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Wishing Lavey Craft best of luck

Singleton

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Copied from Speedboat

Chris Camire, president of Lavey Craft Motorsports, tells Speedboat that he plans to close his factory in Corona, CA—at least for the time being—while riding out the global pandemic that has eviscerated so many other businesses.

“The pandemic simply halted a major amount of planned service, restoration, and new boat sales,” he said. “At the end of the day, when you look at the facility costs, this property doesn’t make sense at this time.”

Having made it through the 2008 economic crisis, Camire said it makes sense to scale back now and find a more suitable home for the business. So he’ll be putting his numerous molds into storage and will seek a smaller location so he can continue to service his existing customer base. “I plan on being in this industry for years to come,” he said. “This is more of a hibernation, or a hiatus.”

Camire said his strategy of transferring to more modest digs is a way of biding time until an economic rebound leads to a future resurgence for his company. “We were on the verge of launching a new project that is incredibly exciting and we have world class IP to license or build with a number of longtime partners and industry friends, so there will be plenty of opportunities after the move.”

Founded in 1952, Lavey Craft was founded by flatbottom racer Al Lavey, whose legacy was enhanced and perfected by the Camire family. The builder has been virtually synonymous with success and innovation, and it’s practically unthinkable that a rebirth won’t be far down the line.
 

monkeyswrench

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I honestly thought boat sales were up? Then again, the manufacturers I'm thinking of aren't in Cali, so that may be part of it? I hope things work out quick. This is hard on owners as well as employees...and both usually have families involved.
 

mbrown2

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Chris does amazing work....Lavey is a brand that hope continues as put their boats up there with anyone. Wish them future success.
 

LowRiver2

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Smart move by a smart company.

With no auto shop teaching , less custom Motorsports of any type, custom boat building as a whole is going to decline for good. It’s a “have it now” world and the younger generations are not buying custom stuff as a whole on all levels.
Best of luck to a great boating legacy.
 

Bpracing1127

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I honestly thought boat sales were up? Then again, the manufacturers I'm thinking of aren't in Cali, so that may be part of it? I hope things work out quick. This is hard on owners as well as employees...and both usually have families involved.
New boat sales are not up. Unless it’s a twin outboard dcb or eliminator. Other boats like toons and wake boats yes but those are not custom boats.
 

Motor Boater

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How is that possible? Boat sales are best they’ve ever been? I heard Howard has a 2 year waiting list to get a boat built. My buddy is building an Eliminator he commissioned this summer and I don’t think he gets it until next year. So many other MFGs are cranking out boats. Used boat sales is off the charts. What am I missing?
 

Done-it-again

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I honestly thought boat sales were up? Then again, the manufacturers I'm thinking of aren't in Cali, so that may be part of it? I hope things work out quick. This is hard on owners as well as employees...and both usually have families involved.

Eliminator, Howard, DCB are all in CA and busy. I did notice it takes a long time for Lavey to build a boat, perhaps no one wants to wait that long for that type of boat...

I do wish them the best as they build a heck of a nice boat and the latest RPM was steller.
 

She's Mine

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This will impact Joe Malich / RPM

This is exactly what I was thinking. This not only affects Lavey Craft but also the RPM brand. Both are great boats and I hope to see them back in production soon and stronger than ever.
 

ka0tyk

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How is that possible? Boat sales are best they’ve ever been? I heard Howard has a 2 year waiting list to get a boat built. My buddy is building an Eliminator he commissioned this summer and I don’t think he gets it until next year. So many other MFGs are cranking out boats. Used boat sales is off the charts. What am I missing?

Laveycraft isnt a howard, eliminator, or hallet. People that typically buy a $200-500k custom boat arent affected by this crisis. People who settle on a $100k boat are usually financing it out the wazoo and cant wait.
 

ArizonaKevin

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This is exactly what I was thinking. This not only affects Lavey Craft but also the RPM brand. Both are great boats and I hope to see them back in production soon and stronger than ever.

How long until Nordic calls up Chris for those molds?
 

guest hs

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I feel you will see a lot more of this to come. Unless you are Eliminator,Nordic,Howard or DCB your not building enough boats to stay a float. There a couple smaller company’s that offer some really good values like Tahiti and Cheetah that will probably hang in there.
 

Singleton

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This will impact Joe Malich / RPM

got board reading FB while doing the morning business

The last one built by Lavey with be finished with the same interior and rigged at Team Archer. The next 2 after that are non center pod Outboard boats laid up at The same builder who built the team Larry Smith Scarab boats.
 

HCP3

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That sucks to hear. If I was in the market for a new build, they would be on my short list. I wish them well.
 

RiverDave

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got board reading FB while doing the morning business

The last one built by Lavey with be finished with the same interior and rigged at Team Archer. The next 2 after that are non center pod Outboard boats laid up at The same builder who built the team Larry Smith Scarab boats.

I hope the non center pod works out for him, but traditionally boats that are built with a center pod generally don't react well to removing them.

RD
 
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FreeBird236

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Very sad. Top quality, wish them well and soon to return.
 

traquer

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Most likely nothing to do with current level business, rather planning ahead. Smart move. Keep the good people close and working, can always get another bigger showroom
 

Done-it-again

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How big is their building? Its been many years but I saw the one near Kartek.

