I've gone to the deep dark side, please don't ban me bro!

[tdonoughue]

Sorry for the delayed reply. I had to wipe the drool off of my keyboard...

 

[Gym]

Great looking boat @Andy S. Many boat manufacturers add an 18 inch to 3 foot bow pulpit to increase the boat length but yours is all boat with a great swim platform to boot. Glad you're staying with us to keep us informed on the old and the new.

 

[OrangeTJ]

Congrats on the new boat! She's a beauty!

 

[scot71]

Great looking boat @Andy S, congratulations!

 

[cozilla]

Sweet ride @Andy S. Congrats!

 

[biglar155]

Awesome! Congratulations!

 

[0627Devildog]

Ban Him! Ban Him! Ban Him! Ban Him! (or at least make him take me for a ride)

 

[Andy S]

Ban Him! Ban Him! Ban Him! Ban Him! (or at least make him take me for a ride)

Come to South Carolina and I would be more than happy to let you ride.

 

[motorboater]

Awesome boat, congrats! We could end up going that direction too but for now the simple maintenance, light weight (my lift is 5k lb rated) and safety of the internal props keeps us on the Yamaha. But damn I do miss the quiet and smooth cruise!

 

[Shannon]

Awesome looking boat Andy!!

 

[itsdgm]

She's a beauty @Andy S congrats.

 

[Mike T]

Great looking boat. Wish I was going to Bimini so I could take a ride. My wife is still learning the docking thing.

 

[Kevin M]

So if I may ask...Yamaha doesn't come off MSRP much. I heard other boat manufactures discount big off MSRP. What was MSRP and what was your final cost? Beautiful boat by the way!

 

[waterboy]

I don't know if Andy is wanting to share that or not but if you hit the boat shows for instance, you will see discounts of $20K plus on boats in that range off of the List Price. Sometimes more depending on their motivation at that time. You are right that Yamaha does not move off of MSRP but they still generally come in at well below the cost of a good, well outfitted bow rider and provide a good value for the money spent. That is why Yamaha is doing so well.

All that being said, Cobalt is a very well built boat with high quality and no matter the discount will not come near what a Yamaha costs, however sometimes that gap closes enough to make the jump, as Andy did...

 

[PEARCE]

Congrats on a beautiful boat @Andy S ! Glad to see you have a truck that's up to the task of towing that heavy boat. We've switched to the dark side too with an aft cabin cruiser. A much slower and quieter and smoother way of boating. We wanted a floating condo and that's what it is. A three stateroom two bath with a gally and saloon or living room.

 

[OrangeTJ]

I don't know if Andy is wanting to share that or not but if you hit the boat shows for instance, you will see discounts of $20K plus on boats in that range off of the List Price. Sometimes more depending on their motivation at that time. You are right that Yamaha does not move off of MSRP but they still generally come in at well below the cost of a good, well outfitted bow rider and provide a good value for the money spent. That is why Yamaha is doing so well.

All that being said, Cobalt is a very well built boat with high quality and no matter the discount will not come near what a Yamaha costs, however sometimes that gap closes enough to make the jump, as Andy did...

Yamaha has a very clever pricing strategy, for sure. I'd disagree with the assertion that there's no way to have a Cobalt come in near a Yamaha price, though. I was considering both a Cobalt 220 and CS3, and was getting into "actual" prices in the 63K range for the 220 and 68K range for the CS3. Those prices are in the same general ballpark as an e series limited or a LS, and well below a 242X. For that matter, the MB Sports F22 Tomcat I ordered is coming in at quite a bit less than a 242X - not MSRP, but the actual price paid.

Don't get me wrong - I'm not bashing Yamaha. I think they are great all around boats and have some distinct advantages for many users, but the comparative value difference seems to be less than it once was.

 

[Andy S]

So if I may ask...Yamaha doesn't come off MSRP much. I heard other boat manufactures discount big off MSRP. What was MSRP and what was your final cost? Beautiful boat by the way!

I'm actually shocked it took this long for someone to ask about the price and I don't mind sharing, I was just waiting for someone to ask. On paper I paid $14.5k above what a 2016 242x cost ($86.5k for the Cobalt & $72k for the Yamaha), this was another reason it was an easy leap for me to with the Cobalt. Here's the cost breakdown.

MSRP on Cobalt as I ordered it was $110k
MagicTilt aluminum trailer was another $5 (dealer provided)
Total before negiotiates & sale price $115K

After the negotiations where completed somethings happened to lower the $14.5k differential. A little back story, I had some very rough communication issues with the dealer due in part to a corporate change in the dealership resulting the former President, who was also my salesman, leaving the company in late March. There was a poor hand off between my former salesmen and whoever was supposed to take over my purchase. After a bunch of bullshit slung my way, I finally got the straight story from the General Manager who also was now personally handling my purchase. This issue boiled down to the fact that Cobalt was 3 weeks behind on production and my boat wasn't going to arrive until after the Charleston boat trip. I was okay with production delays but not okay with getting feed a bunch of bullshit that my boat production was on time when in fact it was delayed.

Now back to the $14.5k differential reduction. Upon taking possession of the Cobalt I noticed the dealer provided trailer had the welded in place vertical bunk supports not the bolted on supports that I had ordered, the welded version is a $500 option. On the test drive I noticed that there were snaps around the cockpit for a tonneau cover which is something I didn't order, I only ordered the bow cover and mooring cover. I'm not sure who, dealer or Cobalt, added the cockpit cover but that is a $1k option. According to the GM at the dealer, he talked with Cobalt about the possibility of getting my boat done early but wasn't able to, so maybe Cobalt threw in the cockpit cover, I didn't ask and don't care. And finally the GM gave us a bottle of Cobalt wine which goes for a staggering $134 a bottle. So with the add on's to make up for the early poor treatment I got, the differential between my Cobalt on the top of the line Yamaha was slightly less than $13k.

A couple of things not factored into the differential that will make it even lower. One, the Yamaha is 24' long and my Cobalt is 25' 8" long. Two, the Cobalt has a much better factory warranty, no need to buy an upgraded warranty.

As I mentioned in my first post, if Cobalt wasn't at the boat show and on sale, I probably would've bought the 242x because I'm still a fan of the Yamaha boats just a bigger fan of Cobalt's.

 

[2nazt]

Thanks for sharing @Andy S Not a big difference I think. Great couple of add on's also.

 

[OrangeTJ]

And THAT is why it's important to keep in mind that MSRP and actual price are seldom even close together on boats other than Yamahas! Like I said - Yamaha is pretty smart with their pricing strategy - they blow the other boats out of the water on MSRP but then simply don't come down much/at all. In this way, when you compare list prices between Yamaha and other manufacturers, you really aren't comparing apples to apples.

 

[Bill D]

Wow @Andy S that is a great price for a beautiful boat! I wouldn't have even let myself look at a $115k boat. Well maybe I would let myself look at it, just not bring the wife.

Hope you enjoy it and post some more pictures!