2019 Release coming soon!

[BigN8]

Here is a theory, take it for what it's worth. Yamaha has created the 2019 line up to appeal to "NET NEW" customers and a potential Yamaha owner that may be looking to upgrade. The most likely Yamaha owners to upgrade would be those of us with boats prior to 2015. Sorry, but there are only so many folks on here that buy a new boat every year or even every other year.

So taking that with a grain of salt, they hit the checkbox on many of the things that the owners of the previous 2-3 years have bitched about, or gone to the aftermarket for.

I think you hit the nail on the head.

 

[Bruce]

View attachment 81494 AR240 now has a draft of 20” where 2018 boats were advised as 16.25”....?

I hope that is a typo!

 

[Arcadyus]

Exactly, I hear what you are saying. So it's obvious, they were not shooting for you as a target market. There is no real reason to make you want to upgrade. And why would you, you have a great boat. Unlike cars/trucks, which so many folks replace every 3 years or so, boat owners may tend to get more years out of this purchase. I am making a horrible generalization of course. But you get the idea. They never want to be in the position of you buying a new boat, and then spending thousands in the aftermarket to make it usable based on previous owners experience. So they truly did address many items, without making the current owners feel bad about their decision.

I agree I doubt many boat onwers buy new every year. Where I know for a fact tons of people buy new cars every year. If I had an older Yamaha 19 ft or was a new consumer I'd be stoked about the new boats. Except the price, if they keep going up consumers will start looking at more boats before making a purchase.

 

[scubasteve87]

Exactly, I hear what you are saying. So it's obvious, they were not shooting for you as a target market. There is no real reason to make you want to upgrade. And why would you, you have a great boat. Unlike cars/trucks, which so many folks replace every 3 years or so, boat owners may tend to get more years out of this purchase. I am making a horrible generalization of course. But you get the idea. They never want to be in the position of you buying a new boat, and then spending thousands in the aftermarket to make it usable based on previous owners experience. So they truly did address many items, without making the current owners feel bad about their decision.

Agreed. I think if the target market was brining in new boaters/boaters from other manufacturers or current 19' Yamaha owners who have had their boats for 3+ years now, I think the refresh is certainly appealing from a lot of angles and definitely made an impression. I do believe some of us who recently bought 19 footers are justifying the costs (myself included) but more of looking at it if you're looking to buy today knowing what the is in the 2018 vs the 2019 and the costs between the two currently, you might be hard pressed to go with 2019 given the price increase.

But Yamaha sells out this model of boat routinely and they are hard to come by under MSRP so they obviously know what they are doing price wise.

 

[Bluewater272]

Here is a theory, take it for what it's worth. Yamaha has created the 2019 line up to appeal to "NET NEW" customers and a potential Yamaha owner that may be looking to upgrade. The most likely Yamaha owners to upgrade would be those of us with boats prior to 2015. Sorry, but there are only so many folks on here that buy a new boat every year or even every other year.

So taking that with a grain of salt, they hit the checkbox on many of the things that the owners of the previous 2-3 years have bitched about, or gone to the aftermarket for.

So that being said, do you think that the 2015-2018 current owners may be just a bit hyper-critical of the 2019's to help justify their decision of not waiting for a 2019? Or is this line up "that bad and horrible" I would assume the prior. If this line up was truly designed to attract net new Yamaha customers, I think there will be a lot of happy 2019 owners over the next year.

Good job Yamaha. You just reached out to your target market with flying colors. And as I said back in 2014 when the 2015's were announced, "those of us looking to upgrade in 4 years are excited for a fresh batch of used boats!"

I agree. If I was in an 11-14, the 2019s look like a home run to me. I don't understand the critical reception from people who are already in this generation of boat. It's a marginal improvement from the year before, which is a marginal improvement from the year before that. As it should be. The lineup is fantastic.

As to the price increases? Duh. Find me one thing that becomes cheaper one year to the next. Boat pricing is crazy, across the board - not just a Yamaha thing.

 

[Arcadyus]

I agree. If I was in an 11-14, the 2019s look like a home run to me. I don't understand the critical reception from people who are already in this generation of boat. It's a marginal improvement from the year before, which is a marginal improvement from the year before that. As it should be. The lineup is fantastic.

As to the price increases? Duh. Find me one thing that becomes cheaper one year to the next. Boat pricing is crazy, across the board - not just a Yamaha thing.

Weed prices in WA drop every year. Just ask any commercial grower how much they sell per gram now compared to 2015.

 

[Ancient canoe]

I'd only be disappointed if I were waiting on Yamaha to make a true wake experience, but in reality if they did it would probably be priced way too high and not really a good choice compared to the competition. Other than that I think the color schemes look good hopefully they don't continue to come from the factory with so many issues. The only changes that would have had me kicking myself were the introduction of the 195 over the 192, and maybe the forward swept towers.

 

[BigN8]

I agree. If I was in an 11-14, the 2019s look like a home run to me. I don't understand the critical reception from people who are already in this generation of boat. It's a marginal improvement from the year before, which is a marginal improvement from the year before that. As it should be. The lineup is fantastic.

As to the price increases? Duh. Find me one thing that becomes cheaper one year to the next. Boat pricing is crazy, across the board - not just a Yamaha thing.

Very analogous to iPhones in my opinion. Little changes from year to year but usually nothing major. If you want to upgrade, fine, if not keep what you got and wait a year or two. Just smaller scale as far as the economics are concerned.

