Quote:
Originally Posted by Bentley Boy
I think this would be a good time to stop the speculation and attempt to set the record straight on this matter.
I have known the owners of both marinas for more than thirty years. In fact one of the PBM owners worked for Lakeport Landing in the late seventies and early eighties. These are all good people who have worked hard at being successful in the very seasonal marina business.
Some facts:
1. Lakeport Landing's relationship with Formula has been great and goes back 31 years. For several years Lakeport Landing was the largest Formula dealer in the world!! Not a small achievement. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement for years but, when the recession hit, boat dealers everywhere were caught with new unsold inventory and needed help from the manufacturers. Formula's excellent special financing packages became not available because of banks' reluctance to lend money. As the new inventory aged, Lakeport Landing and other Formula dealers called and met with Formula executives but no assistance was offered. Formula essentially gave up its entire dealer network that took years to build and decided to sell directly to the public as SeaDoo speculated.. The New York address in bigpatsfan's previous post is actually Formula itself. Now Formula had current models to sell without a middle man while the poor dealers were stuck with new prior years models. How can any dealer compete when the factory is selling current product directly to the public at a lower price?
2. The notion that the Diamond Island accident had anything to do with Formula giving its franchise to PBM is wrong. If it were so it would not have taken Formula more than 2 1/2 years to do so. While it was not the best publicity, the truth is that the boat involved was not a "go fast". It was a 370 Sun Sport which is known in the industry as a "day boat". The unexpected conditions that night were impossible without radar or GPS. Speed had nothing to do with it.
3. As good as PBM may be, they will never be able to handle the full Formula line. It takes special equipment to lift boats over 30 feet. These boats are heavy. PBM will probably focus its sales on the smaller entry level boats.
4. PBM has limited dockage and relies mainly on rack storage which is less expensive than dockage but far less convenient for the boat owner.
5. Floor Plan will be difficult for PBM to inventory new boats and then sell them in a short period of time.
So, lets all of us wish both marinas the best. All three entities have made a business decision that hopefully will work out for all.
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Bentley...I must say, you lost all credability with me as soon as you said "It was a 370 Sun Sport which is known in the industry as a "day boat". The unexpected conditions that night were impossible without radar or GPS. Speed had nothing to do with it." I don't know your connection with the accident, if any, but if you saw that boat or the trial...you wouldn't have come to this conclusion!