On Jan 31, 5:47*pm, Wizard of Woodstock wrote:
Interesting - downsized from last year quite a bit. *There was a lot
of space between boats and it wasn't as crowded with "stuff".

Talking to a few of the guys I know at different dealers, it's an
"off-year" show. *A few who were at the CMTA show in Hartford were
surprised at the low turnout compared to what they saw at Hartford
last week. *As to size - you could walk around the displays, see what
you wanted to see and back where you started in 15 minutes or so
without cracking a sweat. *Admittedly, that's not what I do as I get
curious about boats and like to poke around them and talk to people,
but if you were there just to look, it wouldn't have taken long.

Did get to see some new models though which was a plus. *Blue Fin's
24' "wide body" Islander was very attractive - it's a plus size 24'
center console very similar in concept to their 27' Islander including
inboard power - diesel with outdrive.

http://www.bluefinboats.com/boats.php?bsId=2

Very impressive.

Pursuit had a terrific display and to tell you the truth, if I had
seen the 28' C 280 they had, I would have bought it on the spot.
Gorgeous and in my favorite color scheme - white with blue and gold
trim.

Other than that, it was pretty much same old, same old - Seaswirl,
Regulator, Ebbtides, Scouts and of course the venerable plain jane
beige Parker's.

Note: All the Parker's with transom cutouts like our good friend
Harry's all had splash boards - you know, for real boaters in heavy
water? *:)

Also had to love the engine displays. *Show was 60% Evinrude power for
outboards with another 20% Suzuki four strokes - the rest pretty much
split between Mercury and Yamaha. *Compared to last week which was
almost 80% Evinrude engines with the rest being Mercs and very few
Yamahas.

I told you guys we'd be taking over the world. *:)

All in all, it was a fun time - Mrs. Wave got to go shopping for
Valentine's Day goodies for the kids and grandkids and I got to look
at boats.

Oh, one last thing. *The Boatworks restoration of the Hurricane Gloria
17' Hydra-Sports CC attracted people - sometimes as many as ten guys
standing around commenting on the restoration and custom work done on
it. *I couldn't get any good pictures of it as there were too many
people, but my nephew said it's been a good display for them - several
re-powers with Evinrudes, some custom T-top work and paint jobs out of
it. *Also nice to see pictures of my Ranger T-top being prominently
displayed - got several replacement skin tops ordered because of it.

If I don't sell my Ranger CC, I'm going to have them build a custom
leaning post for it and make the console cooler into a live bait well.
Plus, I want one of the new T-tops with the printable fiberglass image
on it. *:)

I think I can work out a deal. *:)

--

"Never fight an inanimate object."

P.J. O'Rourke

Thank you for the boat related post.