Mother Nature you're a tease!
  It's been almost great weather for you weekenders- most of the time it's warm and calm during the week, then warm and windy (ie rough) when it's time to go for a boat ride. Try to get out in the evenings on good days- there's no one out there (if a captain takes off his/her clothes in the middle of the river and there's no one around is the captain still nude?). We've been hovering right around the average temperature - wise so that bodes well as we get into the year.

What's happening around the Marina
 

I don't have the time/ money to figure this out, but how can we get a system so you guys can get gas 7 days a week/ 24 hours? Is there a credit card everyone uses so we could do it at the pump? I hate to just give everyone the key to the fuel shop for fear of theft, but we need to do something here. I'm willing to kick in some of the cost.

We'll be putting in a vent fan in the sportboat showroom, adding music to the cruiser showroom (hopefully) and reroofing the Cruiser Pavillion over the next 2 weeks. The bath house will get a freshen-up prior to Memorial day. We've just about completed resodding in front of the bath house and we've regraded/ added drainage around the Showrooms.

Overall I'd say the marina still needs work but as Bob Bennett so aptly put it "at least all the light bulbs on the dock work at the same time."

Also- I wanted to put the barge into play as a way you could wax your own boat but the marina is officially 105% sold so I can't move it. I'll keep at it.


Boat Sales
  Hitting on nearly all cylinders. The open houses went well, Chris Craft purchases are up 25% over last year plus the Chaparral purchases and we're still selling the brokerage boats.

The yard
  Excluding deliveries the present backlog is 700 hours, including deliveries 1400 hours (that's 7 weeks). What can I say, it's May. I had a guy walk in yesterday with 2 drives that have to be rebuilt (he is a customer) and told him he'd be ready for Memorial Day. I know I'll get scolded by someone who missed out because I didn't get them done because of this customer but what can I do? Everybody needs to go for a ride and to refuse a current customer who can't is just not the Hoffmaster's Way.
Slip Rental Agreements
  You won't see these real soon. Maybe with the June billing since everyone pretty much gets a bill anyway.

Rumors
 

Indeed the Chaparral 35 will be in the mix for MY 2000 available as sterndrive or inboard. I'll get my eyes on one in August but already have committed to this express cruiser.

I attended a Chris Craft meeting 4/13. This meeting was also attended by the CEO of OMC (Chris Craft's parent) Dave Jones, whom I sat next to at dinner with, and VP of Marketing John Willman, whom I powerwalked with the next AM.

The consensus I get in talking with these people is:

  • They want Chris Craft to net to the dealer at around the same price or higher than Sea Ray 3 years from now. To do this they will set the quality bar higher than Sea Ray's is now. A new plant manager has been hired, and the boats are coming in right now better than we've EVER seen.
  • They don't want to be Sea Ray, or Chaparral, or Cobalt, or Four Winns- they want to be Chris Craft, and they want Chris Craft to be unique enough in the market that it cannot be easily copied by others.
  • They are developing a new line of boats based on customer input in the form of focus groups. The first fruits will show up in our 2001 MY line up out July 2000.
  • I feel that these folks are doing it the right way. As nice a boat as Sea Ray is, I don't want to sell them. Everything I've seen of what OMC is designing (and I am under a confidentiality agreement not to divulge it) leads me to believe that present and future customers will be pleased.
 

  1214 Swan Point Rd. * Woodbridge, Va. 22192
Phone 703.494.7161 Fax 703.494.8786
Open 8-4 M-F, 10-4 Sat, 12-4 Sun