Cabo Yachts to stop production temporarily

[IRGuy]

Saw this on THT.. it might be old news but thought it was worth posting..

http://www.caboyachts.com/

[PeterPalmieri]

Any chance they're the mistery company that bought the Bertram facility? Or are they simply a victim of today's boating industry?

[Pete Fallon]

IRGUY,
The last Cabo I surveyed was I July, it was the last California built Cabo in 2006, I found out that a holding company out of Philly had bought both Cabo and Hatteras back around the first of the year. They reportedly got a large tax break from the State of North Carolina and were to start making boats this summer. With the state that the marine industry is in, I doubt if they will ever make another boat in the New Bern plant(old Hatteras facility). It's a shame what the bean counters are doing to the marine industry.
Pete Fallon

[mike ohlstein]

Meanwhile, they still make Carver, Sea Ray, and Bayliner.

Perhaps we're the dopes……...

[Bruce]

Don't believe a word of this conservative propaganda. The economy has been fixed, good paying jobs created and the health care implosion stopped.

Boats are flying off the shelves.

Or is that monkeys flying out of my ass.

I get the two mixed up.

[Dug]

This spring a broker friend of mine told me he had sold a late 90's 48' Hatteras in really nice shape for under $100,000. After my jaw hit the floor, I asked why. He said that it was just stupid expensive to run.

To go to Block Island and back cost nearly $1000 in fuel, not to mention dockage etc. It was not going to be used as much more than a floating condo.

Pretty hard to sell boats when that is happening.

So lets see, coastal access is limiting marina facilities, who are shysters and crooks most of the time ripping off the average boat owner to line pockets and reinforced by overbearing environmental requirements. Fuel is very expensive. Boats are clearly a discretionary expenditure. Overall, just not a great market, especially for midsized slow, fuel guzzling sportfisherman types. Small market for those.

The rich (I mean really rich) want big, and fast. The rest of us like small, zip around, fuel efficient.

We who own what we own are pretty rare.

The world is changing to a degree or another. List the dead boat builders. Ocean, Bertram, Hatteras, Cabo, etc....? And Viking just launched a 92.

[John F.]

From what I've been told, the custom Carolina builders, whose boats are better on fuel than the big production boats, are doing well. And Hatteras just put out an express that looks an awful lot like a Cabo hull--just saying.

[TailhookTom]

From what I've been told, the custom Carolina builders, whose boats are better on fuel than the big production boats, are doing well. And Hatteras just put out an express that looks an awful lot like a Cabo hull--just saying.

The backyard builders in Carolina are true craftsman, their boats ride well and depending on your $$$ can be finished to an incredible piece of floating art or look like the rafters in your garage. The true genius to the custom carolina boat -- CASH up front.

Tom

[Tony Meola]

They can say what they want about our little boats, with a pair of diesels in them, they are stingy in fuel. At least compared to gas. There are those that burn less but that much less, unless you go down easter. I hear the Blackfin guys knocking our boats all the time. But when you compare our burn to the Canyons and back compared to theirs, our use way less fuel.

[Marlin]

Tail hook Tom is right on,if u want a Bayliss, Spencer , rybovitch, Merritt ,Willis, Jim Smith custom boat that's are lite, goes fast and is designed for better fuel efficiency, buy one of these brands and they will make it to your order, but u need to wait for 3/5 years as they are all busy and back ordered . Viking is successful because they are still family owned ,Healy, ,several generations now and they listen to their customers needs. They announced their 92' and have 8 firm orders and just introducing a 52' ish enclosed express that's selling. The Hatteras and Bertram's were heavy pigs in the water and every Clorox bottle looked the same. Once they became infamous they couldn't go wrong, look at Sea Ray,what a success story until the bean counters stopped listening to there customers! The Euro style needs to stay there and not be forced on this market. The 60' Bertram was the finest fishin machine ever built, then the Italians made it better!

[Dug]

Bingo.

The second you stop listening to your customers, you are done.

The yard I was in for years rarely listened to customers. During the past couple years, for many reasons, it has intensified. Now, when you walk in, they are pretty empty, slips are vacant, vendors are owed big $$$. And I mean BIG $$$.

All it would take, for real, would be for them to stop making everything the customer's fault, and start to answer in the following manner. "What would it take to make it right?" Followed by "Ok, we will take care of that." And just do it. Yes, to a point, but reality is that never taking any responsibility and only looking out for the bottom line and fighting customers to do so will tank the business, whatever the business.

I'm no b-school professor, but I know that much.

Look at the boat builders who listen. They are doing great. The ones who don't? Not so much.

[IRGuy]

Around here, there used to lots of new boat sales businesses, and when the general economy went south about 5-6 years ago they seemed to fail one by one. The only ones that survived were those that had good management that understood the importance of customer service. People stopped buying new boats and spent whatever money they had dedicated to boating/fishing on keeping their existing boats running.

I had this discussion a few nights ago with a boating friend.. I am retired and watch my personal expenditures carefully. Looking at the cost of new boats, as well as the costs of general maintenance, I would probably not be able to keep another, newer boat simply because of the front end purchase cost, and I would have a difficult time justifying the maintenance costs of my 1983 B33 if I had to go to a yard to get all my maintenance done. What saves me is the simple fact that I am a "hands on" guy who is not afraid to get his hands dirty. This leads me to the importance of this site in particular. If I have any questions of a "how do I do this" nature I can post the question and by the time I go to bed that night answers will start being posted. In 24 hours there will be several. The help here has been invaluable to me. In fact I have said here and one on one to Captain Patrick that there is a little bit of him and each of you in "Phoenix's" bones. One of my neighbors has zero hands on ability and has to pay for everything done to his boat.. it costs him a fortune.. and worst of all (at least by my standards) he has to listen to his wife bitch about how much their boat costs to maintain. His boat is 5 years old.. my B33 is 32 years old. There is no way in hell I would take his boat offshore (and he won't either) but I would take mine anywhere. His boat and mine are both 33' long.. mine displaces about 23,000 lbs, his is probably close to 15,000 lbs. Yes, I might pay more to move another 8,000 lbs of boat around, but mine will bring me and my guests/family home when his stays at his slip because he is afraid to go out.

[mike ohlstein]

There's no replacement for displacement......

[PeterPalmieri]

Well here you go Dug Bertram 50 for $179k