Greg - the margin on these boats is tight and showing any distance away from the home office makes no economic sense whatsoever. Roger builds the same number of boats every year and sells them all, with the DOW at 6000 or 14000.
I understand that to a point, but if Norse Boat can have a unit there, or Rhodes, hard to believe MacGregor --"The World's Best Selling Cruising Sailboat" -- can't get a boat at these shows. They have dealers around the county right...and the boat is TRAILERABLE....
What ever happened to that Wing Z boat I read about on this forum...Z28, etc...Maybe I will see one of those at the Chicago Boat Show next year
I think the point being made is that the high cost of displaying your boat at a boat show, is more costly than the profits you can make selling a limited number of the Mac 26`s available. There are more sailors seeking the econonical Mac 26 than boats available.
MacGregor --"The World's Best Selling Cruising Sailboat" --
Greg
I keep my Mac26X at Erie Pa a few months during the summer. Erie has thousands of boats. I have only seen 4 macgregor 26 powersailers. usually in thier dock space. I see many more hunters, catalinas, and bigger boats on the bay or out on Lake Erie.
Even when I trailor to small inland lakes, I see very few Macgregors.
I would be curious to see the numbers on how many sailboats are out there and which brands.??
With the Americas Cup and other ocean races being won by Tri-marans and Catamarans going faster than the wind speed on a broad reach. What Newbie to Sailing Would Want a POKIE Monohull after seeing the Americas Cup race this year. I think monohull boat builders need races between Hunters and MacGregors and Catalinas ect. OR WAS THAT LAST CENTURY, AARG. I know because I am an X Hobie cat sailer and I settled for a beautiful 26M with a great bed that can only sail at HALF the wind speed. Todays sailing newbies want speed now.
St Louis Boat Show had zero sailboats. They also had zero inflatable dinghies. If you didn't want a fishing boat or a big expensive boat with an inboard, you were wasting your money to get in that show!
SILK
nedmiller wrote: If you didn't want a fishing boat or a big expensive boat with an inboard, you were wasting your money to get in that show!
SILK
I disagree - one NEVER wastes their money getting into a boat show - - - I don't care how bad the show is - - - I never feel like a dime was wasted - - - after all - - - I'm at a boat show!!!!
Their's always some good deal's on hardware or other equipment and electrical components
Also take the camera and take alook around the small sailing racing dinghy's you'll p/u lots of rigging Idea's
then go on the big sailing boats I usualy go their first to beat out the crowds you can p/u some nice mod idea's for the interiour & storage mods
Missed out on some nice interiour LED lights sell for $23. were on sale for $10. man I'm kicking my butt big time now. I forgot about going back to buy them later on in the show after seeing them installed in some big 40-60ft sail boats at the show they looked really nice I could have saved $90. or more with taxes
Highlander:
Contact the vendor; if you tell them you saw them at the show, they'll sometimes extend you the show prices. It's worth a try.
I was at the Chicago Strictly Sail Show two weeks ago. The attendee and vendor count were both down. My wife and I still had a great time looking at the new boats and attending the seminars. Seaward Yachts had both their 26' and 32' boats on display. Nice looking boats if you're looking for a more seaworthy boat than the 26M with their retractable keels. (Also much more $$$.)
I agree with the previous post: I've never "wasted" my money attending a show. I've always picked up a new idea or two.
OK... I stand corrected. I did see this really cool way to put in docking lights that wouldn't catch on any lines...... and I did enjoy looking at boats with my son. I guess that was worth the admission cost--it's just my expectations were so much higher than my experience...My Granddad always said the happiness equation is Experience divided by Expectations.... Even ONE sailboat would have made the day better or one good deal on a chart plotter--not one. I was also hoping to see some inflatables of different sizes. I'm about to pull the trigger on a 7' 6" one and am afraid it will be too small for us. Can't find one anywhere to actually look at. Even West Marines around here don't have any of any size inflated.
SILK
Docking Lights:
I didn't notice what boat they were on but when I got home I started searching for them. The are called Docking Hull Lights. They would be embedded in upper part of the hull just below the rub-rail. I found something that looked like them at wholesalemarine.com (no relationship to me) search for docking lights on their site--stainless docking hull lights for $102.43. These are plastic with a thin piece of stainless covering the plastic. I wanted all stainless but haven't found it. If you Google this: Iboats.com Aqua Power Docking Lights You will get the Aqua power ones which are about the same price--don't have a clue which would be better.
We sometimes sail at night and if on a Missouri lake, we might pull in and suspend a line between a couple of trees--I struggled with where to put a couple of really bright lights. I finally wired a couple of Halogen docking lights to the inside of the forward hatch--no lines catch them there and they aren't in the way. I open the front hatch and then flip the lights on. I've never needed them at night in the rain, however. If I did, I would end up with a wet bed, so I've never been quite satisfied with this mod. The Hull Lights seem to be the solution--although they represent the creation of some significant holes drilled below the rub-rail so would want something very strong. In the Apostles last year, I buried the nose in waves a couple of times and don't like the idea of a plastic light below rub-rail.
SILK
I've done a bit of reading and now not sure that Hull Lights are the way to go. The Iboats forum http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=279582[url][/url] opinions seem to be opposed to them.
Maybe I'll just keep my hatch mounted lights for now....
SILK
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