Ultra thread

What happened to the Ultra portion of RiverDaves? it was here testerday????

:hmmJBB banned J. West from the internet.....that's my guess

KineticoH20 said:

What happened to the Ultra portion of RiverDaves? it was here testerday????

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Dont know what happened. But I did find a good deal.

Not bad for 12k
http://www.yachtauctions.com/detail.asp?stockNo=19883

Nice boat, but still a little pricey.
http://www.yachtauctions.com/detail.asp?stockNo=20108

Member: 70 said:

Dont know what happened. But I did find a good deal.

Not bad for 12k
http://www.yachtauctions.com/detail.asp?stockNo=19883

Nice boat, but still a little pricey.
http://www.yachtauctions.com/detail.asp?stockNo=20108

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hmmm the 12k one seems like a steal!!!!

KineticoH20 said:

What happened to the Ultra portion of RiverDaves? it was here testerday????

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My guess would be he didn't pay the bill for his advertiseing. Or decided not to advertise.

A good song by "Queen" comes to mind...:hmm

Ratso said:

A good song by "Queen" comes to mind...:hmm

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is the word "DUST" in the title

I heard an unconfirmed rumor....I will not say what I heard pending more confirmation... :hmm

Everyone will have the ability to ask ultra at the boat show.

knuckle head said:

is the word "DUST" in the title

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lol...

Dave has decided to only support East Coast boat builders from now on....On account of theyre better...and shit.....:thumbsup

JBB said:

Dave has decided to only support East Coast boat builders from now on....On account of theyre better...and shit.....:thumbsup

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:smackhead...................:hmm

that's not going to help you sell yours

Havasu1986 said:

My guess would be he didn't pay the bill for his advertiseing. Or decided not to advertise.

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Nothing of the sort.. LOL John West is working his ass off right now, focussing on things other than the boat industry, and still running Ultra at the same time. He doesn't have time to maintain a section on here. There was threads in there that said "Happy thanksgiving" that weren't responded too. I just decided that we'd take it down for awhile until he has some more free time to be on the internet.

Lavey29 said:

I heard an unconfirmed rumor....I will not say what I heard pending more confirmation... :hmm

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Well share with us all? Ultra isn't out of business, nor will they be anytime soon (to my knowledge). They are still building a few boats believe it or not, and they will be at the LA Boat show. John West will probably only be there one or two of the days.

Singleton said:

Everyone will have the ability to ask ultra at the boat show.

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There's no big conspiracy here. Like I said above, John West is exceptionally busy right now and there was just nobody to maintain the section.

Incidentally John West is still very much a friend of mine, and when things get a little better int he industry I'm quite sure he will be a big part of RDP in the future.

RD

JBB said:

Dave has decided to only support East Coast boat builders from now on....On account of theyre better...and shit.....:thumbsup

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You call them boyz from Hustler powerboats yet about our proposed advertising plan? LOL

RD

RiverDave said:

You call them boyz from Hustler powerboats yet about our proposed advertising plan? LOL

RD

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Workin on it....Nortech, Outerlimits, and Skater too..:thumbsup

JBB said:

Workin on it....Nortech, Outerlimits, and Skater too..:thumbsup

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That's my boy!! Time to get the big dogs on here.. LOL

RD

DirtyWhiteBoy said:

:smackhead...................:hmm

that's not going to help the sale of yours

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Probably just redirecting advertising dollars. Its so slow, I think most manufacturers are just trying to survive nowadays. Preserve capital.

Lots of Ultra customers were San Diego area construction workers and contractors.....those customers are just squeaking by too right now, and definitely in the market for a boat. Pretty much only the cops and firemen still have tons of $$$$$ LOL

But its not cool to start rumors of Ultra's demise unless your facts are straight.

Mandelon said:

Probably just redirecting advertising dollars. Its so slow, I think most manufacturers are just trying to survive nowadays. Preserve capital.

Lots of Ultra customers were San Diego area construction workers and contractors.....those customers are just squeaking by too right now, and definitely in the market for a boat. Pretty much only the cops and firemen still have tons of $$$$$ LOL

But its not cool to start rumors of Ultra's demise unless your facts are straight.

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My facts are straight I talk to John West all the time. LOL The fact is I would've kept his on here for free, he has done so much for me in the past.. The reality is though he just doesn't have time to do it right now and I can't have dead sections on here.

RD

RiverDave said:

My facts are straight I talk to John West all the time. LOL The fact is I would've kept his on here for free, he has done so much for me in the past.. The reality is though he just doesn't have time to do it right now and I can't have dead sections on here.

