Listees did this ever happen to you? I remember just about having to sign on the dotted line to be able to board a large Bayliner at the boat show. It really made me feel small and unimportant because I knew I couldn't afford the boat. A year or so later I was in line to board a 48 foot Hatteras LRC, I told the factory representative I really couldn't afford the boat but I wanted to look anyway. The guy said that it really wasn't important that I could afford it, but maybe someday I would be able to afford it and I would remember their company. This made me feel great and I really liked that boat. That same type of feeling was repeated a week or so ago at the Annopolis Boat show with different brands but the same old attitudes. I still like the Hatteras 48 LRC but my wife and I could really live on one of the Krogens. The "other brand" steel boat that is supposedly really safe has all my "information" but I just couldn't get myself to come back for my "appointment" to see her. ______________________________________________________ Get Your Private, Free Email at http://www.hotmail.com

At 15:23 10/27/1999 , you wrote: >Listees did this ever happen to you? > >I remember just about having to sign on the dotted line to be able to board >a large Bayliner at the boat show. It really made me feel small and >unimportant because I knew I couldn't afford the boat. A year or so later I >was in line to board a 48 foot Hatteras LRC, I told the factory >representative I really couldn't afford the boat but I wanted to look >anyway. The guy said that it really wasn't important that I could afford >it, but maybe someday I would be able to afford it and I would remember >their company. This made me feel great and I really liked that boat. > >That same type of feeling was repeated a week or so ago at the Annopolis >Boat show with different brands but the same old attitudes. >I still like the Hatteras 48 LRC but my wife and I could really live on one >of the Krogens. The "other brand" steel boat that is supposedly really safe >has all my "information" but I just couldn't get myself to come back for my >"appointment" to see her. I was at the Annapolis show on Thursday (the $25 day), and at about 1 pm I couldn't get an appointment to board the "other brand" boats for the remainder of that day! The appointment lady showed little interest in accommodating me. There was no one in sight on either vessel, and after standing and looking at the wavy topsides steelwork, I decided that if Peter didn't want me aboard that day, then so much for his supposedly excellent marketing skills! You would think that after going to all the trouble to bring these boats to the show, they'd try to accommodate the people who've indicated their interest by popping for the high-priced, VIP admission price! Go figure. ________________________________________________________________ Jack Haring WhoopeeWagen

>Listees did this ever happen to you? > >I remember just about having to sign on the dotted line to be able >to board a large Bayliner at the boat show. It really made me feel >small and unimportant because I knew I couldn't afford the boat. A >year or so later I was in line to board a 48 foot Hatteras LRC, I >told the factory representative I really couldn't afford the boat >but I wanted to look anyway. The guy said that it really wasn't >important that I could afford it, but maybe someday I would be able >to afford it and I would remember their company. This made me feel >great and I really liked that boat. > >That same type of feeling was repeated a week or so ago at the >Annopolis Boat show with different brands but the same old >attitudes. >I still like the Hatteras 48 LRC but my wife and I could really live >on one of the Krogens. The "other brand" steel boat that is >supposedly really safe has all my "information" but I just couldn't >get myself to come back for my "appointment" to see her. I'm 27 and I get this all the time. I've been actively looking at boats and talking to brokers for about a year and I can afford the boats that I have been looking at . However every boat show I go to the brokers practically trip over me on their way to speak to the grey haired couple behind me. My questions go unanswered, the answers I do get are condescending and the broker who will be with me in "just a minute" never materializes. Now I understand the rationale behind this mentality but I contend that its a dated paradigm. This is the SF Bay Area and the 27 year old stands a very solid chance of having a lot more disposable income than the grey haired couple. Apparently brokers haven't heard of the internet or the recent Bull market. At this point I may have to take my appropriately grey-haired parents with me to look at my future boat/home. There was one broker from Ballena bay who took 30 minutes to speak with me at length at the Oakland boat show but when I went back to the trawlerfest in Vallejo to speak with them again he wasn't there and the brokers who were considered me invisible. They have a boat in their brokerage I'm interested in but I may simply make an offer on it through another broker via BucNet. Speaking of my parents, my next boat will not be the 1st in my family, when we lived in New York we owned a cabin cruiser (an IMP..great boat BTW). My father's procedure for buying it involved wearing torn jeans and his Frank Zappa T-shirt to the rather snobby New York City boat show at the Jarvis (sp?) convention center. Consequently, a lot of brokers made sure he never got to see their boats; which as it turns out was an error on their parts since he's an MD and my mother was a PhD teaching at Columbia. Our family did buy a boat and the IMP dealer got a content customer for the next 5 years until we sold the boat through him. Brokers need to learn that disposable income, especially in the silicon valley area, doesn't necessarily look like it did in 1955 or whenever the Vanity Fair image was coined-Ted