Offshoreonly.com - LA Boat Show Highlights

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LA Boat Show Highlights

Here's the turnout for our OSO LA Boat Show Meet-up: 1. (just me) Oh, well. I stood out there with my OSO sign until 11:20, and then off to the show. Interesting stuff this year.

Mercury Marine showed their 600 hp supercharged 502. It's listed as a 2006 engine, although they are building them (did I lose a year somewhere?). The supercharger is a Lysholm unit, which is manufactured by Lysholm just for Mercury. It has a low profile intercooler. I asked the salesperson if the Bravo XR had been beefed up, and he said it hadn't. He said you just have to treat it well, meaning from Mercury's standpoint, the boat should never leave the water. OK for the lakes, but... He implied Mercury may be working on a stronger drive than the XR for a future product. Price: $75,000. They also had the 1075 hp at $150,000. Only change this year to the 1075 is a different gear box.

Fountain: When I mentioned to a sales guy that the back seat grab handle seemed too low, he said "Don't buy the boat." Then he asked me if I was an engineer (fully expecting that I would say no, so he could tell me the engineers knew better than me). To his surprise, I said, "Yes, and I now do sales, too. I try to keep things positive when I do sales. And when someone doesn't think something is right, I send an email to engineering." Jackass. Some people don't belong in jobs where they interact with the customer.

Formula: No go-fast boats per se, but they did have a full 40' cabin cruiser with a step bottom that does close to 60 mph with twin 525's. We're talking a full standup cabin. Impressive. They had a Fastech last year, but said interest was too low to bring one again. Too bad.

Scott was there with a 39' Outlimits with twin Viper V-10s. He also had a 40' Scater with twin Mercury 1075's. Either could be had for about $700,000. Beautiful boats!

Baja: 302 Outlaw has been redesigned using the University of Michigan hydrodynamic lab, and wind tunnels. Yes, you read right, a wind tunnel. They created scale models, and tested them in both. The representative pointed out some of the changes they made to the hull, based on wind tunnel testing. For instance the rear edges at the transom are beveled. There is no wood in this boat. It is all composite. They also did strain gage measurements on the hull, to locate high stress areas, and add composite reinforcing. There are also no "small parts" on the boat other than the dash. This is a true 30', and they do not count the swim platform. With twin 425's, show special price was $122,000, which seemed like a pretty good price.

Eliminator: They showed the largest 40' cat I have ever seen (except for commercial use). It is a VERY tall cabin cruiser, with no center pod. It has Arneson drives, with cavitation tubes. Engines were Yanmar diesels, with top speed of 60.

Schiada: They had a 40' V hull prototype with twin V-12 Falconers. These are great looking engines with individual injection ram tubes. Regarding their 32' boat, if the sales person was correct, they may go down for having the heaviest 32' performance boat in existence at 8500 pounds. He said they like to overbuild.

Hallett: Had their new 40 footer. It is suitable for offshore, but with a beach side door, it seemed more geared towards lake use.

Evinrude: Interesting direct injected two stroke technology. They meet all emission standards using a special fuel injector that sends fuel directly into the cylinder head. They claim better emissions, less maintenance, and fuel economy than their four stroke outboard competitors.

Overall: In the small boats, this is the year for bow riders. They are everywhere, and I heard many people asking sales people to see them. All we need now is to bring back the tri-hull. :D Actually, many of the new lake cats have such large center pods, that for practical purposes, they already are. The Hallett sales person said he gets asked how many people they can fit in the boat - some want to carry more than 12 in a 20 foot boat! :eek: "May I interest you in a pontoon party boat?"

Most Knowledgeable Sales Person Award (other than Scott): Evinrude (actually was factory tech), with Baja as Runner Up (factory sales).

Michael :drink: