2023 Boat Shows

[hethj7]

Man, a lot of Debby Downers here on attending shows.  I view them as a nice winter break and the admission is my “entertainment” dollar for the family to see what’s new, crawl around some yachts, and check all things there - dock accessories, e-foils, and even put eyes on things like the Anthem.  In terms of the dollar and time spent at the show it is insignificant to what most of us spend on boating so I love going each year.

 

There isn’t another place you can crawl around a Malibu and the competition the same day to see what everyone is doing, so we enjoy them.  

[ahopkins22LSV]

5 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

Man, a lot of Debby Downers here on attending shows.  I view them as a nice winter break and the admission is my “entertainment” dollar for the family to see what’s new, crawl around some yachts, and check all things there - dock accessories, e-foils, and even put eyes on things like the Anthem.  In terms of the dollar and time spent at the show it is insignificant to what most of us spend on boating so I love going each year.

 

There isn’t another place you can crawl around a Malibu and the competition the same day to see what everyone is doing, so we enjoy them.  

I love the boat show. It’s at minimum a mental relief from the winter. We have one in January and one in March and it is the perfect way to have some fun before the boat comes out of storage. 

[Michigan boarder]

We get in for free with the ski team (but we also commit to a block of time), typically a few beers for free, and get to stroll around the event and BS with our teammates.  It's a pretty good time.  Last year my wife and I were just chillin, kinda sprawled out on a VLX in the Malibu area, and she was talking about how nice it was and the salesman came up with a couple of beers.  We hung out for about 30 minutes, got some Bob Marley playing, talking about life on the water, and he was 95% on closing the deal.  I'm an easy sell on that one, and my wife was finally like "we are getting out of this boat and away from you" to the salesman (in a good way).  We were "this" close!!

[UWSkier]

16 hours ago, hethj7 said:

All aboard!  If you had a small tank you could make a marine landing   

 

Call it "Higgins"

[Hemmy]

35 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

Man, a lot of Debby Downers here on attending shows.  I view them as a nice winter break and the admission is my “entertainment” dollar for the family to see what’s new, crawl around some yachts, and check all things there - dock accessories, e-foils, and even put eyes on things like the Anthem.  In terms of the dollar and time spent at the show it is insignificant to what most of us spend on boating so I love going each year.

 

There isn’t another place you can crawl around a Malibu and the competition the same day to see what everyone is doing, so we enjoy them.  

 

26 minutes ago, ahopkinsVTX said:

I love the boat show. It’s at minimum a mental relief from the winter. We have one in January and one in March and it is the perfect way to have some fun before the boat comes out of storage. 

I agree.  Something to do in winter in the Midwest which is why I go to three different shows a year.  Chicago is different than the other two shows I go to because they have just about every type of boat at almost all price levels, which is what makes that one fun to go to.  The other two are much smaller and limited to what they have.  My local show has almost all the pontoon brands, but limited on the wake boats (only Nautique, Supra, Moomba and Wake tractors). Unfortunately, South Bend does not have any Malibu's or Mastercraft.

[Jhucke]

30 minutes ago, UWSkier said:

Call it "Higgins"

People laugh at the design of these boats but a surfing pontoon that says Malibu/Nautique/Mastercraft on the side is exactly what most people need if they were being honest with themselves. Look how ugly all these boats are getting, it's where the industry is trending. 400k for the Nautique bathtub, its kind of funny!

Edited January 31, 2023 by Jhucke

[oldjeep]

1 hour ago, hethj7 said:

There isn’t another place you can crawl around a Malibu and the competition the same day to see what everyone is doing, so we enjoy them.  

Sure there is.  The Malibu dealer the Mastercraft/Supra/Moomba dealer and the Nautique dealer are only about 4 miles total between them

[hethj7]

5 minutes ago, oldjeep said:

Sure there is.  The Malibu dealer the Mastercraft/Supra/Moomba dealer and the Nautique dealer are only about 4 miles total between them

You are lucky!  

[Cole2001]

I definitely miss the boat shows. Worked them in the past as a rider so cool to meet lots of people and get my name out. Also fun to walk around and look at all of the toys especially the ones you wouldn’t normally be interested in. We have an on the water show at the end of April so looking forward to that. 
 

But with that in mind I have MC, Tige, Nautique, centurion, Seadoo, Yamaha, chris craft, a handful of pontoons, and motor sports all within walking distance. As well as supra, Cobolt, mb, heyday, few minute drive away. Sorry Malibu you can’t keep a dealer in BC

 

[oldjeep]

41 minutes ago, hethj7 said:

You are lucky!  

Yeah, I miss the motorcycle shows.  Seems like the pandemic did them in for good

[amartin]

Houston has changed since COVID.  The boat show used to be a pretty big deal (IMH0), but they lost their momentum due to missing a few years for COVID.  The "local" (in quotes because they serve a metro area of about 7 million people!) Malibu / Axis dealer shunned the covid restrictions in the city and put on a private boat show in a more covid friendly outlying city / county.  I have been to the private show and unless you are looking for other brands, this is 100X better.  They represent many different kinds of boats (fishing, tow boats, pontoons, ruanbouts, etc) and bring new and used.  They also have a pretty reasonable "vendor" area that is fun to peruse.  $0 admission and free parking are a bonus too.

The Houston boat show has merged with the auto show and is now called the "Autoboative show."  It wrapped up last weekend, but unless you were looking for it, you didn't know it was happening.

[rennis]

Can’t wait for Friday 

 

[OtherBoatisaCessna]

Someone needs to start a thread to explain the appeal of the pontoons.  There were soooo many of them at the show I went to - wow!  How many different arrangements of a floating living room can you make?

[Hemmy]

7 hours ago, OtherBoatisaCessna said:

Someone needs to start a thread to explain the appeal of the pontoons.  There were soooo many of them at the show I went to - wow!  How many different arrangements of a floating living room can you make?

When you have a house on a lake, the appeal is pretty big.  There are times, every Saturday and Sunday, where the lake gets too busy and choppy to be able to go enjoy water sports.  In my case, not too much fun being on a 21 foot wake boat with a bunch of chop and yahoo's on the water.  Pontoons are a much better and more comfortable ride on these days, especially if you have a group of people with you.  I will say if I did not have a house on a lake, I would definitely not want to trailer a pontoon around.  That's just my $.02.

[Michigan boarder]

1 hour ago, Hemmy said:

When you have a house on a lake, the appeal is pretty big.  There are times, every Saturday and Sunday, where the lake gets too busy and choppy to be able to go enjoy water sports.  In my case, not too much fun being on a 21 foot wake boat with a bunch of chop and yahoo's on the water.  Pontoons are a much better and more comfortable ride on these days, especially if you have a group of people with you.  I will say if I did not have a house on a lake, I would definitely not want to trailer a pontoon around.  That's just my $.02.

+1.  Around here my direct drive is simply annoying to be in at certain times, all I do is avoid bow rollers, keep it barely on plane, or take side to side rollers.  I've been trying to talk my wife into a pontoon but she won't budge.  It doesn't help that my neighbor firmly rejects the thought as well and takes her side.  I'd like to make plans to load up a crew with a few couples mid week that will not be impacted by the chop on the weekend.  We could do that in a 24' pontoon, and everyone would enjoy it more.  I don't really care that it's a mini van.

[Michigan boarder]

9 hours ago, OtherBoatisaCessna said:

Someone needs to start a thread to explain the appeal of the pontoons.  There were soooo many of them at the show I went to - wow!  How many different arrangements of a floating living room can you make?

Picture yourself owning nothing but pontoons for 25 years, upgrading every 5 or 7 years with more disposable income.  That's how those have evolved.  I like the simple old double captains chair, L shape around the back, two loungers along the sides in the front.  Then it's just up to you (the DJ) and the rest of the crew to make the experience.

[Steve B.]

Don't want to de-rail boat shows as the topic, but a toon with all the stuff would be awesome. Especially as a staging craft for folks between ski rides. We used to use an old beat up one to work on and install our

slalom course as needed also. Great for barging around with tools, bouys, etc.

Steve B.

[bcoppess23]

16 minutes ago, Michigan boarder said:

+1.  Around here my direct drive is simply annoying to be in at certain times, all I do is avoid bow rollers, keep it barely on plane, or take side to side rollers.  I've been trying to talk my wife into a pontoon but she won't budge.  It doesn't help that my neighbor firmly rejects the thought as well and takes her side.  I'd like to make plans to load up a crew with a few couples mid week that will not be impacted by the chop on the weekend.  We could do that in a 24' pontoon, and everyone would enjoy it more.  I don't really care that it's a mini van.

Sounds like you are in an ask for forgiveness than permission scenario.  Show up with one and use it for a season and then re-evaluate.. Like a minivan, you won't be caught in one, but once you are, others may admit their effectiveness.

[amartin]

11 hours ago, OtherBoatisaCessna said:

Someone needs to start a thread to explain the appeal of the pontoons.  There were soooo many of them at the show I went to - wow!  How many different arrangements of a floating living room can you make?

My wife says she prefers the "pontoon life" to our current setup.  She is not big into watersports, so for her it is about comfort on the water and low stress.  Her experience on pontoons is also limited to rentals, which does not include an owner (me) telling her that she cant bring Cheetos, Doritos, chips and salsa, etc. on our Malibu!  I am not saying that my next boat will be a Pontoon boat, but my second boat will be.  I just will need a bigger boathouse...

[Five Cent Worth]

Yea, with some of you guys.  We like going to the boat show as well.  My wife would kick me in the  if she heard me complain about $100 at the show and then spending $150 on dinner / drinks afterwards when we are looking / buying $150k boats at $300 a tank of gas.  Lots of familiar faces and often time going with other families.  Like trade shows for us corporate guys - gives you a bit of a pulse on the market as well

Our dealers are all very close in proximity as well (less than 3 miles with the exception of Supra and Centurion).  But seeing everything in the same setting isn't the same vs driving to each, asking them to take covers off, etc...  Some of you guys sound like the folks printing off MapQuest directions to get there....  Just saying.

[Hemmy]

3 hours ago, Michigan boarder said:

+1.  Around here my direct drive is simply annoying to be in at certain times, all I do is avoid bow rollers, keep it barely on plane, or take side to side rollers.  I've been trying to talk my wife into a pontoon but she won't budge.  It doesn't help that my neighbor firmly rejects the thought as well and takes her side.  I'd like to make plans to load up a crew with a few couples mid week that will not be impacted by the chop on the weekend.  We could do that in a 24' pontoon, and everyone would enjoy it more.  I don't really care that it's a mini van.

 

3 hours ago, bcoppess23 said:

Sounds like you are in an ask for forgiveness than permission scenario.  Show up with one and use it for a season and then re-evaluate.. Like a minivan, you won't be caught in one, but once you are, others may admit their effectiveness.

Don't look at it as a mini van, look at it as a Cadillac.  No shame in riding in a Cadillac.

I will say this about going to the boat shows.  Maybe it was just me because we have a Malibu and like everyone else here, No shoes on the boat.  We took our shoes off getting on every boat, even pontoons. I am kind of a no shoes on the boat person, regardless of the type of boat.  I don't think I saw anybody taking their shoes off getting on the pontoon boats.  I even saw one pontoon where some idiot spilled their drink on the seats.

[kstateskier1]

Miss the big shows, haven't had the big show in STL since prior to Covid.  May be time to run up north to Chicago next year.

[Leftlane]

I love the boat shows.  The first one I went to back in 2000 I ended up with deposits on 5 different boats - no lie.  I had to ask a friend who knew what he was doing to go back with me and help me figure it all out.  It’s fun to crawl all over the boats that are way above my pay grade and pretend I know what I’m talking about. 

[ndahlberg12]

I love going to the shows for the same reasons already mentioned here. However, I think the price they charge for admission is ridiculous on both ends just to walk around a building. My dealer told me what they have to pay just to have a small booth at our local shows and it is absolutely ludacris.

Aside from that, I very much look forward to checking out one of our shows in a few weeks.

[wakebrdr94]

21 hours ago, OtherBoatisaCessna said:

Someone needs to start a thread to explain the appeal of the pontoons.  There were soooo many of them at the show I went to - wow!  How many different arrangements of a floating living room can you make?

biggest segment in the boating market.  Tow boats are a blip on in the grand scheme of things