Bad Ass Shop Tour Today - HORIZON MOTORSPORTS!! (You didn't know it was this.. BIG?)

[RiverDave]

The other day I swung by Horizon Motorsports and told Preston "Today's the day buddy." He knew what I was after, I didn't want the little tour of Horizons main location in the Campbell building, he can save that nickel tour stuff for the lookey lou's and snowbirds walking the facility. I wanted the private tour, the VIP backstage pass tour.. I wanted to see all the stuff that Horizon has to offer, and I wanted to share it with all of you. So let me tell you guys in advance, this is gonna be a long one, because their is more to see at Horizon and all of their facilities, than there is at pretty much any other shop than I can think of in Lake Havasu. The more I think about the Scope, and the Scale of it all the more impressed I am. Preston has truly created an Empire in his Havasu operations.

We are going to start down at the Campbell building. I stole these first two pictures off of their FB page because I didn't have a good front "overview" shot of the location.





I believe this was a customers truck that had come into town to purchase one of the larger boats in Horizon.



Boats lined up under the covered awning in the front.



Pretty bad ass truck Preston took in on trade recently.



More Boats under the awning







Standing back looking at the building. Here you can see a brand new 21 Deckboat that was just delivered to Horizon by Ultra Boats!



One of Preston's shop trucks Parked in front of the building.



These boats are parked on the opposite side of the parking lot towards the street. These are higher profile boats that Preston is trying to move quickly and get more exposure on.









Looking at the large window graphic on the front of the building



Stair case leading up to the entrance of the show room.



When you walk into the showroom, right on the polished concrete floors there's another Horizon logo on the floor!

 

[fishing fool]

Is that pontoon going to be the rdp boat???

 

[2016ViperTA]

They keep a nice selection of great Havasu boats on their property. How's the customer service experience ?

 

[RiverDave]

Walking in and to the left you will see these two "Channel Warriors" These were actually trailers built by Weekend Warrior just for a quick fun day out on the beach. They have stereos in them, BBQ's, Coolers etc.. The further one is completely tricked out with a big flat screen in it, and a bunch of other stuff. (Preston has forever been trying to get me to buy one of these off of him) If you could take them down in the channel, like you used to be able too, I probably would buy the one with the big screen to drag behind my Ranger. Problem is they shut that down for some reason that is beyond me..



To the right is a brand new 26' Ultra Deck Boat that was recently Delivered by Ultra boats. Horizon is a dealer for DCB, Ultra, PlayCraft, Weers, and a couple of other brands.





If you like just walking around a first class showroom, and seeing some seriously impressive hardware, Horizon is pretty hard to beat. They always have five or six big twin engine cats in there that will run anywhere from 130 - 180+ mph!

Eliminator Daytona





DCB F32



Another big Daytona

 

[RiverDave]

Is that pontoon going to be the rdp boat???

The only problem I have with it, is where the fuck do I keep it? It's massive!

They keep a nice selection of great Havasu boats on their property. How's the customer service experience ?

Honestly, everybody that I know that has actually bought a boat from them has nothing but great things to say! I can tell you my dealings with Preston have been nothing but first class.

 

[RiverDave]

Walking to the far wall of the building there is three offices. I believe the first one is Paul's, the second is Preston's and the third is Mike Misplay's.

Picture outside of Paul's office I believe.



Preston's office if I'm not mistaken



I believe this is Paul's office.



Pretty sure this one is Mike's.. He used to race Eliminators etc..



Along the front of that wall is some small display cases with various items in them.


Preston does quite a bit of off-road inventory. He is a safeglo dealer (both offroad whips and boatwhipz)

 

[Singleton]

The only problem I have with it, is where the fuck do I keep it? It's massive!



Honestly, everybody that I know that has actually bought a boat from them has nothing but great things to say! I can tell you my dealings with Preston have been nothing but first class.

You have enough room to park that thing outside next to you garage. Just do it, wrap it in RDP logos and call it a marketing expense.

 

[RiverDave]

If we walk past the offices and a few other things (hallway with bathrooms, and a stair case going to the upper levels) then on the main floor to the right you will see where they generally keep some of their off road rolling stock.







In this last picture you can see a roll up door, that door will lead to the back of the building. (I'll come to that last in this post)


To the right is the main showroom with all the boats in it. These will be some random pictures of those. (Standing up on one of the stair cases next to a boat and shooting back towards the offices)



Bad ass E-ticket they have for sale









Behind that roll up door is this big Playcraft with the Merc 700 and the NXT drive.

 

[RiverDave]

You have enough room to park that thing outside next to you garage. Just do it, wrap it in RDP logos and call it a marketing expense.

The thought is something we are definitely considering! I have one thing I have to get past before I do anything, but we are almost done with it. Sure would make Desert Storm a lot nicer with a giant toon like that.

RD

 

[RiverDave]

Ok so I walked back through that big bay door, and into the showroom back towards the offices.. There's a Hallway that also leads back to the back of the building. That's where we are at now.



