DynaSkiPete

This has delivered the information I desired. My boats are priced right I know have confirmed. My competition is not new inboards it is used inboards and some people preconceived ideas. Once a speed control is available on a 150 the outboard world will change again. It has with the bigger motors as Mercury has Smart Tow for the 175 and up motors. I have found a couple owners of Mercury Verado Four Strokes with the option. I'm gathering their feedback and waiting until we have completed one with their new four stroke (200 hp).

My wife is a good boat driver. My son is a better boat driver. I prefer my brother in law as he gives me the best pulls even with minimal practice as 40+ years of driving is still the best.

Interested to hear the selling price. Once some realtor gets involved realistic price may disappear sadly.

People should spend what they are comfortable spending and owing. It seems like only a few people really need the latest and greatest best ever tournament wake.

It does cost more to add some options. A closed bow and an open bow cost about the same to build in the end but open bows are easier to get more money for. A larger boat really does not cost much more to make but it brings a much higher price. The difference between the cost of smaller vs bigger boats is only the material costs and some labor. The running gear for both inboard boats (motor, steering, gas tank, pylon, cleats, decals, etc.) all costs the same. With outboards the biggest difference between our 17.6 & 20 are size of the motor wanted for performance and brakes needed on the 20' trailer. 150 vs 200 or larger. Bigger can bring a bigger profit. It really is this simple.

Does the area naturally get deeper after the end of the concrete? If so just carefully put in some pre-made concrete slabs. You will need a big crane and the ability to make or buy suitable slabs to add on. Then the only problem is the potential for one surface being a difference height than the other where they meet together. I assume you don't want to lower the lake and replace the entire landing surface?

We already build a line of fishing boats in the boat shop. The fishing boat market is much bigger than the water ski market. Helps keep our prices down along with no dealers. If new buyers would not purchase in mass the prices of anything will come down to some degree. It works in the used boat market all the time as asking prices are seldom paid unless they are realistic ones or the buyer/sellers unaware. Remember asking is often not selling and everyone wants a great deal thanks to TV shows like Pickers. "I need some meat on the bones" . . . . . . oops off topic sorry. There is a lot of good information on this topic I feel and I started the post.

With the logic or guess at the bottom of this people are not understanding of how business works for toys. Higher risk means higher profits (rewards) are expected. Unless you custom build stuff to order using the buyers money the profit ratio is what I'm telling you. Dealers often charge 20% to 35% on boats and 40% to 50% on accessories. Parts are around 35%. Don't forget most dealers pay interest on inventory. We won't be building an inboard soon if ever. The big 3 do an excellent job. Trying to sell against them is crazy. Price alone won't do it. Spending a couple million dollars to make a better mouse trap and then jump thru all the hoops for approval to hopefully crack the market is not a wise investment. Many have tried and failed. Besides an outboard can be made to do almost all the same things with a Mercury Four Stroke and Smart Tow with the programmable launch system I'm told by an end user. Fat Sacs can provide the bigger wake if one is desired although the two and three motored 20' Closed Bows can make monster wakes if desired. With more than one motor the ski wake suffers some. Realistically I think manufacturers make between 18 and 22% and dealers probably make the same margin. If you do the math backwards and you're a smart buyer (not the rube who pays MSRP) I think you realize the price of boats is not unreasonable. A business person working for a lower margin than that is not a very good business person or is a very high-volume business.

Interesting math below. I'd put the cost at 25% of the MSRP to the manufacturer for the big 3. They are doing volume so buying materials, motors, etc. for less than many of us small manufacturers. Here is some food for thought. In today's inboard market you can divide the MSRP by 2.5 that will give you a pretty close approximation of the cost to the manufacturer to build the product going out the assembly door. So $100,000 MSRP Boat cost the manufacturer some where around $40,000 to build in today's market. now again that is a rough number but probably pretty close.

We don't use airbnb and have been renting places on a large public lake for many years. They charge a lot for doing mostly nothing. When a rental includes bedding or similar services in Wisconsin you need a motel/hotel license, state inspections and lots of insurance. Little of this is necessary if the rental is a "house keeping" rental. Plus no laundry to do! I looked into renting single motor water ski boats (remember I own Dyna-Ski Boats and we build outboard water ski tow boats 20' 1" long that have 900+ hp). The insurance is a killer for rentals. Our business insurance is not cheap but it is affordable. In a rental setting two to three years worth of premiums would have paid for the boats. There is no turning it off and on to avoid some of the premiums. I have access to a private ski lake with one house on the it. The owner is very careful with allowing people to put their boats on the lake. He does not rent out the lake.

