Nordic Boats and the Los Angeles BoatShow 2012 Part 1

Nordic brought more boats than any of the other Performance Boat manufacturers with a very impressive line up featuring everything from Deck Boats to a 100+mph 39 Vee. The boats themselves will be "lightly" covered in the article, but I figure what better way to start then to just give you the "HIT LIST" of their booth right up front.

1. Buck's 28SS with a GT 1300 - 148 mph!
2. Another 28 SS with a Merc 700 - 106 mph!
3. 39 Vee with Staggered Merc 700's / 6 Drives - 104 mph!
4. 24SX (Sport Cross) which is their 24 Cat with an Outboard - 90 mph!
5. 26 Deck Boat with a Merc 565 / XR drive - 86.7 mph!
6. 29 Deck Boat with a Merc 565 / XR drive - 82 mph!

You read that right, Nordic did not bring one boat that ran under 80 miles per hour. They also pretty much brought a nuclear weapon to a knife fight with regard to that. While they and other manufacturers brought some fast boats, they brought the single engine / bravo drive record holder at 148 mph! Buck's 28SS powered by GT is an absolute thing of nightmarish beauty.

So while people are of the absurd mindset that our love and passion of fast boats is dieing off, let me tell you up front that Nordic (The guy's that brought the fast boats), also sold more boats than anyone else! With five boats actually for sale at the show out of six, two of them are going home to get shipped immediately and one new build is already underway. The 39 was purchased at the LA Boatshow, the 26 Deck with the 565 was purchased at the LA Boatshow, and a new build for a 28SS (unsure of power) was actually sold at the LA Boat Show. It's impressive to sell three boats in a weekend in this economy, whether you are at the boat show or not. The hits don't stop there though, they have actually taken deposits on 3 NEW BUILDS from the LA Show, for two new 29 Deck's, and another 26 Deck. That would total six boats total from the LA show, and Thane said they are so busy they haven't even had a chance to catch up with what he feels are some very solid leads for potential sales into the summer! Nordic absolutely crushed the LA Show, and I'd bet heavily they, as well as all the performance manufacturers that attended this year will be back next year.

To start Nordic's plan is pretty simple, keep tooling new models through the economy, and when the economy comes back they will have 2012 / 2013 looking boats and everyone else will have 2000 - 2005 looking boats. Their plan is working, as evident by the staggering recent sales numbers. When you walk in the booth everything is fresh, and cutting edge to the eye, and more importantly everything has a unique "Nordic" look to it. I could go into a rant about it, but is it even necessary? Take one look at the new 28SS, the 26 Deck, or the 29 Deck and the picture becomes perfectly clear that Nordic is looking forward not backward. With new styling also comes new features which will take us full bore into the new 39 Vee they just finished up.

The new 39 Vee from Nordic has an interesting little "tooled" feature that I find nothing short of genius. The Cabin door opens vertically instead of sliding or opening horizontally. Now that in itself isn't a big deal, but when you factor in that the door has a set of stairs tooled into it, then it all starts coming together. When the door is closed it makes a nice abrupt stair case to get up on the deck of the boat easily, and when the door is down it gives a comfortable shallow stair case into the stabin... errr I mean cabin.

The cabin itself is giant with plenty of head room and is finished out a lot nicer than my living room. The benches had a nice firmer foam in them with an exceptionally soft vinyl and an almost "velvet" feeling trim on the edges. This is going to start sounding like one of those articles that I absolutely despise with the "guages are laid out perfectly" type descriptions, so let me just wrap it up in a fashion becoming of RDP. The cabin was bad ass.. I'm not exactly "spry" or of the "thin" variety. 9 times out of 10 if I get into a cabin of a boat, I'm instantly looking for the fastest way out. I went down into the cabin of the 39, kicked on the mood lights, put my feet up on the bench across and took a 5 minute break from the boat show while I finished a beer. With the large folding door, and the hatches open it didn't feel constricting like a lot of the cabins in the performance market tend to do. In typical RDP style I'd give it an 8 on the "partyable" and a 9 on the

"shaggable." We are couple of grab handles away from it being a 10. You didn't think we were going to let this article go out without another Dave'ism did you?

Now onto the more important aspects of the 39, with a fresh bottom and a pair of 700's this boat runs over 100! (104 to date) Now there are other manufacturers out there that are putting some up decent #'s in that size range as well, but none that are doing it with that kind of cabin and a traditional layup. This boat is a thoroughbred and it isn't turning heads in the industry, it's breaking necks.

One of the things that is hugely important to watch in the marine industry is what the veterans and top guys of the industry are buying and driving. I'm not talking about which boat some test driver is driving in a poker run that week. I'm saying which ones are they building for their personal stable, and taking their friends and family out on. When Fred Inman Sr. of IMCO fame orders a new 39 out of every other boat on the market that tells you something. Nordic just pulled his personal 39 out of the mold and the rumor is it will be powered by twin 1000's and SCX's. I am really looking forward to seeing what kind of numbers it puts up with that kind of power.

Being that I have a number of pics I can upload per article (15), Lets take a quick look at Buck's 148 mph monster and two over all shots of the 29 Deck. The balance of pictures and overall write ups will be in Part 2 of the Nordic review of the LA Boat Show.
Buck's 148 mph Nordic 28SS