I walked back, went through a door and it turns right.. Then it goes out towards the shop bays.



Shooting back looking into the shop bays. You can see when they built this facility it was entirely FIRST CLASS. It was purpose built as a boat facility with the front being a showroom, and the back being service.



Here you can see that they have a grate in the floor. When they test run the boats the water drops and falls through the grates and drains.





When Preston moved into the building there is two other businesses that are currently operating out of it. One of them is Quality Marine which is a great service shop (and resource). They operate out of the other bays to the right. The other business is an interior shop, that I believe is called "next level upholstery." I don't really know anything about the guy, but I'd imagine that would be a handy resource as well if you are in the boat consignment business.

 

[Boat Bling]

Preston and his team have created a seriously impressive operation with Horizon. I too have heard nothing but good things and consistently smooth transactions with no 'surprises' that are all too common with boat deals.

Spotted a couple Boat Bling bottles in the background. Little known fact, Horizon is one of the highest volume buyers of Boat Bling product yet they do not sell it. Instead, they keep show room boats immaculate and provide free product with every sale.

-Zack

 

[RiverDave]

Alright guys, now we are going to start the tour of where nobody gets to go. This part of the building is going to take you back to the days of Highballs, two finger pours at lunch, cigars, and just a better time.. Picture Madmen but in the boating world in it's hey day.

I'm back in the main building at the entrance to the staircase. I'm looking up and next to one of the windows perched a top one of the AC vents you can see about a 8' RC Boat. (I believe it's for sale by the way?)


I walked up the first flight of stairs and there's a couple of props on the floor and a box. (nothing too impressive so far.)


On the second story we came to another landing with more props and several doors and hallways. Interesting side note, Preston has over 250 props between here and the next facility we are going to visit! That makes him probably the best stocked "prop shop" in Arizona. He just keeps them, and when he needs one for a boat they go and find what they need. He has everything from Bravo's to # 6 props. He'll be the first to admit he needs to go through and inventory them, and should probably sell some of them.. He just never has time.



Behind one of those doors is an office where all of the paperwork for Horizon is handled. (Note the cool clock on the wall)



If you turn around and look you can see how big this room is. Nice big sectional for kicking back and taking a break. As well as another work station.



(Grabbed a horizon water out of a fridge..)


Behind Door # 3 was a little closet that housed some of Horizon's SWAG that they have on hand. There's more closets full of SWAG as well.



Looking through one of the windows in the Hallway down on the showroom.




Random steering wheel, jack, and of course a #6 prop (it's kind of mind blowing to add up the amount of $$ of just random stuff laying around)



I still have "Flu Brain" going on here a little bit, but I believe we went up to the third story of the faciliity for the next part. It might be on the same floor as the above pics, but I remember going up another level. (Can't be sure) But this is the Gangster part.. This is the rewind history back to when "men were men." I can only imagine the deals that were struck up here, and the private parties that happened in here. This is the "Gangster" of Campbell Boats.



You walk through this conference room on the way to this next office.



Entering the next office, there is a little wet bar (note all the handles are cleats!). I'm quite sure back in the day this was probably just stacked with Whiskey's and Scotch etc..



better shot of the cleats



What most don't know is the Campbell building is actually shaped like a BOAT! This top office is set in the corner and is supposed to be the "helm" and looking out of those windows from that desk you are looking at the lake! I never knew that, and as soon as Preston told me it, it all kinda fell into place!



This place doesn't get used for entertaining much anymore, but it looks like Preston is about to start putting it to use again. Maybe at the DS Party he'll bring some of his VIP's up here?



Another shot of the room. They have an old pacman machine in there and a few other things. With all the windows open you have a complete panoramic view, and you get the feeling of a Helm.



Behind the bar area there is a private bathroom complete with a shower etc.. (Tim from OCM was actually living in here for awhile, or so the rumors go). This area looks smaller than it is in the pics. You could easily have 10-15 people in here sipping on drinks and cigars back in the day.



Something you probably didn't know, is the entire Campbell building is on SOLAR!

 

[76 Hondo]

Just had my Bennington toon serviced by Quality Marine, great service by Gary and Ed made sure the boat got to the trailer shop and then back to Custom Covers for a new cover and biminis.:thumbsup

 

[RiverDave]

This was the old sales facility for Horizon. When he took over the Campbell building (which is right around the corner) a lot of people expected Preston to give up this facility. Honestly I think that was his original intention as well, but as we all know the economy came back in a big hurry, so he kept it as more boat storage!



Inside this facility there's a whole separate show room. Needless to say this one is packed a little tighter than the other one. I'm going to show Dale's Eliminator first. This is the Twin 400 boat that really put up the first big #'s. There's rumors of new props coming to make it even put up some bigger #'s!!



Pontoon's.. This particular one has a crane on the front of it, I believe the owners son was handicapped, and this is how they would lift him in and out of the water.



Sorry some of these pictures are so dark.. It's hard to take pics with all the light pouring in through the windows.


