I want to start this month’s newsletter off with a big THANK YOU to everyone that attended the Fort Lauderdale International Boat show! It was great to catch up with everyone and hear all of the cool adventures everyone had on their Intrepids over the summer. It was great having some products to debut at the show as well, like the new CXO 300 outboard diesel, and both the new 345 FE Nomad and the 345 SE Nomad models, and we cannot forget about the return of the legendary 20′ Flats boat! This show has always been a great show for us, but this was the best that it has been in a long time and I cannot thank everyone enough for their trust and loyalty to the brand. We love doing what we do and all 400 of us at Intrepid want to thank everyone for their purchases and support as this is how we all feed our families. If it were not for you, we would not get to do what we love so much!

Let’s talk about the Cox 300 diesels. We got the engines out of customs the Friday before the move in at FLIBS on Monday morning. We had the engines rigged and running by noon on Sunday. At that point, I had to tell Joel Reid and the team from COX that we needed to kick them off so we could detail the boat and ship it because we needed to get the boat to Dania before dark seeing it was on Sunday and we had to move in on Monday morning at 8 O’clock. Therefore, we were not able to actually sea trial the boat before the show.

Because of the show arrangement being moved around this year, we actually had to move in a week sooner than we usually do, so that took our testing time. It is going to take a little over a week to break down the show and get our boats back home. When we get the COX boat back to the factory, we will begin testing and we will be sure to share our results as we get them. I will tell you that from just running them on the hose that Sunday I am really excited with what I have seen and heard so far. They sound amazing and no…..they do not smoke at all! If you want to see and hear them run on the hose be sure to check out the short video I took that Sunday before we moved into the show on our Intrepid Powerboats Facebook page. To say that I am excited is an understatement! I can’t wait to get some time on these motors!!

I’m also excited to say that the new Nomad models were met with an overwhelming approval from our Intrepid family at the show. The way that I measure that is in sales and we sold more Nomads than any other model at the show!

There were two common questions that came up regarding the 345 Nomads that I thought I would touch on for those of you that were not able to attend. The first question was if the 345 Nomad was an infused hull like the 327-I and yes, it is. It is an infused cored hull which makes it stronger and lighter. The other question was if it was a bring back of an old hull design and it is not. This is a new hull from scratch that is very different from any of the past hulls in this size range that we had done in the past, and the easy way to prove that is by going over the hull bottom with a tape measure and you will see it is much different. This 345 has a 10’6″ beam to start with our traditional step bottom. You will also see some changes forward of the step with the strakes being wider than usual along with some fuller sections. I won’t give everything away, but I wanted to give some easy items for people to look at and see that this hull is completely new. And, there is an even better way for you to see firsthand how well this new hull runs, and that is to sea trial it yourself.

We will have the 345 FE Nomad at our Dania Sales office next week and would love for you to come down and sea trial the boat for yourself. We can tell you all day how well it runs, but you need to experience it for yourself. You also can experience the twin Yamaha 425’s that are on it as well.

They are awesome motors and that boat ran 63 MPH with 5 people on board and around 300 gallons of fuel. We were cruising at 40MPH burning 1.4 MPG. Yes….. 1.4 MPG! Go see it for yourself. That shows you how efficient that new hull design is and how well those motors work with it. I’m looking forward to rigging triple 350’s and 300’s on the 345 Nomad as well.

Stay tuned…

Ken

Part of the exhilaration of the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show every year is the unveiling of new products for the marketplace. For this year’s show, Intrepid introduced two new models. The all-new 345 Nomad Center Console with two console configurations – FE (Forward Entry), and SE (Side Entry), and a redesigned and re-engineered 200 Intrepid Flats boat with some very cool features, including the trolling motor lifting system, and the multi-position console.

To add to the overall excitement, Intrepid partnered with British manufacturer, Cox PowerTrain LTD, to debut a new 345 Nomad Center Console/FE rigged with a pair of CXO300 (300hp) diesel engines. These high-horsepower diesel outboards were officially launched by Cox at FLIBS. Testing on the Cox Diesel Outboards begins in earnest in November with engine production set for summer 2019.

For the entire crew at Intrepid Powerboats, thank you for visiting us at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show. We appreciated our friends and customers who stopped by our two displays to say hello, talk boats, and for some, purchase another Intrepid. Because of you, this year’s show was not only fun and exciting, it was a great success for the Intrepid brand.

The 11th month of the year ushers in the festiveness of the holidays, and appreciation for the important things. It also allows the time to reflect on the year’s accomplishments and the aspirations of the future. We’re all grateful for your friendship, and your business.

Please have a safe and Happy Thanksgiving holiday.

Stay well,

Peter

Greetings to all!

I’m very happy to say that we had a great Fort Lauderdale Show, so thanks to everyone who made it that way for us. That includes all the people who built the boats, transported them, and got them set up in our display. Last but certainly not least, are all our customers who came to see the fruits of our labors! The 345 SE & FE Nomads were a hit, and everyone was happy to see the Flats boat again. Our display this year was a little bit different than it’s been in the past and was a refreshing change which everyone liked a lot. Once again, thanks to everyone who made that all possible.

The Wild West Kingfish Tournament series concluded for 2018 on November 5th. James and Jennifer Malz at Angler Armory do a great job of hosting this annual event in Madeira Beach. The weather was a challenge on the day of the 4th and final leg, but they were able to carry on and make this community event a success once again. Congratulations to all who participated and were able to get out there and get some of the really big fish that were caught that day.

We are getting ready for our Florida winter, which is in some ways a non-issue! Our friends who are more north of us may have a different thought on that though. Let us know if you have any questions or concerns about how to transport your boat or make storage plans for the winter. We have lots of friends throughout the country who can help you make arrangements for whatever you decide to do.

Please try to make some time to come and see us in Largo. It’s interesting to see how drums of resin and rolls of fiberglass laminate transform into the beautifully finished boats that we produce. You can contact me so that we can arrange for you to come over to Largo and have a factory tour. It will be worth the effort.

Happy boating,

Joe