Riviera Australia goes under

Sounds like a great idea to me!

I think Riviera (and Maritimo) needs to bring a little more to the table in what they design. I just had a look at the 53 IPS C/B (it resembles a small building). I think it even starred in the ugly boat section.

And I think this is why Australian's are bringing Bertram's, Viking's, Cabo etc, and why wouldn't you. Quality would be the same, but better performace looks etc from the US brands. Better again, same, if not cheaper prices. I'm trying to get a family friend to bring in a Viking 48, hell yeah!

Far

Far mate,

That thing needs its own 'Fugly' thread.

Good lord, you would have thought someone would have vetoed it after seeing the drawings.

Bad sign for the business when they sign off on such design. Ford Edsel...

hatteras got it right with the GT series. Riv should hire their designer.

A fav of mine:


http://blackwatch.com.au/36fly/gallery/a.jpg

Sorry guys, but the Yanks have it on the beauty side of things.

I have a passion for Carolina wooden boats. Perverted I know.

Occhio - Sport Fishing Boat Camera Mount - YouTube

Riviera Design

In days gone by, Riviera sold boats to "boaters". i.e. people who fished, or cruised etc.

For probably the last 8 years or so, they have followed many other builders and followed the buyers!
The buyers of many boats today will never have as fish on their deck or a big sea to cruise. They buy the boat as part of the waterfront home they have, use it to take friends out for drinks (and impress) and maybe anchor in some calm water area for a night or two.
Don’t blame the designers as all too often they wish they were working on something exciting etc. This boat is ugly to us, but very BIG & practical for what it is used for .
Design follows market desire.

BEAUTIFUL!!!!!!!!!
How much though?

Ah, in the old days.........

No, back in the '80s the boys used to knock up a hull in plywood in the winter and just change engines over. There was nothing inside but a fuel tank and batteries.

Heck, they chartered the living sh*t out of it to make it pay though. They were worn out at the end of a season.

These days, around the same price. I found alot of the custom boats are usually for charter, so everything is pretty heavy duty when built. And there Nav gear is pretty $$$$, especially when your running Furuno Nav Net gear x 3 x 4 x 5 displays. They also run bigger, or in general machinery that you usualy wouldn't find in a standard boat (ice makers, fridges etc). You could even save a few bob going to custom, and get a better boat.

I heard Riv investers get 17cents to the dollar, plus on top labour cost, brokerage, basically there's a lot more people in the pipeline that need to get paid then say your custom builders, so IMO, the boat is over priced.


As for the Riv and Maritimo's designers/Nav archs/, I bet wouldn't have a clue about sportsfisher in America, they design off numbers, and not experience (yes, for mostly pleasure). I'm only starting to see the custom boats in Aus start to use the palm beach style throttles, there even still running massive deadrises to the transoms.

Far

Waste Knot - Jarrett Bay, that's boat porn mmmmm

Far

I'm not so sure that's a good idea Chris, the boat porn gets us old guys blood pressure up to dangerously high levels as it is

Jarrett Bay and Merrits and the Flair!

Ahhhh. the Jarrett Bay word......brings back memories of looking at boats there in NC where there are so many boat cult guys and people that really love their machines..... Customs built in garages.........some not so great in quality but some that were off the charts incredible! No names here though but I met so many straight up guys there that were really into boats and knew how to build them and run them! They were also fair to work with too......at least in my opinion. My dream would be to have a Jarrett Bay SF or a Merrit SF ( I know...not a NC boat but you know what I am referring to ) here in Southern California where there arent many " Carolina Flairs ". I would be the coolest guy on the docks here as some locals truly understand just what they are looking at! The others would ask what they were and I would be proud to give them a short version on what those boats are all about. I,m not the expert on them but I have had many extended conversations with SouthEast Coast guys that spelled it out to me .

The book " The Carolina Flair " should be a must read for anyone that loves boats. In the mean time, I,m going to enjoy my 33 footer running around the islands here dreaming about what I would do in a heartbeat if I won the lottery.......go see Roy Merrit and order me up my 60 ft dream boat!

Riviera announced they have left Administration and are now under private ownership.

Follow this link for their PR Propaganda. http://tinyurl.com/79dkah6

I reckon it's good for boat buyers that BBC did not mange to buy them and merge Maritimo and Riv.

You'd have to question why to bring Moxey back in. Wasn'nt he in charge of them when they got into the mess ?. OK it was the private equity Taipans that loaded Riv with buyout debt but ? Seems he's a Mate of the new owner. What about the guys that stayed with Riv through thick n thin ?

How long till we see a Riviera offshoot in Taiwan or China ?

Actually, I've been told a lot of the fitout are more from China products (Asian Countries) these days, but moving the whole operation offshore would be shooting themselves in the foot I think. I think the reason the brand is so popular in Australia is simply cause it has that "built in Australia lable".

Maritimo only moved half the operation, save of cost, but still keep some cred with the Australian market. IMO

Far