Sadly so far only one real price and it was for a left over boat. The margins on new inboard boats is very good for the manufacturers and dealers. Pontoons and aluminum boats tend to have the tightest margins. The potential margin on used boats at dealers has to be very good or the dealers I know won't do the deal meaning they won't take your trade in. They are all in business to make money, lots of money. Don't kid yourself that they are not. Dealers have high overhead costs to cover.

As the owner of several rental properties some rented by the week and month on lakes there are several concerns. How does one insure a boat rental?

More interesting comments. Thanks again. What is the lowest price anyone has seen for a new inboard? Not a demo or promo deal but a new inboard water ski boat. A new leftover is OK.

My current last boat.

Interesting comments so far except for the usual couple as I expected. They could build inboards for less than an outboard ski boat but as long as people will pay more they ask more. There are many ways they could save money painlessly but that is a long story itself. So why do manufacturers keep changing the bottom of their boats? The current one is the best ever until next year. This I'll never understand as you slalom folks are still just trying to go around the buoys which has not changed ever.

I'm curious what people think a new boat should cost. Keep in mind what you make and spend on housing, vehicles, ATV's, UTV's, Snowmobilles, Motorcycles, dining out, golf, phone, internet, TV, food, coffee, etc. Also do you make payments on your boat? What is a comfortable payment if you make one?

Closed bow market is very small. Women want Open Bows. Does not matter why.

I replace engines every 4 years or so. Some I have kept longer. For several years when the technology in outboards was changing almost monthly (software) I'd do it every year. Current one is on it's fourth season. It does cost money to do this. But a little every year ($500 to $1000 per year average) is fairly painless. Of course it is easy with outboards. Around here in Northeastern Wisconsin there are not many places to get inboards or outboards serviced. Seems dealers are slowly disappearing. I tell customers when they are deciding what brand of motor to buy on Dyna-Ski or other outboard powered boats to check their area for service dealers. Ask your friends and look at what brands the neighbors own. Buy a motor you can get serviced! My ski buddy has a 1990 Evinrude 150 V-6 two stroke that is still purring right along but he has decided to repower the boat as he sees the huge difference in fuel consumption between our two 150's. My dealer friends say they make their money doing service, selling docks & lifts, installing docks and lifts, removing docks and lifts along with providing storage. Storage is huge. Some handle transportation of the boats to/from the lake in spring and fall. A few even provide services of lawn cutting, snow removal, checking on their customers houses, etc. The service orientated dealers are all doing quite well it appears. Competing with the mega dealers prices make it have for them to make any money on sales but they often pickup all their service work. None of them are cheap.

Now I'll shock you. Probably setting myself up for a failure too after 31 years of skiing. I've never missed a minute other than for a dead battery. Put the charger on it to start it and bought a new battery later just to be sure. Batteries are good for 4 to 8 years from my experience. I'm very lucky it seems or is it that newer outboards have fewer problems?

I own a nice sized magnet on a long rope. Never lose metal stuff. Our lake is fairly clear too.

Why don't people use dealers for repairs? A lot of money spent on something that does not work. WOW.

I'm still amazed at the folks worried about shoes and carpet in a boat. I step on the seats even with shoes I'll wear in the water, on land and in the boat. Any of you have an off road vehicle, truck, ATV, etc.? A little sand isn't much to be concerned with in these toys.

I can tell you with a Dyna-Ski Open Bow outboard nothing would likely have happened. Not the case with some brands of outboards. Our bow comes up just enough under part throttle that it is unlikely much water would get in the passenger area.

Living on a large public lake in Northeastern Wisconsin is great. Bought in 1986. Have lived here full time for 25 years. Our lake is seldom busy. We can ski from sunrise to sunset. No longer need a rider to ski. In the winter we snowmobile and many folks ice fish. Now a small busy public lake with ski hours might not be so much fun. I've been on ski lakes. Other than for skiing they are boring. We have 24 or so miles of shoreline to explore.

I live on a large lake where they cut the weeds. The have for many years. Lake owners pay a tax to support it. My son works summers on the shoreline cleanup crew. They pick up the weeds that drift away and on to shore. Haul them away on a weed cutter which offloads into a dump truck. They dump them on several fields. The cutters are expensive ($250 K or so each new) and even have GPS for positioning. They usually have 3 cutters working 40 hrs a week but they sold an older one and the new one won't be in for awhile. They say there are fewer weeds now than before they started cutting.