referring to. Smaller 25 ish performance boats were always less popular on the east coast than the west coast (which I never understood with the nice smooth inland waterways of Florida). But on the west coast the 25ish market is alive and well, Vee and cat. Though, I absolutely DO see a market shift from smaller to bigger boats whether cat or vee from the west coast guys. The west coast market is waaaaaaay slow to get into the CC market as evident from the L.A. boat show last month where not a single west coast performance builder had a CC there but there were in fact more performance builders represented at the L.A. boat show in 2020 then there had been in the past 10 years and they brought a lot of 25-30 cats and vee's! Which again, I've never understood why the west coast market has been slow to catch on to the CC rage as it's a more versatile set up where you can run it in the ocean to the islands for fishing and fun in the big blue or in Havasu for a party weekend with a bunch of your friends. Anyway, east coast, I think the 25 performance boat market is dead. west coast, alive. Would I personally buy another 25ish boat? Nope. After we moved from a 24 Baja Outlaw to a 38 Top Gun wife said she'd never own another "small boat" again. LOL.

jeff32

good news for you! then just keep your gun !!!
often hard to downsize !

Nate5.0

Who the hell boats inland with all the no wake zones, I avoid that area as much as possible. if I am there I am returning to the docks or headed to a waterside bar and grill.

thisistank

LOL, already did. Gun to a Cafe

thisistank

Guess I was referring more to southern Florida, Keys, area. Though the inner run from Daytona to St. Augustine was maaaaaaybe the coolest run I've ever been on. 100 mph in the inland waterways. We may have blown through a couple no wake zones though