RD

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You want I should Infract him Dave?....:hmm

JBB said:

You want I should Infract him Dave?....:hmm

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Nah.. LOL

RD

I wish nothing but the best for Ultra and all the other boat manufacturers to make it through these lean times. Just people with families and mortgages like the rest of us trying to make ends meet in a bad economy. I hope they get a few sales at the show for the investment they have to make just to set up there.

Lavey29 said:

I wish nothing but the best for Ultra and all the other boat manufacturers to make it through these lean times. Just people with families and mortgages like the rest of us trying to make ends meet in a bad economy. I hope they get a few sales at the show for the investment they have to make just to set up there.

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Most everybody I know that is going to the show is planning on selling exactly zero boats.. Most are going so that the others don't dog pile onto them with the "gone out of biz" rumors. Kinda sux actually.

RD

RiverDave said:

Most everybody I know that is going to the show is planning on selling exactly zero boats.. Most are going so that the others don't dog pile onto them with the "gone out of biz" rumors. Kinda sux actually.

RD

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What an expensive way to stand your ground. Damn.

Not sure if going in with the mind set of selling zero boats is the best approach. Maybe going in with some fire sale offers/deals cutting heavy into profit margin but still making a few bucks to keep your staff working would be better. Things like low interest rates offers, extra options that normally don't come standard. I see some of these new manufacturers advertising on the boards with some very nice looking boats at incredibly low prices. I would guess they are making very little profit on the boat but getting their name out there and building clientel who will spready the word and hopefully develop more customers. I am not an insider in the boat biz so I do not know how much profit there is in making a boat but sure seems like they will need to have some special offers to stimulate what few buyers will be at the show.

OCMerrill said:

What an expensive way to stand your ground. Damn.

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That's kinda what I said.. LOL I said put a banner at the top of my forum for a couple hundy a month, and let me kick you in the nuts 50 or 60 times, and you'll still be money and heartache ahead.

Lavey29 said:

Not sure if going in with the mind set of selling zero boats is the best approach. Maybe going in with some fire sale offers/deals cutting heavy into profit margin but still making a few bucks to keep your staff working would be better. Things like low interest rates offers, extra options that normally don't come standard. I see some of these new manufacturers advertising on the boards with some very nice looking boats at incredibly low prices. I would guess they are making very little profit on the boat but getting their name out there and building clientel who will spready the word and hopefully develop more customers. I am not an insider in the boat biz so I do not know how much profit there is in making a boat but sure seems like they will need to have some special offers to stimulate what few buyers will be at the show.

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Undercutting the competition will be the name of the game at this years boatshow.. It will also be the demise of the marine industry as a whole. (if you think about the larger picture)

RD

I am not sure that I follow you on this one. Why will lowering prices and making better incetive offers kill the boat biz? I think boat prices skyrocketed when the housing market took off. People spending all that equity they did not actually have allowed boat manufacturers to inflate their prices to the highest levels I have ever seen. Now much like the correction that is taking place in the housing market with home values, boat prices should also be correcting to amounts that are more consistent with what you actually are getting. 50-75K for a custom motor is outrageous and then adding that into an over priced boat also. Same deal for cars and other items as well. Yes, I believe that I paid to much also for my boat. I am happy with it of course but I am sure they made a grip of money on me too.

When will your boat show report be ready?

Riverkid said:

When will your boat show report be ready?

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Depending how big the show is I figure a week or two after the show.. Since this years show is smaller I'm going to do it again.

As well since most of these hack jobs aren't going to be in biz by the end of the year anyways, it'll be old school.

RD

Lavey29 said:

I am not sure that I follow you on this one. Why will lowering prices and making better incetive offers kill the boat biz? I think boat prices skyrocketed when the housing market took off. People spending all that equity they did not actually have allowed boat manufacturers to inflate their prices to the highest levels I have ever seen. Now much like the correction that is taking place in the housing market with home values, boat prices should also be correcting to amounts that are more consistent with what you actually are getting. 50-75K for a custom motor is outrageous and then adding that into an over priced boat also. Same deal for cars and other items as well. Yes, I believe that I paid to much also for my boat. I am happy with it of course but I am sure they made a grip of money on me too.

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I agree with you on this. The last 3-5 years we have been marking up our jobs anywhere from 40-60%. Now were back down to 25-35% mark up.

