I want to start by thanking everyone that came out to see us at the Miami International boat show! Though we had a decent show last year at the new Miami Marine Stadium location, this year was even better and for a few different reasons. First, the transportation in and out of the show was much better than last year. I made sure to personally ask everyone that I spoke to in our booth how it was getting there and everyone said it was much better this year. Second, more of our regular customers came out to the show this year. It is so nice to catch up with everyone and hear how they are doing and to talk about some of the new projects we are working on. Lastly, we sold more boats this year than last year at this event which is always a big plus when we spend as much money as we do along with all the hard work that everyone does to make our display and the show happen. A big shout out to the ISE service team for the great display set ups and breakdowns at both the Collins and Marine Stadium locations. It was a lot of boats between the two, and they worked extremely hard to make it happen.
As you know from last month’s Newsletter, we are working on our newest boat, the 407 Panacea. The deck and liner plugs are in the process. It is coming along nicely! We are also really happy with the reception that the new 407 Panacea got from all of our customers at the show! Now to make it happen.
I thought I would also mention some new product developments from a couple of the engine manufacturers. At the Miami Show, Yamaha announced their new Helm Master Set Point. Set Point is similar to Mercury’s Skyhook where the engines can maintain a boat’s position in a particular spot.
There are 3 modes of Set Point.
- Stay Point– keeps the boat positioned near a particular spot; it maintains a selected position and heading.
- Fish Point – enhances fishing options. It maintains a selected position but not a heading, and primarily uses only idle RPM to do so.
- Drift Point– allows the boater to drift the boat with the wind or the current. It maintains a selected heading, but not a position. This is only available with Yamaha’s Helm Master system and should be available for new builds starting in May and for retrofits for earlier helm masters, some time later this year.
For more information please, see the PDF from Yamaha
Mercury Racing announced the 400R Carbon Edition, an exotic high-performance Verado outboard, featuring contemporary layered surfacing sculpted out of lightweight carbon fiber composite. Carbon Edition 400Rs share all of the industry leading performance characteristics and creature comforts of its Phantom Black and Cold Fusion White 400R siblings while providing an even higher level of luxury with this bold, aggressive visual treatment. Click herefor more information
– Ken Clinton
For the full March 2017 newsletter, click here.
