Disappointed with the quality of some of the boats at the show...
 

Not to bash any manufacturer in paticular but one thing I noticed in the show this year was that "Finish" quality as a whole seemed to be slipping. Blue Thunder, (as mentioned in a couple of other threads) was really one of the worst finishes I have ever seen. Believe it or not, OuterLimits had several paint flaws (minor) but just not perfect like I would expect from them or a boat that costs so much. They have an awesome boat but for the money I would want a perfect boat. Alot of the fishing boat manufacturers were even worse. Caulking everywhere and just generally a bad finish.. On the plus side, Cigarettes were BEAUTIFUL. The finish was so sweet and the attention to detail was superb. Fountain and Formula's finish was nice also. Oh, and it seems Powerplay finally found someone to paint some decent graphics on their boats. The teal and pink were just killing me.. Nice job on the 33 and one of the 38's. (The graphicsless outboard version of the 38 was ugly.) I think if these guys are gonna charge 200 - 500k for a boat, it better be as close to perfect as possible. Just my 2 cents..

I agree completely.
Rich

I agree also. I especially liked the creative thinking that was apparent in the Cigarette booth. The 45 was pretty awesome.

I found this to be true - here and there - all the way up to the 53 Sunseeker that I looked at. Although the boat was "just about perfect" it did have some build flaws that I thought should not have been there for $1.1 mil.

The OL's were tight, but even they had a few blems when you looked under the hatch, but all-in-all damn near perfect. I thought the best (performance) deal at the show was the 353 Formula for $250K, the paint was awesome, performance was right there with those pretty blue motors in the bilge and fit and finish was top notch! Just shows that a "production boat" can play with the custom units... up to a point.

The last couple of Cigs I looked closely at had paint runs in them also. Just shows that there can be flaws found in any boat if you look long and close enough.

I went to the Cig booth first, and after that everything compared back to them. They were beautiful.

Dragon was nice. I rode in the Formula 353 and was very impressed, although it offers less space than my 35 Cafe.

The biggest disappointment was the Nortech cat with the turbines. Wavy down the sides, and a lot of orange peel. After seeing them on the Key West Poker Run last fall I expected something better.

When I see pictures of the graphics on the Cigs... I'd have to think that increases the cost by at least 50 grand... I'd rather have the boat plain refrigerator white and enjoy the performance and put the difference in my pocket. But Good looking stuff! I have to agree...

We went to the NY show and the A.C. boat show last week and I have to agree w/ everything being said here.. The cigs were very beautiful,, and the o.l.'s were no where near as nice. The paint was bad, and upholstery was not very good either,, but what should you expect from a 750,000 dollar boat... :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Ditto on the OL's paint. Simply the worst quality paint jobs I saw on any performance boat I looked at the show. It was really depressing as I thought they had beautiful paint jobs in the pics. but it was really a shocker.

OL's do nothing for me. Like an ugly baby, only the parents could love them.

Power Play & Dragon, 2 of the straightest hulls there. Dagon cockpit outstanding. Nice job Craig!

Cigs look great from a distance, but upon closer inspection, still great. A few orange peel spots. Don't care for the paint schemes themselves. I'm not a fan of taping everything off and then paint. :rolleyes: Do it right, paint then rig. Rigging was top notch.

MTI, very nice. Detail in engine compartment unreal! Does the deck ever end? Them is some long azz boats. :)

Donzi 38, not a straight line on it anywhere. Got dizzy from the waves in the deck. Gets my vote for worst quality. (Didn't look at Bayliner)

Blue Lightening, long way to go. But it was still in the process of being finished. Might have been best to have left it home before finished.

Fountain, nice. But will take this time to say they had the hottest chicks. :D

Hustler, near perfect paint as it comes. The dark red was beautiful! Straight, not a wave.

Formula!!!!!!!!!! DING DING DING. My pick of the best!
Graphics quality perfect as always. Hulls nice and straight. My next boat :)

Sweet rides, But I wasn't impressed with the finish on them as well. I only hope that is NOT what gets delivered to the paying customers? For teh money that gets paid out on them, I just expected a 100% finish

Didnt make Miami, but the Cigs at the AC Boat show were top notch ! Their fit/finish/Paint blew the OL away.

The OL in AC did have some blemishes and the accomodations were not what I would have expected from a $600k+ boat. I would buy a Cig before an OL. OL has a great product, but way over priced in my opinion. I have much more room & ammenities than the OL, in my 42 Sonic. Dont care for the zipper doors or storage compartments on the OL, I think it looks kinda cheezy vs. sliding or closing doors. And some of the color schemes in the carpeting & paint looked like chit, but to each their own.

I figure that most of the paint jobs take so long to do that the owners and builders are tired of waiting on them they say they don't want to take the boat back and they keep if for weeks or months to fix it. It sounds like the norm on paint jobs taking a long time .