Lavey29 said:

I am not sure that I follow you on this one. Why will lowering prices and making better incetive offers kill the boat biz? I think boat prices skyrocketed when the housing market took off. People spending all that equity they did not actually have allowed boat manufacturers to inflate their prices to the highest levels I have ever seen. Now much like the correction that is taking place in the housing market with home values, boat prices should also be correcting to amounts that are more consistent with what you actually are getting. 50-75K for a custom motor is outrageous and then adding that into an over priced boat also. Same deal for cars and other items as well. Yes, I believe that I paid to much also for my boat. I am happy with it of course but I am sure they made a grip of money on me too.

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This is a long, long conversation better suited to be had over beers.. LOL

The readers digest version in a sentance. If Lavey didn't make a killing on your boat during the goodtimes, they'd already be out of biz in this bad time. Sure there's profit built into a boat, but you have to make enough $$ to weather the swings as well. If people undercut each other and there's little profit to be made... Then there's no money for the bad times, or for that matter no $$ for the good times either.

The solution is easy yet impossible. The marine industry has to band together to keep the pricing strong, yet on less sales. To keep making $$ even on minimal sales. The reason it is impossible is because nobody would pass up a sale if they feel it came down to moving on the price.

I'm seeing it from both sides of the coin though.. my friends that are mfg's and businesses in the marine industry. And my friends that are consumers.

I have always gone out of my way to try and support the people that I feel run a good biz, even if it's at personal cost to me. I say this not to sound arrogant, but just laying it out as an example. I can pretty much buy whatever the hell I want for cost in the marine industry. Drives, motors, rigging etc.. I know enough people to do that fairly easily. Yet when I needed guages for Stacy's boat I paid full pop for them through Rex Marine, because I like Mike, and I want to support his biz. When I need props I can buy them all day long for cost.. Yet I still pay damn near full pop for them through Quality performance because I like them, and the way they run their business. That list goes on for every single thing that I've ever bought in the marine industry save Trailers.. Trevor hooked me up deep in the past, and wouldn't have it any other way. As well though if I needed a trailer in the future I'm sure someone would build me one on the cheap, but at this point I'd rather pay full pop or even extra to deal with Trevor and Trevor alone.

If the only person your looking out for is yourself, then at the end of hte day you'll be the only one standing there.. LOL Is more or less what Im' saying. Everytime someone undercuts the next guy. One guy looses a sale, and the next guy doesn't make hardly any $$ on it. That's bad biz no matter how you slice it.

RD

This is a long, long conversation better suited to be had over beers.. LOL

I'll agree with this part, could take hours too, be prepared.

RiverDave said:

Depending how big the show is I figure a week or two after the show.. .

RD

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oint

Yes, it would be fun to debate sometime over coldies. I would have to disagree with you though. I believe in competition and a free market system. If all the boat manufacturers unionized so to speak and fixed their prices then the consumer would get screwed even more. Classic example are the big oil comapanies in the U.S. They all work together in unison to keep prices where they want them. There is no competition going on where one tries to out do the other and offers significantly lower prices albeit at less profit margin. Much can be said of other large companies in the U.S. also, why compete against each other and have to go lower with prices when we can work together and fix the prices and then we all make huge profits at the expense of the consumer.

On a side note, saw this on another sight just now and do not know if it is legit but sure seems like a good price if you had a few motors and drives already.

http://lasvegas.craigslist.org/boa/1022604161.html

Havasu1986 said:

I agree with you on this. The last 3-5 years we have been marking up our jobs anywhere from 40-60%. Now were back down to 25-35% mark up.

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This was occurring throughout the business field in the U.S. The businesses were taking advantage of all the free money that was flowing through the sytem (as they should) to make record profits during the good times. Smart businesses put money away for a rainy day when the lean times returned. These are the businesses that should be able to weather the storm until some balance comes back into the economy. Boat manufacturers will have to adjust their prices also to correct for the current state of the economy if they expect to continue to have customers. Price competition will be good for them and the consumer.

Anybody heard any good rumors lately? - Performance Boats Forums

ddevore said:

Anybody heard any good rumors lately? - Performance Boats Forums

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Thanks ddevore.

That cleared up all the speculation.

Thanks John W. for being forthright with those of us who have an interest in this boating industry, whether it be business or pleasure.

And I do understand why those in-the-know kept the info to themselves. Courtesy & Respect.

I am sorry that John W., as well as many other upstanding folks, have been so adversely affected by this crappy economy. If it hasn't affected you yet, be thankful, but it likely will eventually.