We will start it off and build one which will most likely float around for dealers to utilize and have some form of a road show.
Guys we really appreciate what Matt and others have said. We all came together when they visited the facility after loosing support of the Fish Boat Holdings (FBH) group, as they had decided to end the life cycle and promotion of Champion. From those first days of our TOC sponsorship we had told them we held a Champion 203 and were considering evolving it depending on what FBH was doing. It was a rough but dry desert boat.
We started this project well over 10 years ago and things from the recession to more volume models took away from our focus. It had a significant amount of money invested in the entire process from buying a model with an engine, tooling and multiple design changes, to several molds, and then to the boat Matt has. Eventually we needed to make a decision on it as it was delayed after others jumped into this niche. The volumes we don’t know for sure, though we are fairly sure as to what they are from multiple data sources we used. It’s not a huge volume and we don’t expect it to be.
In no way do we intend to get in a _____ ing match over Boats and some of the recent activity. We prefer to deal in facts and Always have. We are humbled to have anyone consider our brand, the new hull, or whatever we can help you with. That’s who we are and what we’ve done for decades. Our moves are not directed at any company now in business and the purchase was done, acquiring of the C203, and design process started long before others ever entered the arena.
We had a complete boat long before anyone built another option. We just were not ready to bring it forwards in the original design with challenges we saw. At the time it was but six days from that years dealer meeting when I pulled the plug and decided to shelf it. We had a finished product at that time. The company already had tons of money and expensive staff time in it and I needed to move on or become another defunct statistic. We had to get other product rolling that paid the bills,
We have always told consumers to choose the boat that makes them happy. We don’t need every sale to feed the shop, we just need our share and we’ve managed to get that share over time. The fierce negative we’ve seen in any post is not productive. It hurts either the other posters, or incriminates and questions the credibility of the negative poster. Obviously our production decision to move forward in action stepped on a few nerves, for no reason.
Eventually we will build a boat for our use here and and we will have it ready to show in the coming months.
I totally respect Jim and Joe Doris and I truly consider them friends. Joe and I have shared both long and short conversations on several occasions. Jim couldn't wait to ask me if I saw their Playcraft pontoon on display outside at IBEX three weeks ago. I said yes, and more than that I heard it first and had to look to see what the stereo was in. He said “you should have heard it last night, they cranked it up!” Great guys! I always harass him about living in Florida.
Let your decision be made by what makes you happiest in a boat. It does no one or any company good will if your not pleased with your decision, and we want everyone to be happy with their purchase.
Thank you,
Rick Pierce
BCB