The Jet Boat Age Is Coming Back

Major Ship builders are releasing a Range of Fresh jet boats

Sales of boats fell steadily throughout the previous year, partly because of Bombardier Recreational Products' [BRP] surprising conclusion in 2012 to abandon creation of its Sea-Doo jet boats. This past September, Sea Ray declared after going so far as showing off prototype versions to consumers and dealers, it would enter the jet boat market. With this history, affordable market observers could think this is the end of the almost 60-year foray into jet technology of the marine industry. As it might look logical, they'd be wrong.

Beginning this season, a new wave of jet versions are currently coming out from leading producers that marks a significant reinvestment into the alternative, high-energy electricity source that is set to shake up the whole marine industry once more.

Welcome back to the jet age.

Boats have been around since the 1950's, but didn't go mainstream until the manufacturers jumped in and sales of jet boats and personal watercraft took off in the 1990's. As it always was their allure remains the same : thrilling acceleration, a compact power-train and the lack of a turning propeller off the stern.

Yamaha and Sea-Doo were the principal players in the flying boat market until Sea-Doo's exit in 2012. Jet-powered boats have comprised a tiny portion of the marine market before Sea-Doo abandoned the category before its parent company's initial public offering last spring.

Scarab's jet boats were created with sharp lines and bolder colours to appeal to younger, more boaters.

Combined with private watercraft, however, jet propulsion accounts for nearly 45 percent of their American powerboat market. According to data supplied by Info-Link jet boat sales have hovered between 4,000 and 3,300 since 2009. Earnings decreased 15.6 percent over 2012 through June of 2013 with a total of 3,396 units marketed.

Even without earnings expansion, the last 12 months have witnessed an explosion in interest in the technologies from boat builders including Rec Boat Holdings, Marine Products Corporation and Sea Ray, which decided against entering the industry after much speculation.

Following its departure, BRP agreed to permit its jet power-trains to Rec Boat Holdings and Marine Products Corporation, and it is potential the technology may be sold by BRP to more businesses in the future.

However it plays out, the marine sector is set up for an unprecedented introduction of jet-powered boats that will shake the sector up and, according to specialists, will probably spur innovation to advance the industry's latest jet revolution.

REC BOAT HOLDINGS LEADING THE PACK

Roch Lambert, group president at Rec Boat Holdings, has had a wild eight months because his company announced that it was entering the jet boat market May.

The Glastron GT187, in addition to three jet-powered Scarabs had already begun rolling down the assembly line and the versions were sent to dealerships shortly thereafter.

Three entirely new Scarab models are all variants of the 195: Standard, HO and Impulse. While the HO and Impulse will be powered by 250 hp motors, the foundation model, standard, will be powered by a Rotax engine .

A tower will be included by the Impulse and be dressed in bolder, more energetic color schemes to appeal to a youthful or young-at-heart demographic. The Standard and HO both will be available in black or blue colorations.

Yamaha will now face a range of competitors that are energized that it anticipates will advance innovation, and has been constructing jet boats since the 1990s.

Lambert is enthusiastic about the styling of the Scarab models. The bright colours and sharp angles require a cue in the company's recent movement toward sportier layouts, as evidenced by the most recent SS and RS from Four Winns and the Glastron GTS series.

Talking about the accelerated timeline from statement to production, he said the company"didn't have some time for hiccups." Lambert added that his team has been overwhelmed with the first success of the undertaking, namely reception from consumers and dealers, such as MarineMax, the nation's biggest dealer group, signing on as a distributor.

Lambert supposes the aborted jet of Sea Ray plans assisted in encouraging MarineMax to signal on. In total, RBH has roughly 130 dealers confirmed to transport its jet goods, with another 20 to 25 in the works, shortly bringing its total North American dealer community to at least 150.

"Every single one of them was and we feel we have probably one of the, if not the strongest, supply network in the marine industry right now," he said.

CHAPARRAL'S VORTEX

At Marine Products Corporation, Jim Lane and his team are busy choosing the best way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the company. The business has recently completed its distribution model to the jet boat market for its upcoming push.

After electing to provide its jet models to the Chaparral seller network, Lane said the firm had been"overwhelmed with the number of positive responses we got back from our dealers indicating their attention, their wish and their desire to carry the jet ship product lineup... we got quite a few rounds of applause from our dealers for selecting that course of action."

Chaparral introduced its first jet boat model in December during its merchant sales training event near the company's Nashville, Ga., headquarters that brought over 150 of the company's dealers.

"We did not pick up any of those designs that BRP had with their product and we began with our very own designs and have developed a ship I believe will be very well recognized in the market and the reason for that is that boat will carry the Chaparral DNA, it will have the identical styling, the same innovations, it'll be a genuine bowrider, which is unusual in the jet boat market because many of those products have come in the personal watercraft," Lane said. "We'll be introducing a gorgeous boat with exceptional styling because we present our first prototype and we're planning on being in creation with that boat by early January."