You would think they would wet sand out the runs in the clear .a boat show you would think they would bring out the very best finished product. even better that you would get under normal production.

I have seen some bad paint jobs from the factory. if I was a boat manufacture I would be embarrassed . they say its just a gellcoat void under the paint .


When you can see it from 5 feet away its a bad flaw:eek: :eek:


This all seems to be the norm for all the marine industry as a hole

That Blue Lighting Company has a contract to slap several boats together for the Navy.Can you Believe it??

I wasn't at Miami but the same things applied at the L.A. show, the best there were Daves Custom Boats and MTI.

Caleb

what did everyone else think of the hustler?
 

I didn't spend a lot of time looking at the Miami show - but was kinda impressed with the hustler. The hardware (latches and stuff) were great quality. The layout of the boat seemed very well thought out.... Nice quality from the breif peek I had at it...

It had Viper V10's and arneson drives - I would love to drive that boat - probably a huge rooster tail!!!!!

Cigarette was the show stopper in my opinion - amazing boats - they have taken it to the next level - congrats Neil and Skip!!!! and all the guys at cig....

Yeah ... the zipper doors don't always "look" the best ... but they are used out of necessity and functionallity rather than "esthetics" (great word)

They aren't in the way when open ... and they dont SHATTER INTO A MILLION FRIGGIN PIECES when you take a BIG run in the **** !!! That water gets pretty HARD at the numbers those boats are running at .:cool:

Which is exactly what I would do if buying new after what I saw at the show. Even when the paint jobs were acceptable 5-footers (orange peel being the most common flaw), the wavy sides and print-through on many detracted from the paint application.

Exceptions- Hustler, MTI, Formula, and the perennial 'near-zero-flaw' boat, Powerplay.:)
Jim

I am not trying to make any excuses for the builders but one thought is that most of these boats probably will go back to the factory to be finished after the show. I know that the boat you guys may have seen us popping out of the mold last week was at a show this weekend!!! That is fast for such a small operation. The point is that a lot of these boats were probably rushed to be finished for the show and will likely go back to the builders for true finishing. Just a thought. I am glad that some companies seem to be doing well and VERY supprised to see Formula mentioned witht he likes of Cig. and OL!!!! I always knew they make great boats but to be mentioned with the above is good for them.

Jon

One thing to think about on the print thru see the glass thru the gell coat . the more gell coat adds weight . if the OL was the new epoxy I dought if its going to be a smooth surface . I looked at a new 40 Skater at Lake Cumberland and it was rough .In the gell who could see the matting on the sides.

This does not excuse the paint jobs.runs and orange peel just need to be wet sanded out. I bet most of the painters don't have the oven bake down draft paint booths like the car guys. There would be no way to keep trash out of it.

wet sand and buff would be alot of labor$$$$

Was there a boat show down there last weekend?:D :D :D

We sand and buff everything we do, because thats the finish we are looking for, each of the MTI's at the show were painted in 3 weeks or less and except for Pair-a-Dice were rigged when we got them, and you would not want to see an OL white,they are completely painted to stop them waving at you, I know I painted one.

Don't confuse the quality of the paint with the quality of the boat. Some of the build schedules I heard for the show boats were unreal, with boats being little more than rolls of fiberglass and drums of resin less than two weeks before the show!

Being a Formula owner, I have a soft spot for their fit/finish. Cigarette's display setup had a lot to do with their wow factor, but I will say I was very impressed with their engine compartment detailing.

Still, the boats that blew me away in every single aspect (and got better the more I looked) were the MTI's. GeoGraphics did their paint (which I liked), so I did not judge them on the paint. MTI just seems always be forward-looking, with the emphasis on style while still hitting the important things like wiring and rigging right on the mark. I spoke with Gary Stray of SuperCat Rigging, and was very impressed by his knowledge, attention to detail, and mindset. The Yanmar/Arneson boat was brilliant - cruise at 80-85 all day long, 2 mpg with a 2,000 hour warranty/10,000 hour rebuild schedule. Perfect! MTI was outside under a tent, so their display wasn't very flashy, but then I think MTI is all about the steak, not about the sizzle.....

Plus - Randy Scism's a very friendly guy.

The 39 OL will be going back to the factory to get finished. That paint job was not the finished product.

I walked the show, and found all manufacturers had some degree of paint and / or gelcoat flaws. Let's be realistic, there is a ton of surface area to cover with paint, most manufacturers don't use paint booths either.

All OL's get sanded and buffed prior to delivery.

I took a beating a few weeks ago, when I spoke about the poor quality of o.l. too.. :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

Glad to see there are a " few " who agree...

IMO, The cigs. blew them away.. I was never a cig. fan, but they are building some great boats and gotta give them credit..

