Well she finally went “overboard” Friday and the 61 Chadwick floated well on her lines as expected. The owners could not be more proud. After years of stuggling to get her built, the light at the end of the tunnel seems to be getting brighter by the day (and there are no trains heard).

However, as fun and exciting as these days are, there is quite a bit of work is left to be done before the first fishing day. Robbie Brittingham and his crew are working hard to make that fishing day a reality. The boat is BEAUTIFUL!!

Ready for Hardtop

It is said that no boats would be finished in Carteret County were it not for the Big Rock Blue Marlin Tournament in mid-June. This 61 Chadwick will not break with tradition and should be fishing the 2010 tournament with ease. Of course the builders have been looking forward to the Big Rock for years and this year they will be fishing on their new boat.

Over the last several weeks, the boat has been painted with Awlgrip and Snow White is the color. The job is superb! She’s fair, the paint job was done extremely well and the touch up has been minimal. No orange peel, fish eyes or runs; perfect. This weekend should see the final areas in the cockpit and the foredeck finished and she’ll be ready for the water (at least from a paint perspective).

Installing the hardtop

The Bausch/American hardtop has been installed and the enclosure patterned. Installation of the Rupp outriggers, antennas and the electronics are next. Most of this stuff has been prefit or installed (like the radar scanner) and just needs to be hooked up. But we have no doubt that there will be suttle modifications made as the process continues.  

Everyone is very excited about putting her “overboard” but they are trying to hold off until the interior is a little farther along. It’s easy to get in a rush at this point but waiting a little longer will payoff in the end. That said I think we should see speeds and fuel burn numbers in the next 2-3 weeks. Having been 44 knots in a 66 Spencer and this boat having the potential to surpass that number,  I can hardly wait! It never ceases to amaze me at the speeds these boats are capable of running these days. Having grown up in the pre-20 kt cruise days, 40+ is unbelievable. And of course if the captain/owner can manage to keep off the throttles, engine life goes up and fuel consumption comes down from boats built just 10 years ago. I’ll have those figures for you as soon as they are available.

The 49th Miami International Boat Show has concluded. We (Caryn and I)visited the show Sat. in the cool South Florida weather and found a mixed response from the exhibitors. It’s hard to tell this year if the visitors were down and if so why. The weather in the Mid Atlantic and North East was absolutelyhorrible. Airlines were cancelling flights from most of the major hubs and leaving passengers stranded. So were their a numbers of potential buyers in that group? Were there a number of buyers who decided earlier in the week to cancel their reservations on the likely hood that they would not be able to get a flight out; I think both are very possible. There were a number of foreign buyers at the show as this show has become a big draw for the SouthAmerican crowd. I guess it easy for them to get around Miami, with it’s very large spanishspeaking population. Overall, I’d say the feeling I got from the exhibitors working the show was an up beat mood. Most have been in the business as long or longer than I have and they have seen the markets dark days for the last few years. Most feel a slight improvement in the market. With the stock markets rebound and somewhat stabilization, people are feeling more confident. Demand has increased and old inventories are starting to fade away.

One of my colleagues recently made the statement that this may be the last “Big” Miami Show. His thought is that because we will see a shift in the way boats are marketed in the future, shows like Miami will have smaller displays from the manufacturers and dealers. Boats will be built and sold on an “as needed” basis and the dealer inventory model will slowly become obsolete. He may be right, time will tell, but what can seen is that the show is already smaller in physical size. Both the Convention Center site and the Collins Ave. display were physically smaller this year. Will this type of marketing strategy be good for the boat business; I doubt it. We need to continue to have the number and variety of boats in these shows so buyers can make informed decisions. Buyers need to be able to come to a show get aboard the boats they have been reading about and form some informed opinions of the boats they want too buy. I hope the manufacturers will continue to bring their entire product line if  not to every show, at least to the big Shows like Miami, Lauderdale and Palm Beach.

We are in a very interesting time in the boat business and for those who survive the market there will be a renewed strength and love of this business. I hope we are all able to stay with it and not let the ”Walmarts” of the boat business dominate to the extent that they make this a boater’s nightmare. There is no doubt that the “dealer” model is changing. Banks are not putting the money into floor planning and individuals are not as willing to the amount of resources needed by the banks, at risk. But this does not mean that these Shows should suffer, manufacturers are already making changes to accommodate these needs. Hopefully, we will well see them continue to make the effort and take the risk to market to a buyer that needs to touch and feel before he buys.

Generally, the Show seemed to be a success. With consumer confidence on the rise and the economy on the mend, let’s all hope that we are able get out on the water this season and enjoy the days we have together.

If you are looking for one of our listing, have a look here:

http://www.offshoretoys.com/listings.html

Welcome to the first post on the Total Offshore Yacht Sales Blog. I’m extremely new to this media so please forgive my many faults and mis-steps as I learn. I try to make them as few as possible and deliver as much relavent content as possible.

We are starting this to bring updates on one of our newest listing and while we’re at it bring some news a comments about Total Offshore and the boating community in general. We are a yacht brokerage company specializing in power boats. We have been in the business for better than 20 years helping customers find the boats / yachts of their dreams.

The 60 Jamie Chadwick that has us starting this blog is absolutely incredible. 3 staterooms, 3 heads, mezzanine and a full salon/galley. We’ll be writing about her and her journey to completion as well as sharing a few photos and videos of her as she nears the water. Presently, she is about 80% complete. The exterior is just about ready for paint and should be getting that in the next few weeks. The interior is in the final stages prior to soft goods. Really working on the salon, flybridge and cockpit areas.

Starboard Profile

The video will be out soon, watch here:  http://www.offshoretoys.com/videoviewer.php?vid=90

Hope everyone has a good week. We’ll be back with more very soon. Thanks for checking us out.