RI boat show review (long)

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Prospective

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O.k. I am sitting at my computer at work thinking about the Newport Boat Show that my wife and I attended this past Friday. Clearly I have too much free time so here are some of my impressions of boats, boat sales people,and boat shows in no particular order.

Friday was a beautiful day to go to a boat show. In fact, it was so nice, I started to think that perhaps I should be spending the day on the boat I already have rather than looking at boats I can't afford. But it was wonderful to spend a few quality hours with my wife w/o the kids, enjoy lunch in Newport, and check out some candidates for the next new boat. The consideration was more about seeing different style layouts like, convertible, sedan bridge, trawler, etc... rather than finding the exact boat we might buy.

Speaking of money, the cost of a new boat is out of control. I had to go home and log on to yachtworld and look up the "used" price of some of these boats just to console myself that I might actually afford a bigger boat one day. When the 25 year old Meridian sales guys tells me they are "banging our" 391 sedan bridges this time of year at at steal of $405k then I know the world has gone crazy.

Speaking of sales people, I am now convinced that boats are sold despite the sales folks, not because of them. The trawler folks didn't really want to give my wife and I the time of day. We're in our late 30's and I know their target audience is 50+ but we would really consider buying one of these things. O.k. not a new one but who knows? I even wore my J35 crew shirt from racing and my Monterey Boats hat to show I was a real boater and loved both power and sail. The Nordhavn guy only spoke to us because no one else was around. The PDQ power cat lady would only answer my questions if I stood next to her and tugged on her shirt.

I have to say the Azimut guy was kind of funny. Turns out he was new and must have been desperate to talk to someone. The 43 express we went on was tricked out like a Manhattan condo. What's up with glass raised basins in a head anyway? This guy chatted my wife up something fierce. And we did appreciate the attention after the trawler port. But when he showed her the Italian China place w/ settings for 8 that is included with the boat, I knew it was time to move on.

My last comment on sales folks is for the Sea Ray sales folks from Bassett. When you enter their compound, a nice young lady asks you where you boat and gives you a sticker to indicate such. Doesn't matter much because these guys could not be bothered. I had to interupt one of them chatting with his sales guy buddy just to ask if their was a Sedan Bridge model between the 36 and 44ft. You would think I had just interupted a meeting at the UN. As I walked out I overheard another conversation between these idiots talking about how great sales were and how a lot of the idiot customers (my words) thought that sales were slow and therefore shold get a better deal.

I was somewhat disappointed that there were not more boats in our size range which would be 35-40ft. Seems like the Providence show has smaller boats, and this one has monsters. Lots of 45+ft unless you're looking for an express which we are done with. Sportfish were a great example. Definitly a style of boat we would consider but the smallest was a 35ft Luhrs. The Eggs, Vikings, Hatt's etc.. were all 43+ feet. Heck the Hatt was like a 60. I was too intimidated to even get on the thing. The other problem is that at these sizes, every layout looks good.

I do have to say that the 43 Egg Harbor had the most beautiful woodwork I have seen outside of a Museum. The finish on the cabinets was an inch thick. As for the the quality of the boat itself, I am too new to judge, but that woodwork....

The 47 Ocean was way nice. Three staterooms and a washer/dryer. This is my dream boat. O.k. one of many. But at a boat show special of $1,085,000 it might be awhile

I liked the Albin 40 North Sea cutter. Had the feeling I could go out in a gale with this thing. Very rugged and nicely appointed with lot's of interior space. But the wife and I are not crazy about the look of aft cabin boats. A bit of "junk in the trunk" if you get the idea. But did I mention it has a bath tub? At a boat show special price of $299k, it was among very few reasonably priced boats there.

A boat I never thought I would like but found myself really digging was the PDQ 34 Cat Trawler. This thing has a ton of space inside and out. You cold set up a ping-pong table on the foredeck. And two people could pass each other without touching walking along the rail. It has an upper and lower helm. Two large state rooms and the icing on the cake is it will cruise at 14knts burning 4.5 gph. Now if I could find a slip for it (16.5ft beam) and get the sales lady to talk to me I might be on to something. At $350k including electronics, it actually seemed like a bargin.

Boats that were not there but I really wanted to see included the Mainship Trawler. The Mainship guys said there were so many at dealers near by that they didn't bother to bring one. One would think a popular model like that would be exactly what they should bring. Another boat I wish was there was the Regal 4080. In fact, there were no Regals there at all. Can't imagine why.

Celebrity siting. I actually saw John Graviskis (sp?) host of Ship Shape TV. Good Deal, He Made It!! Some people where going up to shake his hand. He didn't seem interested unless you had a product you could advertise on his show. I just watched from a distance not wanting to join the Paparazzi.

So you might be wondering if I bought anything. Well believe it or not, I did. I got a brand new pair of sailing gloves. Gill Long Finger size large (you know what they say about guys with long fingers...) and they only cost me $13 bucks. Best deal of the show.

Thanks for listening. Sorry to Les for using up all this bandwidth.
 
Nice read. Very nice indeed. Thanks for the insight. I think I shall print it, hilite the "Speaking of sales people, I am now convinced that boats are sold despite the sales folks, not because of them." part and take it to the Richmond boat show. When a sales person blows me off, I have proof this is a problem and not an isolated one.

Thanks again.
 
Very nice read.Thanks!I have met very few good boat salespeople.Most of them remind me of the southern end of a northbound horse.
 
Regarding the Newport show, I have to agree with everything you wrote.

We went on Saturday. It was a bit overcast and drizzling as we pulled into Newpoort around 11:00am, and not one parking space to be found around town. After about 20 minutes of searching, we located a spot and paid our $20. For once the tickets promised form a dealer were actually at will-call, so that was a good sign. Then all hell broke loose weatherwize. Cold front rolled through with some wicked gusts. We huddles under the Legacy tent for about 25 minutes and then moved on.

High end and lower end, the sales people could not be bothered, you got it dead on about the Searay guy. I am not a fan of the boats, but I like to look to see what RV like amenities they have packed into a 60' Clorox bottle of a boat. I don't even like to ask about what engines the boat have in them anymore.

At one point a sales guy caught my father-in- law's ear about financing and walked him through buying a Formula for like 3.9% for three years and then they buy it back after six years or something like that. I think I heard the phrase "what do I gotta do to get you in this boat today" uttered.

One new positive at the show this year was free booze. Couple of booths handing out champaign, rum, and gin. By the end of the show, even some of the ugly boats were looking good.

My 10 month old son was acting up so we moved through the tents fairly quickly. I still did not buy one of those miracle mops they usually hawk on late night TV. Nothing really new under the big top.

At best, I was able to put a face with a name with a few people that I have spoken to over the phone for the last year.

The brokerage show was (and always is) a little more interesting, although no real deals to be had there either.

And after all that, I am still going to punish myself and go to Norwalk on Friday.

Dan
 
quote:
Originally posted by Ductboy

One new positive at the show this year was free booze. Couple of booths handing out champaign, rum, and gin. By the end of the show, even some of the ugly boats were looking good.

Click to expand...

Geeze, I've been going to the wrong boat shows!
 
Thanks for the great reviews of the Newport Show. If you think you have a problem getting the salesmen's attention, try being a single woman. There have been times when I've considered pinning a check for $100,000 on my shirt with a sign that says "This could be yours."

See you at Norwalk!
 
It would be nice to win the lottery and go back to every salesman that couldn't be bothered and show them the contract on a million dollar yacht that the nicest sales team was selling.
 
Thanks for the review of the show.

I've got the 37' Egg Harbor - it has the same woodwork as the 43' and a late model used one might be in your ballpark.
 
Interesting... I went on Friday and my experience was exactly the opposite of most other posters. The SeaRay guy happily followed me from boat to boat pointing out features and location of thru-hulls and discussing fine points of the warranty. The Cranchi dealer actually fired up both engines and let me fiddle with the IPS system. I came upon the Ocean Alexander 52 footer just when the saleswoman was about to enjoy her lunch. Rather than ignore me, she gave me half of her hamburger and shared her fries while we discussed the boat's features. Probably saved me $14 on lunch! And the owner of the American Tug 41 gave me an extensive tour.

I also saw John Graviskis, who appeared to be very singled minded in marketing his show and not too interested in talking to some fans who appeared to want to meet him. And, I bumped into John Kerry in the sailboat section.

I do agree that the asking price of new boats is almost laughable, particularly since I seemed to have missed the free booze.
 
I take the opposite view about wanting attentive sales people to "help me". If I'm just looking, without much intention of buying (like Prospective), the last thing I want is some sales guy following me around like a puppy dog. I generally find most sales people to be annoying, and when I do have a question, they rarely know the answer. It's amazing how many know so little about the product they are trying to sell. On the other hand, when I've had conversations with tech guys and mechanics, they're usually quite knowledgeable and informative, and I'd welcome their input all day long. The best sales guy I've met was a former mechanic. Of course, there are other exceptions, too.
 
I did a way-too-short drive-by on Friday, early in the day, and found everyone (sales staff) eager to say hello but in some cases "a little aloof." Whatever... I find that a walker, my John Deere Tractor hat and a typically poor (but well-maintained) wardrobe keep the vultures away. I saw what I expected and Newport was a great host village, as always. And PilotError - now you tell me! From now on, my first stop is the Ocean Alexander booth for the skirt pulling competition!
 
I went to the show to look at Nordhavn 47 and the sales guy could not care less. Then I went to the Kady Krogen 48 and the salesperson was excellent. He literally spent an hour with me going over everything with me including plusses and minuses versus the Nordhavn. He lived aboard a Krogen for 6 years and really knew his stuff. Can't say enough about that experience. The Nordhavn sales guy did not even pay attention to me after I told him I drove 3 hours from New York specifically to check out the boats and that I had previously received the info he sent me. What a moron, if you can't recognize a serious buyer then you don't deserve a sale.
 
Perhaps I was too hard on salesmen. In fact, I did talk to a few that were helpful and knowledgeable. The Luhrs guy was great and he was the owner of the dealership. The Ocean guys was also great and his boat was so far out of my price range it was not funny. It's just not as fun to rant about those folks. The only sales people who really bugged me were the Sea Ray guys despite the previous posters differing experience. I do believe there were at least 2 sea ray dealers there so perhaps we were at different dealerships.
 
Prospective - thanks for the detailed write up of the show. I have not been to the Newport ahow in years and I'm sure it has grown greatly.

I'd like to comment particularly on your statement that "The PDQ power cat lady would only answer my questions if I stood next to her and tugged on her shirt." I'm almost positive I know who you are referring to. If she was in her late 20's/early 30's, I've known her since she was 5 or 6 years old. If she was about 60, then I've known her over 25 years. In either case, both of these women are extremely wonderful people and competent sales people. I wonder how many other people were looking at the boat when you tried to get their attention? Was it the Sea Ray situation (2 sales guys talking to each other and would not give you the time of day), or was she busy answering questions of another customer? We should give these sales people a break. How do they know if the people looking want to be "pitched" at or just want to look around by themselves?

Thanks again for all the details of your experience. It's appreciated. BTW - I like that Mainship too, especially the 40.
 
P-

Thanks for your thoughts on the PDQ folks. I am sure they are nice folks and as I said above, perhaps I was too hard on the sales people. If memory serves, there were two women, one older and one younger, although it's kind of a blur. The older women did answer a few questions for me. Will, say that this was the first boat I got on of the whole show and it was fairly early on Friday. Not many other people around.

I agree that it's probably a fine line knowing when to pitch someone or not. But I've done my share of trade shows. When "manning the both" eye contact and a friendly smile go a long way. And it's a big no-no to engage in a conversation with a co-worker while another person is there. I beleive they were from Rhumb-line yacht sales. If you speak to them, be sure to tell them I have no hard feelings since it looks like the handle the sale of all new and used PDQ's in my area. I don't want to burn any bridges!!
 
<<..."How do they know if the people looking want to be "pitched" at or just want to look around by themselves?"....>>

I doubt anyone wants to be "pitched" (I assume you mean "Sales Pitched"?). The most helpful the sales people can be is if they politley ask if they can answer any questions. The customer either says "no, thanks" or "yes, please". And if the answer is "yes", for goodness sakes, the sales people need to know the product they are selling.
 
Prospective,

Thanks for the report. We were going to go but decided against it. We're not in the market for a new boat and there were lots of other things to do.

I agree with you on the Power Cats. Last year we toured one of the Endeavour cats. I really like the possibilities that a cat can provide. It probably won't be our next boat, but a cat may be in our future.
 
quote:
Originally posted by Prospective

Perhaps I was too hard on salesmen. In fact, I did talk to a few that were helpful and knowledgeable. The Luhrs guy was great and he was the owner of the dealership. The Ocean guys was also great and his boat was so far out of my price range it was not funny. It's just not as fun to rant about those folks. The only sales people who really bugged me were the Sea Ray guys despite the previous posters differing experience. I do believe there were at least 2 sea ray dealers there so perhaps we were at different dealerships.

Click to expand...


Actually you were very fair in your assessment. In VA they have secret shoppers. Maybe they have them everywhere. These folks go shopping and rate customer service and store appearance on everything from Food Lion (grocery store) to Mercedes Banz dealerships. If you had been a secret shopper for Sea Ray, I would venture to guess some folks would be seeking employment the day after your report hit.

It's nice to hear there were some good folks there too.
 
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