Is now the time to buy an American boat?

Ooooh

Suspect the likes of Grand Banks, Fleming, Chris Craft, Hatteras amongst probably many others would disagree. And how many of our boats are exported to the US? I have no idea but suspect it's not that many.

Many of the smaller cheaper boats may not be built to UK standards but they are on the whole exceptional value for money.

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Re: Ooooh

Well, when mentioning "our" boats, actually I had Europe in mind, not just the UK.
In fact, the devaluation of the USD which you mentioned was even stronger against the Euro.
In spite of that, the italian boatbuilders continue to to export most of their production also to the US.
As opposed to that, in the Med you can find just a few GBs around. Fleming, Hatteras etc., they practically don't exist.
But I admit that for trawlers, our industry never managed to compete with the US. Maybe we just never realized that this is a fast growing market.
Also agree that the small(ish) Sea Ray and similars are - nowadays - good value for money. Where standardization and big numbers are the driving factors, we can't compete with the US.
But we still have Sunseeker, Pershing, Riva. And they're all sold in the US.
Something to be proud of, IMHO.

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Re: Naaah!

The best built USA boats are more than a match for ours and in the States Fairline, Princess, Sunseeker etc are looked upon as good and have snob value being from the UK but serious boaters over there will still go for their quality brands, Formula etc knowing them to be more than a match for the UK built boats! and when i say more than a match I actually do mean they view them as being better and in my opinion quite rightly so!

Other than having 'built in the UK' stamped on our 'quality' brands I have failed to see what makes our boats pound for pound any better than anyone elses! One thing we cant do in the UK is produce a truely usable, practical performance craft ( and im not talking 40knts in a force 3)

Kevin
 
Re: Naaah!

Hey, what happened to your post? It's now different from the one I got via e-mail! Was it Kimmerized, or what?

Well anyway, I'm with you on your original comment.
I also hate generalization, it is always too easy - and quite often wrong - to say that all this is good and all that is bad.
On the other hand, in a forum we have no choice but to simplify and summarize the concepts.

Bearing that in mind, I'm convinced that saying "ours are fine, theirs are awful" is a rough simplification for sure, but one of those upon which many boaters would agree.

Did you ever see the Genova or Barcelona boat shows? You would be impressed by the number of US fellows around (well, also Russian, lately...). And I mean buyers, not exhibitors.
But when I spent some days in Ft.Lauderdale a few years ago, the only europeans around were the exhibitors.
Maybe the USD devaluation is now changing that, but not that much, I bet.

And after all, WE crossed the ocean to reach the Americas, not the other way round!

P.S. if you're interested in cruising at even 50+ kts in F3 sea with a 90 footer (and you don't care about the budget!), I can suggest some builders to get in contact with. They're based in our poor old Italy of course, not in the gorgeous US.

Cheers, Mario.

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Re: Naaah!

Anyone can edit their post within about 30 mintues of posting it originally

<hr width=100% size=1>There is no such thing as "fun for the whole family."
 
Methinks you have a touch of the NIH syndrome, Haydn. Much as I dislike the appearance of some of the water buses that Carver and a few others build, they are designed for comfort, not for thrashing around in. Form vs function is wot it's all about. And BTW, there is an increasing number of large Fairlines, Princesses(Viking) and Sunseekers appearing in our marina - mostly brand new, but they rarely leave the pontoon.
I've seen the very large Sunseeker go 9 mi up the island, anchor for the afternoon, then come back. Like most others of that size, they employ a captain to drive it.

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Re: Naaah!

Thanks, I wasn't aware of that.
But then again, thinking that Kim is above and behind all of us gives a nice touch to the whole forum ...

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