Excellent post!
Ray Charles (god rest his soul) could see that there is a correction coming, well its actually underway as companies who ramped up production post
Are struggling with inventory that is not moving quickly because A-much higher priced due to inflationary forces, B-high interest rates on vehicle and boat loans due to the aforementioned inflation, which is right at 50%. The only thing lately that is helping folks is that fuel prices are coming down some, and lets face it, boats eat a lot of fuel. So hopefully there is a significant change to energy policy coming that will lower the cost of having fun and the cost of living overall..
Are Yamaha boats that are available here in the U.S. like a Boston Whaler or Grady White? Nope, and the cost reflects that, and as with a lot of things, you get what you pay for. In terms of the Yamaha’s one gets out on the water with a great bang for the buck boat and folks can start making wonderful memories on the water! =Awesome! Yamaha makes a boat for just about everyone! As I like to say, there is an ass for every seat. And as boats go, the Yamaha’s are affordable and reliable. This comes at a cost, the cost is in the level of fit and finish. If you’re paying $250,000+++ for a BW or GW you are not going to have the common issues that members come here to find fixes for, unfinished fiberglass, leaking thru hulls, plastic / nylon thru hulls etc… with their higher prices comes next level expectations and products. But look, we are all here with some great boats that are getting us out on the water in, for the overwhelming most part reliable and safe boats.
Yamaha is without a doubt working on upgrades or new designs to their line up but as
@Postie says, with uncertain economics Yamaha has to put their fiduciary concerns ahead of new product launches. Personally I’d like to see some of those made in Japan boats hit the U.S. market. The cabin cruiser with the Volvo D6 power plant comes to mind.
They are continuing to make incremental advancements in their outboard motor line up which is great although maybe not directly related to our boats, perhaps some of the efficiency gains will make it to our boats.. closed loop fueling would be great for economy on all the boats, thats how the Honda and Suzuki outboards get the best mpg. I personally think that would be a good move for Yamaha if the system could be made reliable, not only does it go well with their “environmental” pitch and would go a lot further than making a valve cover out of plant based resin, but would offer a significant/certain increase in mpg, decrease in operating cost, and increase of smiles being generated per dollar per hour spent.
I am sure that over the next few years we will see Yamaha make improvements to their line up whether it is new boats, perhaps a 27’ fsh?, and or improvements to their engine line up, turbo charged engines instead of super charged engines would be a great way to boost power, decrease fuel consumption, and make the boats relatively immune to density altitude changes, especially high density altitude horsepower loss, they, Yamaha, already have turbo charged engines in their snowmobiles.
