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S1 Marine, manufacturer of SeaStrike and SportCraft Boats, is planning a number of “dynamic changes” as the company moves into 2008.

“While many boatbuilders are cutting back, we’re finding ways to use that to our advantage,” said Tom Thies, president of the Fort Lauderdale-based company, in a statement.

S1 Marine is combining all its boats under the SportCraft name. The SeaStrike brand will continue to exist, but all its center consoles up to 26 feet will now be known as SeaStrike by SportCraft. The SportCraft brand will continue for the 232, 252, 272 and 302 Express Cruisers as well as the company’s 241 and 261 Walkaround models and the new 31 Sportfisherman.

In another major development S1 Marine assumed production of all Salt Shaker Marine Custom Yachts, with the Salt Shaker molds having been recently transferred from Salt Shaker’s Punta Gorda, Fla., plant to S1’s 200,000-square-foot manufacturing plant in Perry, Fla.

“We are not acquiring Salt Shaker or taking over the marketing,” Thies said. “We will simply be producing their products to their specifications as the orders come in. This provides an economy of scale that adds to our production and relieves Salt Shaker of having to maintain production on what is essentially a custom line with a 33’ Family Fisherman and a 30’ Center Console.”

Thies said he is open to similar arrangements with other boat brands looking to shed the manufacturing responsibility.

Mitzi Maggio, president of Salt Shaker, said the new arrangement with S1 “is the way to propel us through our fourth decade, enabling us to focus our resources on designing what we believe are the best boats in their class.”

While the Salt Shaker deal adds larger boats to the top of the line, SportCraft is also adding a line of entry level boats under its own brand. These will be skiffs in 16-foot, 17-foot, 18-foot and 19-foot lengths.

“We believe that in this difficult market environment, consumers will still be looking to buy boats,” said Thies. “We want to get them into our brand of boat, no matter what size it is, so that when they’re ready to move up in a few years, we’ll be their first choice.”

Lear Baylor, manufacturer of the luxury electric Learboat, will expand its dealer base in 50 exclusive territories across the United States.

Learboats are designed to appeal to an affluent and free-spending audience. Company president/CEO Shanda Lear Baylor, daughter of Bill Lear (founder of Motorola and inventor of the Learjet), said the dealer expansion will begin immediately.

The Garden Grove, Calif.-based boatbuilder will add 50 dealers in key U.S. territories in the next 12 months. The company will telephone selected dealers in target markets to confirm dealer suitability and to invite the dealer and sales manager to visit California, all expenses paid. The meeting will include a demonstration and test of the Learboat and a discussion of the opportunity to be granted an exclusive Learboat sales territory.

Interested dealers who have not yet been contacted by Learboat should visit www.learboats.com or request dealer information packets from Carinda Bourgeois at (949) 722-7757.

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Several Connecticut dealers of new and brokerage sailboats have joined forces to form the Southern New England Yacht Dealers Association to promote the sport of sailing and provide a better purchasing experience for boaters.

The three founding dealerships of SNYDA include Hellier Yacht Sales of New London, Sailing Specialties of Mystic and Stamford, and Sound Yachting Group of Westbrook. The group hopes to continue to expand the organization with the addition of other New England yacht dealerships.

“We are trying to combine our marketing efforts and provide a unique viewing experience for our customers,” said Rick Dieterich of Hellier Yacht Sales, in a statement. “The traditional boat show is quickly becoming a thing of the past.” 

Ted Novakowski of Sound Yachting Group echoed those sentiments. “We have looked at our individual expenses in attending local boat shows and have determined that with a collective effort we can provide a better format for a customer to view and sail our new boats and we can pass those savings on to them,” he said in a statement.

SNYDA has already scheduled its first event, Sailfest, which is being held April 19 and 20 at the Mystic Shipyard. More than 50 new sailboats will be on display and available for viewing in the water and on land. Potential buyers can take a demonstration sail on selected models on Fishers Island Sound.

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Triumph Boats, a Durham, N.C.-based Genmar company, added several U.S. and Canadian dealers to its network, as well as the company’s first Mexican dealership. The new dealers are:

Monterey Bay Marine of Santa Cruz, Calif.;

Rocky Mountain Boat Co. of Pueblo West, Colo.;

Carolina Boat & Yacht Sales in Little River, S.C.;

TruNorth RV & Marine in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan;

Campbell River Boatland in Campbell River, British Columbia; and

Motores Marinos y Herramientas S.A. in Guadalajara, Jalisco, México.

