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Bertram Yachts Has Been Sold

Discussion in 'Bertram Yacht' started by Liam, Feb 5, 2015.

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  1. Bill Thomson, Mar 5, 2016
    #21
    Bill Thomson

    Bill Thomson New Member

    Joined:
    Mar 3, 2016
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    Location:
    Windsor, Ontario
    From one Italian owner to another, kind of scary, although the new 35 looks good and they seem to be doing it with sincerity and properly. Let's hope... of course the question I have is where is Hull #3 going to be manufactured ?

    As a lifelong Bert lover and operator and true disliker of those New Bern boats it would thrill me to see Bertram rise again. I just don't have a lot of faith in folks who make penne rigate building SF's - please prove me wrong !
  2. Liam, Mar 6, 2016
    #22
    Liam

    Liam Senior Member

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    Location:
    Malta
    When Ferretti Group bought Bertram in 1999, I think the company was full of good will.
    Fast forward to 2004/5 when some banks and hedge founders jumped on the success of the group and things started to go down hill.
    Then in 2007 there was the sell to the hedge founder and we had bean counters managing the company more then anything else.

    But dislike them or not and to be fair to them, they always tried to leave Bertram as American as possible. Even before selling to Gavio they where trying there best to leave it in the USA and in Miami, and so on so forth. Surely they could have done it better, loads of times better.
    But the only thing Italian in the latest incarnation of Bertram (1999 - 2013) was that it belonged to the Ferretti Group (which for the most part was owned by a London based hedge founder from 2006-10 and some other banks), the very clever Zuccon was the designer, and a couple of the mangers where Italian.

    Gavio is something very different to Ferretti Group, the boating brands he bought are mostly as hobby, meaning his real business is not boating. He did a very good job with Baglietto and Cerri so far.
    Lets wait and see what he does with Bertram, so far the future does not look so bad. In reality it looks good.
  3. Capt J, Mar 6, 2016
    #23
    Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    The problems started around 2003 or 2002 with the boats coming apart, but definately before 2004. They swept A LOT of boats under the rug that nobody heard about.

    They also did some changes to them before 2004 to Italian-ize them. They went to the single fuel tanks at the front bulkhead of the engine room and screwed up the LCG and made them bow heavy. They also did some Italian flared windows a little bit as well.

    The entire problem was they had boats coming apart for YEARS, around 2002/3 to as late as 2008 that I know of. I know of over a dozen boats that came apart and had major structural issues. NOW, if you are seeing boats with major structural issues, wouldn't you figure out what it is and why all of a sudden it's happening? The first 63' Bertram SF they launched, on it's maiden seatrial by the factory, ripped the engine mounts right out of the stringers in relatively calm seas. So the structural issues were known earlier than most outsiders knew about.
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