The business is expecting a total of three jet boats, 20-, 22- and 24-foot iterations for production. They will be powered with a single and double jet power-trains licensed from BRP, will be named Vortex from Chaparral and, like the models of RBH.

"We are looking at different price points, and I think as the boat gets bigger, twin electricity will be the choice for most of those clients," said Lane. "What we're trying to do is fit the ability to the ship so that the customer has the best possible performance and he is happiest with the product."

Chaparral anticipates its jet models to be costly"just as competitively as stern-drive," and its testing has shown jet fuel economy to be similar to stern-drive in all scenarios, other than when running at wide-open throttle, where stern-drives carry the benefit.

"We feel as if there is great potential for expansion within this market and... our traders are projecting some very good numbers they think they can do with the jet boat product," he explained. "I believe with Sea Ray being outside of the market, it only gives us a greater opportunity to market our product."

YAMAHA'S VISION OF FAMILY FUN

Having a lineup of 12 ships ranging in length, all powered only with jet electricity, Yamaha is somewhat of an outsider in the North American market. After beginning from the 1990's building"what were efficiently large personal watercraft," the firm shifted its strategy in 2000 and decided to focus on what it requires the family-fun section.

Comprised of three sections -- sport boats that are towable, runabouts and deck boats -- its products are seen by Yamaha such as the ones of mainstream boat builders. Rather than being defined by power-train, Yamaha feels that its products just happen to be powered by jets -- equally double - and - single-jet engines.

Its competition is seen by Yamaha as most of OEMs that focus on family fun products, not only ships.

"We discovered a way to produce an improved product to that client in that class and it was pretty powerful, and there has been no reason for us to change our driveline of selection."

The project included acquiring more property, a brand new R&D building along with a brand new hull and deck assembly line that increased production capacity by 25 percent.

As part of its expansion launch last August, Scott Watkins, the company's product planning director, stated,"Our unique approach to boat building, which comprises our ships being Yamaha all the way through -- the engine, the production and the dealer foundation, has really taken hold with clients and motivated us into the peak of each size range we all compete in. Because of this our jet drive systems have risen to become the standard for functionality, reliability and functionality from which other family recreational boats are now measured."

"It effectively functions kind of like a hydraulic steering device, like a hydraulic rudder in the water. The water thrust is diverted in a downward direction where it gets more traction, and it's a remarkable influence on the capability to maneuver a ship at low speed without having to apply more control," Speaks said. "Any jet ship is very maneuverable if you're eager to employ more throttle, however to get a first-time operator we could make the whole experience easier, and when we could make it even simpler, all they need to do is turn the steering wheel like they do in their car."

ROTAX JET PROPULSION

Since BRP remains in the market -- minus its Sea-Doo jet boat production -- the business intends to continue its investment in research and development to continue to keep its Rotax Jet Propulsion system in the forefront of their industry.

"While we cannot comment on specific development projects, we could say that we've got an R&D team devoted to the Rotax Jet Propulsion company and that we intend to keep our position as the technological leader in the market," explained BRP at an announcement to Boating Industry.

One of the most important benefits of jet propulsion is that the compact drivetrain, as well as the security and access off the transom for water activities.

The company sees that investment in innovation as a key selling point which has helped the Quebec-based company attract interest.

"The Rotax 4-TEC engine was first created as a marine engine to operate just with jet propulsion. We didn't'marinize' a car engine nor did we accommodate a jet pump to operate with an'off-the-shelf' engine. Our entire system was created by us to work together in the smallest possible package to maximize the available space in the boat."

Its installation is presently the only complete line of C.A.R.B. 4-Star-rated jet systems on the market, covering its range of 150-, 200- and 250-hp jet power-trains. Each option is also available with CE certification for global markets, and also the company cited the benefits of its closed-loop cooling system which keeps"raw" water from being inside the engine, which assists in salt water performance.

THE APPEAL OF JETS

Jet aviation technology proved to be a landmark moment ever, encapsulating the innovative technology mobility which, for a moment, just America could offer.

In the marine world, jets have constantly promised exciting functionality, sharp handling and a much more compact drive system which allows better use of the transom, especially vital as recent usage polls show boaters spending more time than parked in the water and having fun off the back of their boats.

Lambert feels Scarab clients are going to take that mindset with its colors and design attractive to a much younger market while RBH has focused on making its stern-drive product more youthful.

"I think Scarab really takes it to a different level at which it really is not only graphics and color schemes, but the lines of the ships, the design of the boat," Lambert said. "It targets a bunch of people that we believe may not have considered a sterndrive boat previously."

The company has no plans to inform consumers that one power supply is better than another, but will concentrate on the benefits that each propulsion program supplies. For jets, that means talking about the acceleration that is superior, absence of a propeller maneuverability and the elimination of bow rise in takeoff.