BINGO!!
Unless it is a brand new boat someone wants to get in front of the public, I would bet everyone saw the builders best efforts.
Maybe the waves on the OL brake suface tension and reduce drag! Kinda like steps on the side! Just kidding guys, don't get your panties in a bunch.;) :D

Just goes to show nothing is perfect, if you look long & hard you can always find something wrong.

The 39 is a competely new product. You could say that the boat on display is a prototype, and was never scheduled to be anything more than a prototype for the purpose of unveiling at the show.

It does not reflect on any instability in OL's infastructure. It is the same situation as the Cigarette Maximus, during the Ft. Lauderdale show that boat was still not finished.

Outerlimits chose to display a partially finished product at the show. They could have left the boat at home and parked their tow vehicle under the tent in it's place:D :D

Or... had an 18" model of a boat that they are supposed to be building!?:D :D

But who in their right mind would do that at the biggest boat show of the year!?:confused: :p

It wasn't just the 39 with the paint issues it was every Ol under the tent. Don't get me wrong they are beautiful boats but there were many boats with a much better quality paint job for a fraction of the cost.
I would take any one of them under the tent, however if I paid $400 k+ I would expect nothing less than a exceptional paint job which they did not have.
:eek:

i am not worried about bad paint jobs.im just very very grateful to own a high performance offshore power boat, it has been a life long dream for me, 95% of the real world couldnt even fuel one of these awsome peices of machinery.:D :D :D :D

I highly doubt that was mat glass you saw.

Perhaps a fine woven cloth. But with the way Skater lays up boats, I am sure they have no need for mat.

Mat is only used for adhesion. There is not any real strength to the material. If using epoxy, no need for it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------

As far as the quality of the paint jobs on the OL, did they change painters?

The one guy I know that was doing their stuff was a fanatic about his quality. I would be surprised if you are talking about his work.....:eek:

ff35 how right you are i'm still waiting on my dream it's gettin hear slowly 31 sfc fountain

Animalhouse, I see some slipping here on OL part, I find this amazing, I understand why you would defend OL, but a show is for finished products, your best examples, not excuses why it's not finished. In the OL forum Mike states that the 39 would be their, it should have been a 10, and Pete now is taking his new unfinished 39 on the poker run, that doesn't make any sence. All the paint jobs didn't warrant the quality from previous years, same with some of the stitching, it sounds like Ol should quit worring about Reggie and his speed record, and get back to building the quality boats that they are known for, and I have seen many fine example's of their work, otherwise they are just like every other custom builder at 100-200k more. :o Jeff

$50,000.00 For a paint job IS allot of money. Why dont the boats come with quality paint that reflects the price? I have seen some of the work Geographics has done. They set the bar for the way a boat can look. I have never seen dirt or objects in the paint. No paint lines. No orange peel. So if Geographics can do it, why cant the builders? They are charging around the same price.

Fountains 42 was nice, but unfinished. The motors were not plumbed. The sides of the boat had either gell coat flaws all down the side right at the walk around area or major buffing burns. The 38 hustler in the water was also nice, however the boat had dimples all down the center of the boat, sure you could see them easier because of it being navy blue. I did think last years display of the OL's was better, but 2 of the boats were just completed. Cigs display was incredible as it was last year.

Jassman,

First of all Mike is not worried about Reggie. Second, Pete had no intentions to run his boat in the Poker Run. OL found it more rewarding to spend more time engineering and tweaking this new model so that it will run an honest 100 MPH w/ stock 525's. The boat was at the show strictly for the purpose of introducing it to the public.

As I previously stated, in Ft. Lauderdale the 45 Cig was being assembled at the show. It is not uncommon to display partially finished boats in a show.

I dont think Fountain had a 42 in the water, I was there 3 days and only saw fish boats:(

ANIMAL HOUSE, It is suppose to be at the show and pete the owner of the first one is doing stu's poker run after the show. they only had 525 in it and saw 101 on gps.
This was on your OL forum posted by Outer 42. Just stating facts.
You stated earlier that the 39 was going back for its final paint job, what about the other boats and their paint jobs, would you say they are just as good as your paint job, or not quite up to the exact standards that have been on previous OL at other shows. For whatever reason, I feel their paint jobs were rushed, end of story. Just constructive critism, we all know they can build a awesome boat, and we all know they are fast and stable at those speeds, I think they are fine examples of boating technology, but not at this show, I was, as well as many other OSO'ers, disappointed.

It is the price you pay to have a light weight vacuum bagged hull.

It still amazes me how little gelcoat Skater is able to put on their hulls without running into pre-release or alligation problems. :eek:

He is able to do it, and keeps the excess weight off the boat. Almost 10 lbs per gallon is the weight of Gelcoat. You can imagine how much he must be saving. :cool: