On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 22:31:03 -0500, HK wrote:

Short Wave Sportfishing wrote:
On Tue, 08 Jan 2008 20:32:15 -0500, HK wrote:


Genmar exits Florida, citing economic conditions

Economics beside the point, I wonder who the next "new" boat
manufacturer will be making a Hydra-Sports clone with old Hydra-Sports
molds.

It's not like that hasn't happened before. :)

Speaking of which, I was talking to a Mako rep today. Apparently, Mako
has moved out of Florida because of manufacturing problems and are now
making their large boats in the old Sea Pro factory in Columbia, SC.

I didn't know that.

When I visited Sea Pro, back in the days when it was family owned, the
factory was in Newberry.

"Manufacturing problems." Now that's interesting. Wonder what that means.

Well, the story I heard was that the original Mako was sold several
times over and with each sale, the quality went down as owners tried
to build cheaper to make money. Eventually, Mako lost it's market
share because it's quality declined severely. Before Morris bought
the brand, it wasn't producing any boats and to bring the factory up
to snuff would have cost more than it was worth.

Now the boats are being made with new molds, new techniques and
apparently there are some new designs on the boards. The ones on the
market now are the result of the older molds - I saw one today that
was a lot better than the ones I saw at Bass Pro in Foxboro.

I was at the Sea Pro factory this summer - huge plant, all brand new
facility. Sea Pro is a good boat for what they are.