Here's something that will rattle your cage pretty good...

Rick Webb · Jun 22, 2009

We Need a Tax Credit for Buying a Boat

Wonder if you live on the boat if you could get the one out there for homes?

Ross · Jun 22, 2009

Phil, I repair houses for a living and am not at all surprised about business failures. I have been in business 31 years and for the past two there has been a steady decline in the number and size of the jobs that I get and a corresponding decline in requests for estimates. This year we have had half as many jobs as last year and they have had half the dollar value as well. People are putting off and making do. My garage mechanic tells me that he is meeting his obligations but not showing much profit. I advise my friends to plan for a long slog before we get out of this swamp.

Lee Coller · Jun 22, 2009

That's sad to hear. Having bought my 44DS through H&S, they were a class act.

Rick D · Jun 22, 2009

Good Guys... Too Bad

I purchased my last Hunter from them and have known many people who have purchased two and three boats from them. They commissioned them well, handled the warranty and put their shoulders into their brokerages. They also had the size and depth to find attractive financing. It will be a big loss to the California community. I believe they were Hunter's largest distributor and a friend who called me from a customer appreciation wine and cheese event said they were 20% plus of the CA market (they were even classy winding up). They handled Silverton, Hunter, Navigator, Californian, Fairline, and Jeanneau. Too bad. Wonder what will happen to their inventory? They took trades and had demos so they must have had plenty. Perhaps the local dealers will set themselves up as independents, but its tough to pull that off now. Hope Jim Bohart (ex Hunter management) is hanging in there with Sailboats Inc. Anyhow, it is sad. I have two friends who have had their boats on the market for a year.

Snotter · Jun 22, 2009

Remember that damn luxury tax? Shortly after passing it boatbuilding shops were failing left and right. One shop was in bussiness for over 200 years.

Hermit Scott · Jun 22, 2009

Maybe the government will buy them and we can buy sailboats from uncle sam like we do cars?

Ken Palmer · Jun 22, 2009

And then there is Angus Yachts of Toronto, Canada; The top Hunter dealer in northeast North America a couple years ago... bankrupt this past fall. Just goes to show you that even the successful dealers have to be very careful.

rpwillia · Jun 22, 2009

Would you really want something engineered by the USG

Hermit Scott said:
Maybe the government will buy them and we can buy sailboats from uncle sam like we do cars?

Kermit, You clearly don't work with the government much. From personal experience you really don't want something designed by them. Better to get something from a contractor that produces quality in spite of them. I prefer to buy US, so at this point with cars I may be stuck with Ford. Shame since my Saturn LS2 has 206K+ on it with minimal problems.

I shudder to think what the USG would do to a Catalina or a Beneteau.

Ross · Jun 22, 2009

Re: Would you really want something engineered by the USG

cool the anti government retoric. there are far worse places.

timvg · Jun 23, 2009

You might wish to blame our lovely banking industry. My company does business with Sea Ray. One of their main plants is only open every other week. They tell me that money is virtually impossible to get anymore. They recently couldn't get financing for a guy that wanted to put 1 million dollars down on a 2 million dollar yacht.

If that gentlemen can't get money, they'll never give some to me, LOL.

Rick Webb · Jun 23, 2009

Perhaps this explains it:

It is a slow day in the East Texas town of Madisonville.
It is raining, and the little town looks totally deserted.
Times are tough, everybody is in debt and everybody lives on credit.
On this particular day a rich tourist from the East is driving through town.
He enters the only hotel in the sleepy town and lays a hundred dollar bill on the desk stating he wants to inspect the rooms upstairs in order to pick one to spend the night.
As soon as the man walks up the stairs, the hotel proprietor takes the hundred dollar bill and runs next door to pay his debt to the butcher.
The butcher takes the $100 and runs down the street to pay his debt to the pig farmer.
The pig farmer then takes the $100 and heads off to pay his debt to the supplier of feed and fuel.
The guy at the Farmer's Co-op takes the $100 and runs to pay his debt to the local prostitute, who has also been facing hard times and has lately had to offer her "services" on credit.
The hooker runs to the hotel and pays off her debt with the $100 to the hotel proprietor, paying for the rooms that she had rented when she brought clients to that establishment.
The hotel proprietor then lays the $100 bill back on the counter so the rich traveler will not suspect anything.
At that moment the traveler from the East walks back down the stairs, after inspecting the rooms.
He picks up the $100 bill and states that the rooms are not satisfactory...... Pockets the money and walks out the door and leaves town.
No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.
If that doesn't scare the hell out of you, then I don't know what will.

Ross · Jun 23, 2009

There was a time when you could borrow all the money you wanted if you could show that you didn't need it because you already had plenty. Last year you could borrow money even if you couldn't pay it back.

William12213 · Jun 23, 2009

Great little story Rick. The problem is that now we all owe lots!!!

Stu Jackson · Jun 23, 2009

"No one earned anything. However the whole town is now out of debt, and looks to the future with a lot of optimism.
That, ladies and gentlemen, is how the United States Government is conducting business today.
If that doesn't scare the hell out of you, then I don't know what will."

Here's what: the last administration got us into an illegal war that they kept completely off the books!

If the fact that YOU don't bother to remember that doesn't scare the hell out of you, then I don't know what will.

timvg · Jun 23, 2009

Stu, I agree. A war that wasn't even part of the budget. Kind of sneaky and not very smart.

Ken Honeycutt · Jun 23, 2009

Wonder if any sailboat manufacturers will be left standing?

If this goes on for much longer. Every day you pick up the paper and read about people who were once fairly well off who are now about to lose their homes, businesses and even their life savings. Scary situation out there.:neutral:

sand sailor · Jun 23, 2009

my dad 's philosophy was "if you can't pay cash for it you can't afford it " and I live by that as well. everything i got is paid for except the house and if I sold it now I'd still make out with cash in hand

if everybody lived like this we wouldn't be in this mess:naughty:

bffatcat · Jun 24, 2009

Tough times

During every downturn luxury and leisure industries are always the first to be hit. Unfortunately this definitely includes the sailboat industry. Most of the boats we are sailing today Pearson, Ericson, Islander ect: were built by co`s that went out of business 20 or so years ago and times were no where near as bad as they are today. I owned a made in USA
manufacturing co. that was put out of business by NAFTA. Thats the way of it

Here's something that will rattle your cage pretty good...

Alien

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Alien

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