This is a prototype Playcraft. It has a new Step Bottom on it, and was rigged with a 400. The boat runs mid 80's with a single!! Playcraft made Preston sign something saying when he sells the boat he has to take the 400 off of it, and put a smaller 300 on it.










You can still see where the factory made modifications to the bottom of the boat to get more Speed out of it. This is a one of one boat.

 

[RiverDave]

I didn't take too many pictures of that facility, but you get the Idea. It's a former sales office / showroom that is just packed with boats. If you walk straight through that building and how the other entrance you will see that the building itself is connected to a long row of Storage units.

This will be the third and final part of the tour for Horizons Arizona facilities (They also have a large operation in Colorodo where Preston is from! We'll get into that at a later date)

As it turns out there's 9 large bay doors, and this is all Part of Horizon as well (Preston owns it all). The last bay on the left is the only bay that Preston rents out, and he rents it to one of his Customers that is a DCB owner.









Taking a look inside some of the bays. Behind Door # 1 we have a couple of DCB's



Behind Door # 2 there is a big Toon, and this FunDeck.





By the way this Fun Deck has some crazy 20,000.00 Stereo in it. Behind that big metal grill is a bunch of Subs and amps etc.. (Speakers were everywhere!)



Behind that Pontoon boat above was this is an original "Eliminator Fun Deck" I believe it was based off the 24 Daytona? (Don't quote me on that). Super shallow sides etc.. This was back in the day and some of the "OG Performance Deck Boats!" I haven't seen one in years! It's kind of a center console / deck boat deal.. (Super cool)



Next to it was this Blown Daytona that is for sale (Behind the newer Fundeck)





Behind those boats was even more stuff (These bays are pretty deep. I didn't walk to the back of each one, but I did this one, because I saw this little guy and wanted to see it up close! Another thing I haven't seen in years..



The back end of that original Fun Deck


In the back of this unit was a bunch of Stock Merc Motors. Should be noted Preston has piles of these motors laying around, and he also has a bunch of Blower Motors etc.. In different bays that are just sitting there.


The Pontoon boat that was at the front of the unit.



Guys I want to point something out here.. We just went through one of these bays completely. There's 6 boats in it, plus the motors etc.. There's 9 of these bays attached to this building and they are all full.

Granted this one is a "Double" bay with the wall removed, but it does paint a picture of how much inventory they are keeping on hand!

RD

 

[RiverDave]

By this time I had already took up about an hour of Preston's time so I wasn't going to ask him to open up every single unit. He had already opened up this one, and the boat inside was definitely worth taking pictures of. 10' wide Twin 400R powered Playcraft! There stereo in this boat was YUUUGGEE! I'm not sure how many of you are familiar with a company out of the Midwest called "Waves and Wheels" but they actually flew in to do the install on this boat.







Nice work on the subwoofer cabinets









This thing (the sheer size of it) is impressive!! Preston told me they are placing an order for a 12' Wide Playcraft with I believe triple 400's on it!



On a side note, Preston purchased a container full of these giant steel cabinets! He only needed one of them, and is looking to sell the rest. They are steel top cabinets, and the drawers are all steel with roller bearings. If anybody had an automotive shop, or wanted some seriously nice drawers / work tops for their garage these aren't a bad deal at all!




That's going to wrap up my tour of Horizon Motorsports Arizona! If you guys want to learn more about Horizon, or you have a boat you are thinking about listing, give Preston a call!

1515 Industrial Blvd.
Lake Havasu City, Arizona 86403
1-928-855-9555 phone
1-928-855-9565 fax
www.horizonmotorsportsllc.com
www.facebook.com/horizonmotorsportsaz

 

[Joker]

Nice tour. Thank You.:thumbup:

 

[Taboma]

Great write up, enjoyed the tour.

So if I understand correctly, Horizon doesn't have it's own repair shop for rigging or mechanical, but Quality Service is on site for this purpose ?

With exception of the new boat lines they carry, are the vast majority of the boats you provided shots of all for sale on consignment ?

 

[RiverDave]

Great write up, enjoyed the tour.

So if I understand correctly, Horizon doesn't have it's own repair shop for rigging or mechanical, but Quality Service is on site for this purpose ?

With exception of the new boat lines they carry, are the vast majority of the boats you provided shots of all for sale on consignment ?

Horizon does have a couple mechanics they employ. They don't advertise or want to get into the service business but they do service some of their own customers. They are capable of repowers and motor swaps etc.

Pretty much everything I posted with the exception of that twin 400 pontoon is a boat that is for sale.


Quality Marine is just a service shop that happens to be in the Campbell building. There's no affiliation between the two. Other than if they needed a part or something they could walk 20' and get one.

 

[milkmoney]

Nice tour again. What a nice facility [emoji106][emoji106][emoji106][emoji202][emoji41]

 

[YoPengo]

Thinking about trading the Hallett in on one of those Playcrafts.

 

[crzy2bealive]

What a huge facility