Olympic Boat Centers files for Chapter 11

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HarlenW

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This is shocking though, maybe not, given the continued bad economic news in the boating industry. Olympic is the world's largest, privately owned, full-service marine dealership.

REDMOND, Wash. -- A major Northwest-based company -- with an ad campaign that nearly everyone recognizes -- has filed for bankruptcy.

The Olympic Boat Centers, whose slogan is "We'll make a boat nut out of you!" has filed for chapter 11 bankruptcy in a court in the Central District of California this week. The company, headquartered in Redmond, has 21 West Coast locations from British Columbia to San Diego. According to court documents, it owes as much as $100 million to its creditors.

The company has been in business for more than 50 years, and its Web site says that it's the world's largest seller of Bayliners, Meridians, Trophy Boats and others. Many of those boating big-names, as well as hundreds of other companies and individuals, are listed as creditors to whom Olympic Boat Centers owes the money, the documents state. One of the creditors is Brunswick, the parent company of Bayliner boats, made in Arlington, Wash.

A Brunswick company representative confirmed the filing and said it's not expected to affect jobs at the Arlington location. He said, “We will continue to sell boats and work through this."

KIRO 7 has put in calls to the headquarters of Olympic Boat Centers, to the company's attorney and to a spokesperson who is handling the issue. No phone calls have been returned. It's unknown if any stores will close or if any employees will lose their jobs.

http://www.kirotv.com/news/16926060/detail.html
 
I had a hunch this was coming. I needed some wheel bearings for my trailer so I went to my local Olympic boat center last week and it was completely empty...out of business. Pretty sad but I'm afraid boats, RVs, and domestic car dealers are faced with some tough times down the road.
 
I haven't been boating that long and not really old enough to remember but how have the other recessions and oil crises affected boating and the marine industry in the past like in the 70's and 80's? Were people able to buy boats when interest rates were in the high teens? Were there layoffs and companies going out of business?
 
The early 1990's were aweful. In the Cleveland area, we lost all but 4 boat dealers...thankfully the one I work at survived. Many boat manufacturers went out of business and many others filed for protection under bankrupcy filings. So far...this isn't as bad, but it's getting there
 
Harlan,
Off topic. I see you own a Mainship 34 trawler. If you were to do it over again, would you purchase the same boat? Hope I'm not being rude.
 
3 birds, we are very happy with our boat though had some problems with the dealer and commissioning; but that wasn’t Mainship’s fault and they shut down the dealer after our complaints.
 
Olympic was involved in a lot of projects besides boats. They made a real good Sailboat way back.
They were a research partner with someone on F/Glass and other stuff.
I believe a lot of companies are going to fail because we as Americans just dont have the Stupid money we used to have so much of.
Hopefully we can get this fuel problem solved so work will pick up again.
 
Things aren't much better here in Long Island NY. Most marinas, including mone, have open slips. Boats are still shrink-wrapped or sitting at docks as waterfront outdoor decks. There was a piece on one of the local TV news shows of aboandoned boats left to float where ever they wanted, ending up on sandbars and beaches. People remove the numbers and grind off the hull numbers. Gasoline at $5.oo a gallon and escalating personal bills are keeping people, including me for the moment, off the water. My boat is in the midst of a major refurbishing, by me, so it's on the hard for the season. I'm not rushing to spend about $1000 just to be able to get out 6 or 7 times this season. Hopefully, next year will be better with a new administration. Meanwhile, people and companies are hurting. Safe boating all. Hy
 
Thanks Harlen. Sorry for spelling your name incorrectly.
 
quote:
Originally posted by littlebookworm

Hopefully, next year will be better with a new administration.

Click to expand...


Thanks for the good laugh, but don't get your 'hopes' up!

The oil 'bubble' will pop; and it's my opinion that there are too many players in certain sectors of the marine industry. If you wanted a 17-20' center console you have more choices than what the market can sustain.

People will loose their jobs, but hard work and effort (not at a voting booth) will land them on their feet.
 
Tuesday, 26 August 2008 10:40

Brunswick Corp. has offered to buy Redmond, Wash.-based Olympic Boat Centers out of bankruptcy for $48 million, The Seattle Times reports.

Olympic Boat and its affiliates run 20 dealerships from British Columbia to California.

This week, a bankruptcy-court judge is expected to schedule a Sept. 23 auction of Olympic's assets and spell out procedures for other bidders to compete with the Brunswick proposal, David Shemano, a Los Angeles attorney representing Olympic's unsecured creditors, told the newspaper.

Brunswick already owns 12 percent of Olympic Boat's parent company. The remainder is mostly owned by private-equity firm The Riverside Co., of Cleveland.

The $48 million offer would provide $47 million to secured creditor GE Commercial Distribution Finance. But it would leave less than $1 million for bankruptcy costs and payments to other creditors, Shemano wrote in a court filing.

Olympic reported assets between $10 million and $50 million and debts between $50 million and $100 million, The Seattle Times reports.
 
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