Minnesota Classic Glastron Forum
General Category => General Discussion => Topic started by: Hyperacme on August 14, 2010, 08:34:32 PM
-
http://www.boats.com/blog/2010/07/glastron-goes-to-cadillac-michigan/
Our Outboard Expert, Charles Plueddeman, lives in Wisconsin, and has been keeping track of some recent boat-company movements. Here?s his report on the long-standing Glastron brand, which crossed a state line or two from Minnesota and began production again in June.
?John Burnham
Charles Plueddeman writes: They are building Glastron boats in Michigan now. A DS 205 deck boat was the first Glastron to roll off an assembly line in Cadillac, where the brand formerly built in Minnesota now shares a production facility with Four Winns and Wellcraft. The three brands make up the Recreational Boat Group division of Project Boat Holdings, which also acquired Ranger, Champion, and Stratos in the wake of the bankruptcy last year of Genmar.
The first model to roll off the line in Michigan was Glastron's DS 205.
An industry veteran, Roch Lambert, will lead the operation in Cadillac. Lambert, age 47, spent 16 years working at the Canadian firm Bombardier and its spin-off, BRP, managing at various times Sea-Doo sport boats, Sea-Doo watercraft, and perhaps most notably reviving the Evinrude brand. He left BRP in Oct. 2009.
We recently had a chance to ask Lambert about the challenge of moving Glastron and the future of pleasure boating.
Do you plan to make any changes to the Glastron brand as its manufacturing moves to Michigan?
Roch Lambert, head of production at the new Recreational Boat Group in Cadillac, Michigan
?We won?t be using the Genmar VEC (closed molding) process, so we?ve had to make new molds for all of the Glastron boats,? said Lambert. ?This gave us the opportunity to make some improvements, for example to get better gel coat and a smoother finish in storage areas. There will be no changes in the model line, but we may add some value with new packages. Glastron?s position in the market will stay the same.?
How will the process of shopping for a boat be different in the future?
?The role of the Internet will continue to grow as a tool for consumer research,? said Lambert. ?By the time a consumer comes to a dealership or a boat show today, he or she is only shopping for a few models, so as a company and as dealers, we need have an engaging website. Because it?s now difficult for dealers to stock the larger boats offered by Four Winns, we are looking at setting up demo opportunities with company-owned boats in several locations around the country, where the customer can see and test drive the cruisers, even in the winter in some locations. We may fly a qualified customer to the demo site.?
What changes do you see ahead for boating in the future?
?A big change that?s just around the corner will come when we can no longer sell entry-level boats powered by affordable sterndrive engines with carburetors,? said Lambert. ?This is coming in 2011, when we will have to start building all of these boats with engines equipped with fuel injection and exhaust catalysts, which will add $4,000 to $4,500 to the retail cost of the boat, which is huge on a 17-foot runabout. When that happens, I think a used boat becomes the new entry-level boat until all the good used boats are gone. The alternative is to switch to outboard power on these smaller family boats. With an outboard, you can get the same performance with less power. We need to convince the customer that?s OK, and to design new runabouts that handle and perform well with a smaller outboard
-
Interesting Gregg. Maybe the outboard is coming back.
-
Sounds like it ...
Kind of a turn around ...
Good news for (us) O/B lovers !
-
Perhaps. But I'm guessin they'll devise a way to screw us as well ...
-
For my money, I would take the old carburated V-6 Mercury without oil injection, no longer made. That would make it light, simple, and affordable.
-
Your chooses are OptiMax, E-TEC, V-Max HPDI or four stroke ...
-
So I remember some discussion about this before. It was said that the VEC molding wouldnt be going forward with the company. So who owns that?
When were Merc V6's introduced? Only over certain horsepower I imagine. 150 and up?
I thought 4 strokes were heavier?
-
I think ...
VEC is owned by Genmar.
Late 70's for the V6's , Maybe 1978 ...
Yes 4S are heavier then same HP 2S.
-
Jacobs/Genmar kept the VEC technology which is why they had to make new molds. Whoever bought Larson will have to do the same thing. The decks were still constructed using conventional methods it was just the hulls that used the VEC technology.
The first time I looked a VEC boat I was impressed with how nice everything was finished off on the inside of the hull, no doubt due to the "closed mold" process. So Lamberts satement about making improvements like "smoother finish in storage compartment areas" makes no sense to me.
About time they fuel injected the 3.0 liter MerCruiser. The additional costs may mean that now it is just as expensive to buy as a similarly performing OB powered boat. Maybe more. But will buyers gravitate towards outboards in entry level boats? I'm skeptical and don't put a lot of stock into Lamberts statment because IMHO he has very little experience in that market. I don't consider SeaDoo PWC boats! ;D Time will tell.
-
A 115 HP E-TEC and a 3.0 L MPI MerCruiser (135 HP) seem to be about the same price.
SSV 170
Evinrude 75 DSLSE
EZ Loader Custom trailer
...$16,332
SSV 170
Mercury 115 ELPTO Optimax
EZ Loader Custom trailer
...$17,328
SSV 170
Evinrude 115 HSLSE
EZ Loader Custom trailer
...$17,987
SSV 170
Yamaha F 115 TLR - 4 stroke
EZ Loader Custom trailer
...$18,576
SSV 175
3.0L MPI EC MerCruiser (WPS) (135 hp)
EZ Loader Custom trailer
...$17,832
-
For me it'd be a toss up between the Optimax & the ETec. Probly lean toward the ETec. Foogetabout the IO.
My buddy Emmet runs a water taxi service. One of his boats has a 150 Etec on it with nearly 4000hrs on the clock. Still runs like a well oiled taxicab ...
-
About time they fuel injected the 3.0 liter MerCruiser.
hmmmm. Might be kind of nice to retrofit my old carb 3.0. cool!
-
That's interesting seeing the pricing Gregg, although as I've always said only my wife buys new boats! ;D
Still with when we got the Loser Cruiser, AKA pontoon boat, I would have never considered anything but a 4S outboard for that. So from an OB perspective it will be intersting also to see if if each holds their own(2S vs 4S OB) or if one becomes the dominant player. Or maybe their popularity will depend on the application. More 4S OB on pontoons and more 2S OB on the larger HP bass boats.
I'll bet that MerCruiser 3.0 MPI is a sweetheart of an engine!