Formula name taken away
 

I heard from someone that Lakeport Landing had its Formula franchise taken away...Is this true?

There has already been a thread with this discussed.
http://www.winnipesaukee.com/forums/...keport+formula

Chris-Craft
 

I drove past Lakeport Landing on Sunday and it looks like they are now selling Chris-Craft??

Yes
 

They are now a Chris Craft dealer.

Interesting, if LakePort is now a ChrisCraft dealer where does that leave Trexler's Marina?????

I can't imagine they would want to dealers on the same lake.

Chris Craft surely would get more visibilty from a dealer in Lakeport than a dealer out on Long Island. But the website are still the last to know:

From Trexlers:

http://www.trexlers.com/media/img/mid_top.jpg

From Lakeport Landing

"New Formula boats for sale at Lakeport Landing Marina in Laconia, New Hampshire! Find Bowrider, Sunsport, Cruiser and other 2011 Formula models at our Lake Winnipesaukee dealership. As the Lake Region’s exclusive Formula dealer, we are proud to offer premier Formula boat sales from Lake Sunapee to Boston."


The Trexlers site has no Chris Crafts under new boats, but they do have a Doral, I guess I missed the Doral brand moving from Meredith.

Confusing isn't it?
 

Lakeport Landing is indeed a Chris Craft dealer. I have seen a few boats on their lot and their web page indicates that they are selling Chris Craft. They are also indicating on their web page that they are selling Formula; however, I suspect that it is there based upon their existing inventory. Formula has indeed moved to Paugus Bay Marina. Trexler - who knows? :D

Sometimes you need a program to follow all the players. :D

Jetskier:cool:

Trexler's is a mess, what was once one of the nicest marinas on the lake is now just a fledgling business ...they have run that marina into the ground. The have no inventory, their staff is rude and they care nothing about customers, they have signs up saying they are a Sunfish dealer and they haven't had a sail or sail boat part in house in 6 years! Place is filthy, BBQ grill next to the side door...cardboard everywhere, no one cares....I wouldn't buy a bottle of on/off from them, stay away...this is about the worst marina on the lake...so sad!

Say what you want about Paul Blizzard, but he runs a top notch marina and his people are tops! CC did well to join Lakeport and to get away from Trexlers.

Trexler's
 

Don Ross owned Trexler's in the early 70's. Nicest man you could ever meet, he would do anything for you. Carl was the same over at Shep Brown's. Mr. Trexler showed up out of the blue and made an offer Mr. Ross could not have imagined, I think it was either 2 or 3 hundred grand at the time. Many of the marinas have been handed down in the family and customer service is measured by how well the owners feel they are treated by their customers. If you haven't bought an oversized overpriced boat from them within the past 5 years they could care less if you stop at their places or not. Trexler's gas was either 30 or 50 cents over Thurston's last summer. Why not? They corner the market between Bear Island and Melvin Village. Maybe Harilla's has gas, never gotten any there.

Trexlers
 

I was told Lakeport can not even buy a Formula they have to go through Paugus Bay Marina to get one. Anyone know if this is in fact true? I heard it from someone in the marine trades.
As for Trexlers, we found them very rude as well when I needed a part for my wife’s boat that was stranded. Come to find out the parts they SOLD me were part of a service recall.
This was a Volvo-Penta recall and the parts were free, but because the boat was not purchased there they decided we had to pay for the parts. When I researched this I was told by the Chaparral dealer that it did not matter where you bought the boat it was a service recall that could be done anywhere Volvo engines are sold.
That says a lot for their business practices right there.

Formula
 

You are correct on the Formula purchase. I am in the middle of purchasing a new Formula with Kory at Pagus Bay

Kory is a great guy
 

He sold me the Baja that I'm now getting ready to bring back to Channel for consignment.

New Boat
 

Here is my new boat being built.
I can not wait any longer...[ATTACH]:)[/ATTACH]

Nice boat! Can't wait to see it out on the lake!

Marine Trade
 

I think you will find a big 'shake up/down' in the industry. Current economic trends and politics will see the marina shifting brands in the hope for more profits. You will notice almost all large marinas are selling pontoon boats. A big shift from hulls as you can carry more passengers for the buck.

Formulas are great boats. At one time you could get a beautiful Formula from 17' to 25'. I don't think they sell a boat under 26'. The market has shift more to boats less than or equal to 25'. A good reason for LL to shift from Formulas to Chris Craft and pontoon boats.

Irwin Marine was the de facto Chris Craft dealer in NE. At one time Chris Craft was sold to a conglomerate and shared hulls with Crownline, quality also was way below standards. Irwin Marine dropped the Chris Craft line.

LL did have a large inventory of Formulas. A good reason not to carry the brand if you can't sell them. Prior to 2008, a dealer has to buy a certain number of boats and put them on inventory in order to sell the brand. This is a huge liability to the marinas. I heard today the manufacturers have put some slack to this requirement.

There is a huge loyalty to LL and LL continues to be loyal to Formula owners.

maybe so
 

But from my understanding the franchise was lost because Formula pulled the plug not the other way around. The whole incident on the lake caused way to much negative publicity due to the Formula name being splashed all over the news media.
That is what I was told from a reliable source and it makes total sense.

No need to rain on my parade!

Lets not start this again !!

BTW I have no direct relationship with LL or Paugus Bay

There's nothing like a new boat, especially one built for you. I did this with my current boat.

A couple things to think about:

Keep a checklist, there will be a few bugs, save them up and have them fixed at your first check-up.

Have the dealer change the anodes to magnesium before she goes in the lake. The dealer should be able to get them for free from Mercury.

Why have them changed if the boat has not seen water (except for the test tank)?

Nice boat - looks like you even had a tour of the factory; good luck!!

Electrolysis occurs at the Lake (Not as much as Salt Water) but it's here; especially around busy marinas where there are a lot of shore power hooks ups. Mercruiser installs aluminum or zinc anodes from the factory which is meant for the salt water; magnesium is a much softer metal which is more prone to be eaten away with electrolysis. If you keep the harder metal on for anodes the electrolysis in the water over time will attack your outdrives; using magnesium in fresh water and changing every season will prolong the life of those new B3 drives.

Captn'J

Exactly, I had some paint peel off a new set of B3's in two seasons. Stopped the peeling dead in it's tracks by changing to magnesium. In the past, Mercury said they will swap new boat anodes to the correct ones for the target waterway for free at delivery.