 

[scot71]

Recreational boats are by definition a luxury item but the good news is that there's a robust used market which means there's a boat for everybody who wants one. If Yamaha is really pricing too high and not satisfying some demographic then others will come in to capture that lower end at some point.

I'm not familiar with the pricing trends over time but if this year is particularly high I have to wonder if they are pricing in uncertainty about tariffs and exchange rates. (I'm assuming the power plant and various parts are produced in Japan or overseas.)

I totally agree. A boat is definitely a luxury item and not something I have to have. Although I would definitely miss not having one. Don't get me wrong, I love my boat and got the deal of the century (paid $9500 for it from a friend going thru a divorce). Even with the money that I have put into it; Seadek, tower, Perfect Pass, and better stereo. I'm pretty sure I could make a small profit, or at least break even, if I sold it. I only wish that prices weren't at a point that I can't even entertain the thought of a new boat. You are correct in saying that if Yamaha has overpriced these boats, It leaves room for someone else to fill the gap. But with the limited number of manufacturers making jet boats. The options are still small. I really don't think that the prices for these boats is stupidly high. I just think that if the prices for say a 24' boat were closer to the price of a 21 footer, and likewise for a 21' to a 19'. The market would open up and more people would justify the expense.

 

[F.M.]

Hey, I like the black 242 limited S. Looks very similar to my 2015. View attachment 81509

That basically the 2017 242x without graphics.

 

[2kwik4u]

I think the price increase is inline with the industry. We could debate the economics of it until we're blue in the face.

I think the new features are a logical next step in the design. Some are good, some are bad, some are just different. Overall I think Yamaha has positioned themselves to continue to attract new buyers to the brand, and haven't done enough to drive anyone away from the brand if they are contemplating an upgrade.

 

[Boosted89]

After additional thought, the '19 AR240 dash might be nice for customization. However, there doesn't seem to be any noteworthy improvements to justify the price increase unlike some other models like the 19 ft boats, the 242's etc.

The deal breaker might be the AR240 phallic graphics though. Am I the only one who sees it? Now I can't unsee it.

 

[Bluewater272]

After additional thought, the '19 AR240 dash might be nice for customization.

Agreed. While I like that I have analog gauges on my boat for redundancy's sake, I will admit that I very rarely use them. Connext is much easier to see, and more precise.

Would would be very nice would be to be able to flush mount an MFD and/or VHF.

 

[JohnM]

I’ve been researching boats for about a year now and I’m almost ready to pull the trigger. My wife and I where set on an AR240 but with the price increase would you say that there’s a better 23-24’ 12 passenger boat similarly equipped with a wake tower? Budget is no more than $60k for a new boat.

 

[0627Devildog]

Guess it depends on your family, and the captains desire to deploy it. We use ours every time we go out and eat on the boat (which is pretty much every trip). Everyone congregations under the huge bimini (AKA Batwing) to get out of the NC sun and eat in the shade.

Since our boat is docked at out our house on the lake, we rarely do more than snacks on the boat. . . . . . If we get hungry we head back to the dock and eat at the house. That said, even the trips we take around NYC we just never mount the table.

 

[Julian]

Since our boat is docked at out our house on the lake, we rarely do more than snacks on the boat. . . . . . If we get hungry we head back to the dock and eat at the house. That said, even the trips we take around NYC we just never mount the table.

Makes sense... .why eat on the boat and drag all that along if you can pull up to the house and eat. But I think you are in a very lucky minority there!

 

[swatski]

Word is $990 for the package including a wakesurf board and rope.

That is surprisingly inexpensive.

Something is up, that's like below cost...

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[MattFX4]

That is surprisingly inexpensive.

Something is up, that's like below cost...

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Yeah we will see I guess. Guy you put that price out is a dealer so maybe he knows.

 

[Adubbs76]

The table is a nice "option" . It's important to say that as Option, as when you need it, you will love it, when you don't it's easy to store.



So that being said, do you think that the 2015-2018 current owners may be just a bit hyper-critical of the 2019's to help justify their decision of not waiting for a 2019? Or is this line up "that bad and horrible" I would assume the prior. If this line up was truly designed to attract net new Yamaha customers, I think there will be a lot of happy 2019 owners over the next year.

Good job Yamaha. You just reached out to your target market with flying colors. And as I said back in 2014 when the 2015's were announced, "those of us looking to upgrade in 4 years are excited for a fresh batch of used boats!"

I think the reason people are so critical is they are always expecting major changes and when that doesn't happen they get mad. I think they update their boats just as much as anyone, but Yamaha has less options in the way of color, configuration, and engine choice. So we are always stuck with what Yamaha chooses for us. When the new release comes out and they don't change things to our particular taste we get upset.

The other issue this year is the major price increase for what seems like relatively low return on investment. This is actually good for 2017-18 owners bad for new buyers. They sell out every year so they are just following supply and demand. At some point it will reach a natural tipping point and they will have to address pricing and or fit and finish.

 

[swatski]

Yeah we will see I guess. Guy you put that price out is a dealer so maybe he knows.

Right now their only competition is Gatlin Wedge, so coming close on price is a must if they want to grab a market share (or at least get first few customers outside of the new 2019 X model buyers). After they test the waters/invention in the wild... anything can happen.

I wouldn't bet against the Wake Wedge (Gatlin) at this point. The Gatlin works so well, the guys really hit the nail on the head with it - on many levels.

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