Seems to me like there has been very little innovation in the offshore world over a couple of decades but just go to your local boat show and look at the interiors and technology of the high end wake board boats or day cruisers.
Skate has a "new" revolutionary interior design that looks like the wake boats from 20 years ago. Cigarettes idea of evolution is to add 15 gauges to the passenger side. For the money these things cost the builders need to offer up some true innovation. This is just my worthless opinion, what are your thoughts?

Personally, I like a bit of the "classic" look for the interiors. There have been a few manufacturers that have went all out on interior innovation recently, and it looks too "George Jetson" for my taste.

I would prefer they concentrate on performance and handling.

I went to a ski boat builder a very long time ago and they had gotten rid of wood years before. Then when you look at storage, interior design, dash design it didn't compare.

Kind of like at one of the larger boat shows a few years back where a single OB engine performance boat was shown for 70k. Can't remember who it was.

Flat dash a couple gauges and plain seating. Hard to compare.

Well, Formula has used their 'performance bottoms' on their 'day cruisers' for a while now.

You can get a 30ft+ bowrider with all the amenities, storage, unbelievable layout for people and gatherings, and etc, etc with a pair of 496's - and it hauls azz. But, still not a true offshore boat, if you will.

Pick what you like and go look for it. It probably exists or comes close to existing.

Oh grab your wallet and credit rating too. LOL.

When I was boat shopping 10 years ago it was all go fast style till I saw the inwater show in AC and Formulas display. The Super Sport line grabbed my attention and thats where my money went. Have not been disappointed since, Its a beast of a boat and cruises comfortably with a crew for the whole day. I see several new innovations each year on the new model year, but its not your standard go fast.

I would like to see the cockpit style, wrap around rear seat with aft facing lounge behind drivers seat in a go fast.

I don't mean to sound condescending, but do you have any idea how much 'innovation' can cost? The Goodwin engine in your avatar, that was a huge risk taken by that company to develop a new design. The R&D costs are already sunk, so are some of the production costs (tooling/fixtures), if it doesn't sell like they hope they may take a fairly large hit. The offshore boat manufacturers must do the same risk evaluation before bringing a product to market, so I'm guessing they don't think the bottom line is black.

Secondly, what kind of innovation do you want? You can only fit so many creature comforts into a hull before it's either fragile or lethargic.

More Innovation Power from the likes of Mercury for entry level to mild performance would be nice. The likes of Volvo and Ilmor are using LS based engines. I know Mercury has great technology in the high end markets but most of us will never see that level in our boating lives.

I know it is not a real comparison but I am always surprised as to the used prices on go fast boats compared to cruisers. The cruiser is full of accommodation, amenities, electronics and masses of features whereas the go fast is full of race heritage, performance and high speed thrills.

Just took two popular boats and looked at the NADA guide values. 2002 Cigarette 38' with very standard engines (8.1's) and a 2002 36' Sea Ray sundancer (39' overall) with same power.
Cigarette was 30k dearer when new but average retail now lists the two @ 92,000. In reality, the Cig will probably have blue motors and a whole lot more but the SR will probably be loaded with genset, air con and electronics so don't take the actual numbers too seriously, just the similarity between them.

I realize the two boats appeal to two completely different markets but when go fast boats are just as expensive as these floating condo units, I wonder if that has any bearing on sales?

Don't shoot me down, I'm just thinking outside the square. Think about what you actually get for your money!

RR

Its one thing to put a bunch of fancy doodads in a wakeboard boat put it all in an offshore boat, than actually run the boat hard in some real water and how much of it is going to be in one piece??

Good discussion I would think that many of these innovations have already been proven as consumer wants. More storage, flexible seating that doesn't compromise safety, swim platforms, integrated creature comforts and into grated digital dashes, a reduction in wood where possible.