So what did Sonic have at the Miami show? Any new suprises?, word on Jay Ross?,

386, 358, 31, and 26. They all had 525s and 496s if I remember right.

Jay was not there. I'm not sure if anything else is going on behind the scenes.

I had a couple of beers with Jay in Pompano Beach last friday night. He is not part of Sonic anymore. There will be some different things going to happen at Sonic. Tread lightly is my advice. I do not wish to go into anymore details. Good luck everyone.

I was thinking about buying the 42 from the show. How carefully should I tread? I'm also considering a 38 Donzi. Any thoughts about the two. I am moving to Fort Myers in 2 months.

come on byron fill us in on whats happening with jay and sonic ,
send me a pm i'm dieing to know.

Come on, no pm's we all want to know. I'm buying a used one so it won't change my mind.

We just got back from FL today.

Sonic had a great showing! We met Richard and he was great to talk with. I think that he is really looking out for the future of Sonic.

We also met Catagory 5 - Jim it was nice meeting you! My wife really liked that 358.

Hugh Polluck was also at the show. Hugh it was great seeing you - as always!

Richard showed us the new secret. I know that they recently changed how they make the hulls to make them lighter, but they are going to another new vacuum bagging type process that is going to be even lighter. To sum it up, the latest technology is going to make the hull and the top deck 65% lighter than the original process. They haven't incorprated it into the liner yet.

We also went a visited the Sonic factory on Tuesday this past week. It was incredible. It's amazing how they put these boats together. I have tons of pics of different boats in different stages if anyone wants to see them.

Here is a pic of my wife and Richard at the Show:

Thats an awful lot lighter! I hope the strength is retained. Are they still using the infusion process along with vac bagging or is it just vac bagging?
Welcome home Brian & Jen!

The strength was unbelievable! They had the forward V part of a hull on display as a model of the new process. It was very strong and very light.

I'm not sure of the exact terminology for the process. Maybe someone on the board knows what it's offically called.

It is call infusion. To call it vacuume bagging is an oversimplefication. They do share a common thread of molding the boat under pressure/vacuume. Sonic is the ONLY builder using INFUSION in the full boat (hull & deck). Some builders do use it in hatches and other small parts. Using this method and the coring the boat is actually stronger and more importantly stuffer. The human error factor is eliminated from the old hand rolling process. Every boat is exactly the same.

The display that was mentioned was the 1st 5 feet of a 42. It was built using the "next generation" layup which is currently being tested. It is a carbon fiber/kevlar combination. The materials are very pricy but assuming the testing all goes well should be available in the near future.

In a nutshell the point is using new construction technology to improve performance and overall quality without sacrificing ride, handeling and safety.

I think 65% lighter is a stretch, I'm not sure of the exact weight difference but I am confident that it has not been reduced that much