From pictures of build threads it didn't seem they could do the work in a smaller building. So to down size, till it picks up? then what, you have a smaller building that you cannot produce more than 2-3 boats... Then lead times jump and so do the customers..

Again I hope for the best, just doesn't sound good with closing to reopen again later.
 

OldSchoolBoats

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I feel you will see a lot more of this to come. Unless you are Eliminator,Nordic,Howard or DCB your not building enough boats to stay a float. There a couple smaller company’s that offer some really good values like Tahiti and Cheetah that will probably hang in there.

Shockwave is pumping out boats right now too. Went in and talked to Greg the other day and they can't keep up with the amount of work they have.
 

hallett21

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Sounds like there is a plan. Let’s just see it play out. There’s a good possibility they are leaving CA like everyone on this board lol.

Or re thinking their business plan. Makes sense to lower or get out from under expenses while you adjust.

It’s rare in the boat industry that the owners actually look at their books and towards the future [emoji1303]


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

squeezer

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We had a Lavey for decades, sold it to buy our Sanger. HATED the "Performance" of the Tournament Style V-Drive the first few times out so started looking again. Always loved the lines of the Hallets so decided to water trial one that was for sale locally. It was a Vector that was a few years newer than our Lavey. The test ride was an eye opener. the Hallet was not even close to as solid as our Lavey. It flexed and rattled and squeaked in ways we had never imagined before. Gel cracks everywhere etc etc. Have never been in a Schiada the same age as our Lavey was but a 1982 hull with zero defects in 2015 is a very high bar.

Which brings me to the point. In my opinion, build quality and performance of a Lavey is as good if not better than any of the West coast builders. (Not talking bling here, but actual quality of the work). They do however lack the mystique of some of the other boats. I kinda wish they would have followed along the lines of Sanger and built a watersport tow boat. I would be all over a V Drive XCS. (Closed bow for me but a cuddy/open would be killer in the market place).
 

Lavey5150

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My Sabre Build back in 06 was the most highly anticipated birth of my life except for my two wonderful kids of course in 2010 and 2013. The quality and performance of that boat was phenomenal. I stopped by the shop a bunch of times last winter after riding and it was buzzing in there. I strongly believe they will come out w/ flying colors as they always have. Cheers to Lavey💪🤘🏁
 

riverbrian

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Chris built me my forever boat.

Far and beyond any other quality at the time. Good luck to LaveyCraft In the future!
Wish I was rich enough to buy another!
 

Bigbore500r

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I don't think the market for boats has cooled per say, I think the majority of their models aren't in alignment with todays market. There's a healthy boat market, just not for 25-35' V-bottoms. You see alot of other manufacturers stop selling those models or scale the offerings way back and sell off or ditch the molds, and they got heavy into deck boats and cats. Center Consoles are up and coming. And of course, wake boats - but screw those :cool:

I can also see an issue with them being in CA and trying to cover overhead, competing against shops that have conoslidated and set up shop in AZ - that's a tough battle to get to the same price point for comparable product.

Hope the best for them
 
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FreeBird236

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I don't think the market for boats has cooled per say, I think the majority of their models aren't in alignment with todays market. There's a healthy boat market, just not for 25-35' V-bottoms. You see alot of other manufacturers stop selling those models or scale the offerings way back and sell off or ditch the molds, and they got heavy into deck boats and cats. Center Consoles are up and coming. And of course, wake boats - but screw those :cool:

I can also see an issue with them being in CA and trying to cover overhead, competing against shops that have conoslidated and set up shop in AZ - that's a tough battle to get to the same price point for comparable product.

Hope the best for them
I think you're right, hopefully the market will cycle a little as tunnel boats are overrated.
 

Xtrmwakeboarder

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Lavey is number one on my list for a new build as soon as I can afford it. Their work is some of the best in the industry. I hope you guys come back stronger than ever.
Same here. I honestly don't see how people do business in this state. Hopefully just moving to Havasu like everyone else. I'd think Vegas would be a good place as well with Lake Mead nearby.
 

CLdrinker

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Lavey builds very nice boats. They will be fine.

The salesman they had around 2002 was a dickhead though.
 

CLdrinker

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What was the salesmans name?
Memory isn’t that good. He just laughed at us when my dad asked for a price for a new build. He said we needed to buy a new truck first.

We were in my dads S10 work truck. Ended up with an HTM.
 

DMF

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Memory isn’t that good. He just laughed at us when my dad asked for a price for a new build. He said we needed to buy a new truck first.

We were in my dads S10 work truck. Ended up with an HTM.
Yeah, that's a stupid thing to say to a potential customer. We built a new Laveycraft in 1999 and dealt with a guy named Andy. He was cool as hell! Chris and Jeff owned Lavey at the time. Chris was really cool, Jeff was kind of a dick....hahaha
 

ToMorrow44

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Best of luck to LaveyCraft! Chris & Jr are great people. Their build quality is top notch but priced moderately, a lot of boat for the money.

Another salesman in the industry said that boats <$200k are the hardest to sell because people are financing them, and that can get tricky. Over $200k people are generally paying cash and isn’t an issue.
 

Lavey5150

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Chris built me my forever boat.

Far and beyond any other quality at the time. Good luck to LaveyCraft In the future!
Wish I was rich enough to buy another!

I remember your boat , we chatted a few times out at Sandbar and Moabi
 
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