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Bavaria Yachts USA of Annapolis named New England-based Eastern Yacht Sales as a new dealer, representing Bavaria’s complete line of cruising and performance-cruiser sailboats.

“Eastern Yacht Sales is a welcome addition to our growing network of dealers for Bavaria’s German-engineered sailboats,” said Bruce Mundle, president of Bavaria USA, in a statement. “They have earned many awards in sales performance and have also maintained high standards toward customer and factory relationships.”

Eastern Yacht Sales has three locations: one in Marblehead, Mass., serving the northern Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont and Maine territories; a second in Hingham, Mass., serving southern Massachusetts; and a third in Portsmouth, R.I., serving the Rhode Island and Connecticut territories. The dealership is using its Marblehead office to support the Bavaria product line.

“The product line offers a combination of handsome style and aggressive performance that today’s sailors desire,” said Jon Rotenberg, president of Eastern Yacht Sales in a statement.

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Newberry, S.C.-based Sea Pro, a Brunswick Corp. company, added Duncan’s Boats of North Charleston, S.C., to its dealer network.

“We’re very excited to offer Sea Pro in the Charleston market,” said Brandon Ziel, Duncan’s Boats sales manager. “We’re looking forward to a long-term relationship with Sea Pro.”

Duncan’s Boats recently acquired a new building with a 10,000-square-foot showroom. There’s also a state-of-the-art service center nearby. Duncan’s is in its second generation of family ownership, as Jim Duncan bought the business from his father, Larry, early last year.

Duncan’s will host a grand opening and celebrate its new partnership with Sea Pro Jan. 19. The open house gives customers the opportunity to preview the Sea Pro line and take advantage of special offers prior to the Charleston Boat Show, being held Jan. 25-27. Duncan’s Boats will be providing food, refreshments and activities for the whole family.

“The company’s strong customer service values and its long-standing reputation in the Charleston market are great assets to the Sea Pro brand,” said Jay Povlin, president of Sea Pro, in a statement.

Trade Only Today

The National Marine Bankers Association re-elected Jim Coburn, first vice president of Flagstar Bank in Troy, Mich., and Karen Trostle, principal of Sterling Acceptance Corp. in Annapolis, Md., to the association’s board of directors.

Coburn will continue in his role as NMBA president, while Trostle will continue serving as NMBA’s vice president.

Matt Amata, vice president of National Liquidators’ National Yacht Sales and Maritime Capital Group, was also elected to the board by the NMBA’s associate members. Amata’s seat is a newly established position, intended to be the voice of NMBA associate members at the board level.

As NMBA president, Coburn says his goals remain to strengthen and support the core benefits NMBA provides its members, including: the NMBA’s Annual Lending Conference; the association’s Web site, marinebankers.org; the NMBA Annual Workshop and the NMBA annual survey.

“In today’s market, marine finance industry profitability is a very important issue facing our members,” Coburn said in a statement. “Our conference, workshop, Web site and survey [ensure] the marine finance community has the information, networks and tools to make sound business decisions within their respective companies.”

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The association’s Boatyard of the Year award is made annually to the U.S. vessel repair company that, according to the citation, demonstrates excellence in all facets of business through commitment to the following:

● customer relations,
● quality management,
● positive employee and vendor relationships,
● the safety of their employees and their customers,
● being a good steward of the environment, and
● innovative technology to enhance their marine business.

Accepting the award on behalf of Knight  & Carver at the recent ABBRA awards ceremony in Atlanta were repair yard manager Mike Alvarez and production manager Giovanni LoCoco.

“This award marks a significant achievement in our company’s long and accomplished history,” said president and CEO Sampson A. Brown, in a statement. “We couldn’t be more proud of our entire team, led by our skilled and highly experienced marine craftsmen. It’s their painstaking, hands-on devotion to excellence, along with our company-wide commitment to completing projects on time and on budget, that has become Knight & Carver’s signature within the industry.”

Known as a specialist in megayacht refits, Knight & Carver will soon complete a major refit of Helios, a 194-foot Oceanco-built motoryacht that has undergone an extensive five-month renovation and upgrade. The yacht’s traditional European styling has given way to a more glamorous, contemporary decor. As many as 100 full-time workers have been assigned daily to the project, scheduled to be completed Thursday.

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