Placed order for a 252SD back in Aug of 2021. Was on Yamaha's "confirmed to build" list for this Spring. Just got the call from the dealer that Yamaha will not be delivering any more boats, and I'd be first in line for 2023 model year now. What a huge disappointment. Paid for a slip this year that didn't get any use. This is in the Great Lakes area. A dealer down in Florida is now recommending I go with a Regal LX4, since I plan to use it on the great lakes and southeast Florida. Not sure if I should dump my plans for a 252SD and go another direction now..... Since obviously I'm going to pay 8-10% more for the same thing I ordered a year ago...
Bummer! That sucks waiting a year and then having it cancelled and then paying more on top of that!
That's what I was afraid of and why I just made a crazy move myself based on what I learned last week......
I got this scoop last Wednesday from a Yamaha dealer that I called looking for a 2022 275SD. Yamaha sent an e-mail out to all dealers Wednesday morning telling them whatever boats they had on their lots were the only ones they were getting. There would be no more 2022 being shipped this year.
He said the email also said new pricing is still be determined and could be 10 - 15% higher for '23's. They also don't know how many '23's will be built and allocated. The dealer I was talking to told me they had to tear up $600K in orders.
I was not planning to get a new boat for another year or so. I just got on the waitlist for a slip at the marina where I live in southwest Florida back in April. They told me it would be a year but they called me a week ago saying they had a slip. I decided to take it and not chance having to wait longer than a year for another slip to come open.
We decided to start looking for boats and the 275SD was on our radar for the last 6 months. Trying to find one was next to impossible. I called the local dealer in Cape Coral, FL and he wouldn't even take my money for a downpayment on a '23 because things are so bad.... and this was before Yamaha sent the email out their dealers. He said pricing was a big unknown as well as how many '23's would be available. He said would get back to me after calling his Yamaha rep to see if he could take a deposit from me since I told him a 3 - 6 month wait was fine..... he never called me back.
That's when I started calling dealers in the northeast since I am up in PA right now. I found one 275SD in NY but the sales guy said someone was coming in that day to put a deposit down on it. He did me a solid and called a Yamaha Rep he knows well to see if there was anything in the southeast. The Yamaha Rep told him forget it.
I gave the sales guy my name and number and told him to call me if his 275SD deal went south..... about 5 hours later I got his call that the deal fell apart.... and I put down a deposit over the phone.
Not the ideal situation by any means but after hearing about the e-mail I decided I better take it or it could be 9 - 18 months to get a boat. Now I have an 8-hour round trip to pick it up from PA to NY next week..... and then an 18-hour haul to southeast Florida in late October when I head back down to my home in FL. And I'm going to roll the dice and not get permits with the 9' beam.
I was on the fence about the 275SD given I'll be docking in brackish water and using it in the gulf but I'm having a lift installed in the dock and the flush out is fairly easy. I loved my SX192 when I had it and a lot of guys have posted running smaller Yamaha jets in salt water and the ocean so I feel better about my choice.... especially since the Gulf is a little calmer than the Atlantic.
I thought buying cars was crazy this year but the boat industry is even crazier.