MCskiFreak

If you live in a cold climate and aren't letting the thermostat open to get antifreeze through the whole system you're playing with fire when it comes to cracking a block or exhaust manifold.

@Gloersen is correct that at least a large portion of the weight difference is down to the one piece deck and interior liner, and the new structural grid that would be required for the new deck tooling. In essence you end up with a double bottom thickness as well as the added weight from the gunnel sides and floor. While a 400lb increase seems high for a boat this size, and I would not be surprised if they are just more accurately stating the actual weight of the boat, the weight increase from the added fiberglass would not be insignificant. Weight and balance are the two most important components in naval architecture, but are often the first to be ignored by a builder, so for everyone's sake I hope they were paying attention to it when they were updating the boat.

My comments had zero to do with the cost of entry into the sport, they had to do with attitude and its effect on bringing new blood into the sport in a way that inspires them to stay.

@Horton and several others your flippant responses throughout this thread are exactly the "boys club" attitude that @Skwake is alluding to when he says that it is hard to get people interested in the sport when the immediate response to an outsider is to make them feel unwelcome. I was 20 when I joined this site and I am now 28, so I am right in the age range @Skwake spoke of, and I by and large agree with him. The 3 event side of the sport can be pretty cloistered at times; this came into stark relief for me when I first joined the show ski team that I am currently a part of. They were my first friend group upon moving to a new city and state after college and they welcomed me with open arms. Due to the fact that the club property is leased from the city we are very aware of the way we are perceived in the community. To make sure that we are seen as a positive in the community we do a number of learn to ski clinics throughout the year, work with adaptive ski organisations, and non-profits for veterans and at risk kids. While all of the volunteering is "lost practice" time some of the memories I've made during those times are far more fulfilling than any experience I've had as an individual on the water including wining nationals as a team. I think its important for people to keep it in perspective when there is an opportunity to try and introduce someone to the sport.

With where the price is coming in at for the club 200 it makes me wonder if they are finding out the hard way that the new boat with a cored hull is much more time consuming to make and between that and the added cost that the volume for the new boat just wasn't going to be there.

I believe it was locked or deleted. I was in the middle of typing a comment when a flag appeared saying I no longer had permission to post in that thread. I was surprised to see that the boat still had the link system given that it is being billed as a club/price point boat.

Bryant has a very good reputation for putting out quality boats so I would not worry about Bayliner levels of quality. As long as they have good process control in place there is no reason to think there would be a noticeable change from a Nautique built boat. @Horton if there is no change to the hull design there is no reason there would be any change to the excellent tracking characteristics of the boat. Consistency boat to boat may even improve being built in Tennessee all else being equal due to the fact that there is less temperature and humidity variation to deal with which becomes a huge issue with controlling the curing of the resin and heat that is generated.

I will be moving to the area in January, and would be very interested in learning more.

I don't have racks to trade, but I would buy the tower off from you if the price was right.

If you need a ski partner let me know! I'm just south of you in Sarasota. Matt

@Jody_Seal We don't just do custom one off megayachts, that is actually a fraction of our business, the majority of our work is with semi-custom and production builders. We currently do a considerable amount of work for the 3 largest boat companies in the world so meeting the demands of a large production that has to maximize both volume and margin is a daily reality. While it would not be easy out of the gate to make happen; from a technical and manufacturing standpoint it is absolutely possible to produce a boat that could be manufactured at that price point. From a parts standpoint a tournament ski boat is one of the simplest boats for any manufacturer to produce as they have very few fiberglass parts to produce and very simple rigging. To make an idea like this work though the key hurdle to overcome is what makes it a compelling product to steer someone away from a used big 3 boat. To me that has to start with a designer and naval architect who can be students of history and understand what has made certain boats great, what makes an attractive product in the given market place, and what can be done to improve performance and user experience without adding cost. So, while it may be a long shot to have a startup come along and produce a budget boat in this segment its certainly possible to make happen with the right people and circumstances.

It absolutely could be done...but that really isn't the correct question. The correct question is would it make good business sense for a start-up to come in and target that market. If someone wanted to run a niche company turning out the boats factory direct or through a very limited dealer network it would work, it is when you get into large dealer networks that require a large mark up that the idea of a cheap ski boat becomes unpalatable from a cost to the builder standpoint. It is the norm in the luxury yacht sector for the dealer/broker to have a higher profit than the manufacturer, so for everyone to make a buck costs have to go up. I have to respectfully disagree with @Jody_Seal comments on cost of goods, as well as the ability to compete with the big three out of the gate. The firm I work for puts new builders into business every year and we are known for being able to set up a start-up with a product that is world class right out the gate from a design and performance standpoint. From what I have seen many of the budget brands suffer greatly in the design from what seems like a lack of direction and a cohesive look to the design; I would say that even applies to the centurion. At the end of the day it really does not cost any more to put a good looking boat into production then it does an ugly one. From a PD&E standpoint a budget of 150-200k would get my attention to take the project on and do all the design and engineering of the boat with the exception of the electrical componetry which is where a huge amount of PD&E dollars are spent by the tow boat companies. If the hypothetical builder then budgeted 250-300k for CnC tooled plugs and molds I believe they would be off and running being able to produce a competitive boat. Where a budget boat runs into trouble is cost control on the labor and subcontracted parts. Engines are the single largest cost per boat to a builder and Jody is probably pretty close at 11k per engine for a low volume builder. Composites costs would be much lower I believe...I'm currently building a 36' RHIB and a full glass and core kit for that boat runs ~ 13k. I would estimate raw material cost for composites would be in the 3-5k range. As I said though I am not sure it would make a great business model without being able to quickly fill in with wake and surf models to increase volume and drive down unit cost on goods.

@Mark_Matis the weight difference between having the step through and not having it would be a 2-3lb difference at most.

I appreciate every ones help in getting a boat tracked down to demo! I was put in contact with a person at Correct Craft that can facilitate a demo.

Looking at 2015/2016 boats only. Already tested a 6.2 Prostar in Lake Wales. Like I said that boat had fuel pump issues that caused it to cut out during left hand turns. We want to test a 2015/2016 Nautique 200 with the 450 before making a final decision on what boat will be ordered.