2017 BASS boat brands and motors

[AAD]

OK, so the pharmacist nerd -  data hungry side of me reared it's ugly head last night when I clicked thru all the boat wraps for the 2017 Elites. They had pictures of 104 of the 110 competitors. Here are the numbers.

For brands, 11 different ones represented this year.

Ranger - 19

Phoenix - 17

Triton - 17

Skeeter - 16

Nitro - 12

Bass Cat - 11

Legend - 7

Falcon - 2

Stratas, Blazer, and Xpress - 1

 

For the motors, it was very Merc heavy.

Mercury - 63

Yamaha - 30

Evinrude - 5

Suzuki - 4

Honda - 2

 

Looked at a Phoenix at the STL Boat show a couple weeks ago. Looks like a really nice boat. I was surprised to see it tied for second in numbers.

[Sore Thumbs]

Bill Babler really likes his I think. Hopefully he will chime in on the subject. 

[Sore Thumbs]

Those evinrude motors are really expensive I guess. Every boat I see for sale with one seems to be $5-$10000 higher than same boat with yamaha or Merc. 

[moguy1973]

Pretty even on the numbers of the big names.  I would have thought there would be more Nitros but I guess I'm used to seeing a lot of those on MLF.

[rps]

1 hour ago, Sore Thumbs said:

Those evinrude motors are really expensive I guess. Every boat I see for sale with one seems to be $5-$10000 higher than same boat with yamaha or Merc. 

Once you own and run one for a while you understand the value they represent. 2 stroke torque, less maintenance, first key turn start every time for 6+ years. Just saying.

[Champ188]

45 minutes ago, rps said:

Once you own and run one for a while you understand the value they represent. 2 stroke torque, less maintenance, first key turn start every time for 6+ years. Just saying.

Sounds exactly like my Merc.

[Sore Thumbs]

Hard to justify the difference in price. Especially when  Merc is a proven motor and could be rebuilt for less than the difference in price. I'm sure Rude is nice I don't know enough about them nor have I used one. They sure look cool.

[Bill Babler]

Hope not to step on any toes here.  I mentioned a few weeks ago that I had my 2014 Phoenix for sale.  It lasted exactly 5 minutes on this forum until my first call.  Gone.  1st. guy without even looking at it.  He sent his Dad down, one of our own Joe Lane and he gave it a good going over and said, "Yep, it's what I thought it would be, you will be getting the call before the day is over."  Had over 20 calls on the boat.  I kept it really nice as you might imagine.  I'll snap a quick photo when he picks it up Saturday morning.

Called my District Manger and asked what my team deal was going to be on a 2017 PHX with a 250 Verado, as you know Phoenix is now a sponsor of the Elite Series.  Team deal was still the same, but the technology had gotten much more expensive.  As most of you know, Phoenix built a totally new factory in 2015.  That factory will not handle the amount of boats they are now selling and they are currently building another factory to keep up with demand.  It will be completely state of the art and will come online in 2018.  It kind of makes guide deals not as important as they were several years ago. Deal was still good, but not what it had been. 

I friend is on the Ranger National team asked me what my new Phoenix deal was and I told him.  He said let me get back with you tomorrow.  They presented me an unbelievable opportunity to go with Ranger.  Really just above and beyond the call.  Cannot tell you how much I appreciated the way it way handled and how well I was treated by Ranger.

During that period Gary Clouse the President of Phoenix, came back with another team deal that was not the percentage that Ranger was going to give me, but was certainly good enough to keep me in the best Bass Boat on the Market by far.  There will be a 2017 PHX with the Verado in the driveway by early April.

Phoenix had a 28% increase in 2016 sales and no other boat company even came close, most for that matter had negative increase.  Maybe one that most would have thought would have had an increase from around here went down.  

From the 819 to the Flagship 921 PHX, Phoenix has a boat for everyone.  With what is now the most innovative big water hull design in the Diamond V the ride and performance is unequaled and you see it by not only sales numbers but with such a short history they are  currently 3rd highest owner loyalty repurchase in the industry.  Following only BassCat and Ranger.

We are also hearing there may be another boat coming out of Arkansas in the next several years as soon as the no-compete clause expires.  Boat might have something to do with Forrest L. Wood.  But that is just speculation and conjuncture at this point.  Maybe.

Anyone that would like a test in a Phoenix of any size or configuration, give McCallister Marine a shout at Highlandville and Howard will be happy to visit or get you a test drive quick as a wink.  My satisfaction with the boats have been without reproach.  This will be my 4th. boat and I have had zero issues with any performance or maintenance on any of them.  I have close to 1000 hrs. of guide time in my Phoenix boats without an issue.  During that period I have had 4 extremely small issues with my Mercury's.  I have had 3 issues with my SeaStar steering going out in cold weather, and that has been it.

There will always be changes and things get better every day as far as technology, but as of 2017 Phoenix is on the cutting edge of performance and ergonomics when it comes to bass boats.  Anyone that comes into the area, please holler at me and take a ride in the new PHX when she lands at the Lodge in April.

Good Luck

[Seth]

4 hours ago, Sore Thumbs said:

Hard to justify the difference in price. Especially when  Merc is a proven motor and could be rebuilt for less than the difference in price. I'm sure Rude is nice I don't know enough about them nor have I used one. They sure look cool.

I've ran Etecs for the past seven years and they have been great for me. I swear, everybody I know running an Opti 250 has had to replace the air compressor at $1000 a pop. One guy is 3 for 3 at owning Opti's (2003, 2008 and 2014) that had it fail. A few had the power head shoot craps within 50 hours after that as well. They run well, but I'd be really nervous to run one once the warranty was expired. The 4 strokes seem to be a lot more reliable, but they are all 150hp and less.

[Sore Thumbs]

I've never owned one but it seems like people stay away from used boats with Evinrudes. Scared of them for some reason. I see the draw if you buy a new one. Can't beat the warranty.