Scarabs will appeal to a more active crowd regardless of age, Together with much more flexibility to design a low, uncluttered transom.

"You do not purchase a jet boat just to cruise around, you buy the ship to generally be active with it certainly if we made the stern place, we did this with the active family in mind without a doubt," Lambert said.

In comparison to its own client base, Marine Products Corporation anticipates its Chaparral jet boats to appeal to enthusiasts with past experience likely through PWC, as well as skew marginally younger than its other products.

"A lot of people that have used personal watercraft are very accustomed to the jet engine, and as they move to a ship some of them favor the jet motor, some of them do not, and I believe that by offering a jet-powered product that we are likely to pick up both sides of the market," said Lane. "Clearly some people that have had a jet move to stern-drive, but I believe by having a stern-drive product and using a jet merchandise with carrying the Chaparral DNA, we're likely to strike either side of the marketplace and we are going to be able to provide the customer what they want."

Lane likens the allure of his coming jet ship roster to that of the company's successfully H20 entry-level stern-drive lineup, probably attracting customers which are slightly younger. He added that the jet drive aligns with the business's desire to bring people.

"Certainly the objective of the National Marine Manufacturers Association has been to attract more people into boating and I believe that jet boats have attracted more people into angling," he said. "If you look at the numbers, just in 2012, the number of jet boats that were sold it was quite significant and also the market share had been increasing to some level and there was growth in this market."

Speaks said that has changed somewhat in the past couple of decades, although Much like Chaparral, Yamaha's study reveals watercraft has been previously undergone by many people drawn to jet ships.

"We find that our customers frequently have owned stern-drive- or outboard-powered boats previously and the combo of features and benefits that have jet drive appeal to them today," he explained.

On Yamaha, it doesn't matter the number of ships. What is critical, Speaks stated, is that the number of boats sold in its own self-defined family-fun category, such as inboards, stern-drives and outboards.

"The fact that there are new companies getting into the family-fun category with jet drive merchandise will be a good thing since it helps take jet drive mainstream," he said.

A NEW WAVE

As the first wave of jet boats start hitting the market, the consequences of this industry shift stay unclear. RBH has established sales targets with the expectation that its goods will become a substantial section of the organization's volume and earnings within five years or even earlier.

"We have fairly competitive goals [and] there are a whole lot of elements that will play a part in determining exactly how big that's going to be," Lambert said. "We're ramping up new models just about every two or three months within the following calendar year, so the full effect probably isn't likely to be observed till calendar year 2015. At that stage, there's no doubt jet is going to play an extremely significant role in the general earnings of our business."

He added that over 12 weeks there'll be a total of 8 to 10 brand new jet boats below the Glastron and Scarab brands, with more coming in the future. When asked about the competition and the prospect of brands Lambert stated his firm isn't intimidated by jet players, and might have made the investment no matter Chaparral's intentions.

So far, RBH relies on the details of its multiple product launches, fulfilling production orders that have far outstripped capacity and rebuilding the Scarab brand.

"I have launched a great deal of goods in my profession and that I don't believe I recall one that's been so unanimous in its own reception with everyone that has seen it so much," Lambert said. "We did not get into this match... because we believed that jet boats were planning to boom. We think this is an option that we develop a fantastic success story and can master here. If you ask me today five years from today how large jet boats will be... I frankly do not know. All I know is we're very convinced that our staff is going to make it a success for our firm."

Lane was reticent about his company's sales projections as manufacturing is set to begin on the jet boats of Chaparral. His staff is preparing a competitive marketing plan because of its jet products which will coincide with the 50th anniversary celebration of the company. Where they will get the opportunity to push the boats, He's excited to show off the product to the dealers in its Georgia facility.

"Dealers are very intuitive, and we are anxious to see how they approve of what we've done," Lane explained. "I think they're in for quite a positive surprise"

Unveils additional new models, including two brand new Robalos and a 21-foot H2O.

"We like to be more innovative," Lane explained. "We love to offer products we understand our traders are interested in where we can create good market share for them and decent market share for us, so our company has developed itself about quite solid engineering section, and... we've introduced 24 versions in the previous 6 to 8 decades and I think that is essential to any firm, because something is always true, we know that new sells"

As more players join its market, Yamaha is looking forward to additional competition driving both innovation and consumer attention, and remains optimistic about its own 20-year head start from the category.

"I'm not arrogant enough to think that a number of those new players will not bring some fresh ideas to advertise that we haven't thought of in years past and I think that is a great thing," Speaks said. "People love new solution, so the fact that Rec Boat Holdings and Chaparral are going to go into the market with some new jet-powered product usually means that some of the market with new products are likely to gin up some interest among prospective boat buyers and we're going to gain from that."

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