Bertram Closing Merritt Island Facility?

The company coming in is quite speculative from the local officials. They are hopeful, but that company is considering locations from Florida to NC. Still I'd say Merritt Island is a high probability for them. Just they haven't committed yet.

Pretty much negates our coverage of Bertram's Merritt Island facility...

http://www.yachtforums.com/forums/b...ure-bertrams-new-merritt-island-facility.html

Bertram operates somewhat independent of Ferretti, although still under the Ferretti umbrella. It's a little unclear...

Well, it was still good coverage and a nice story. And since you're so familiar with the facility, maybe you can cover it for the next builder to move in. And maybe the one after that. Did you cover Sea Ray's grand opening there?

One other thing that may impact this is that the move to Merritt Island was planned prior to the current Ferretti ownership. You might say they just bulldozed the Merritt Island plant. (Ok, for those who don't know, Ferretti is owned now by a Chinese bulldozer manufacturer). It will be interesting to see what happens. Could we see Bertram built in China? Closed all together? Italy? Miami?

I was just speaking to someone who is dealing with one of the last Bertram's built there and it's 2 legal pages long list of warranty issues to fix. The doors have been shuttered at the factory for several months and nothing has been going on there. He basically stated they're not in business, until they start producing boats again....... if they do...... But he is just a Captain trying to get the boat fixed......I went by the factory at the end of June, by water and there was absolutely no sign of any activity there then, nothing.

Amazing how there has been no public article about the health or status of Bertram that I've been able to find. No questions to Ferretti. Haven't even gotten a "no comment" as I can't tell anyone has asked for a comment from them. Yet it's public that someone else is considering their facility.

The bigger question about the Merritt Island Plant would center around the dockage in the basin that was carved out previously by Sea Ray. It appears that local officials where very upset when this occurred, and in response they did not issue permits for SR to have the docks finished, i.e. with the appropriate protection from the concrete docks, nor were they allowed to use them for long periods of time (24 hours+).

Did Bertram ever resolve this issue and/or are the new owners aware of this "special" circumstance regarding the much maligned "manatee" basin???

No doubt the new Bertram 60 will have the Ulberg design 'stamp' below the waterline. The question - will she still look more Convertible than hardcore SF?

Viking and Hatteras have definitely swung to the hardcore SF look, it will remain to be seen if the host of Italian designers can "catch" this look & feel.

Kind of like designing a US muscle car, not exactly the Italian's expertise (not to be confused with their Ferrari and other supercar dominance).

About 2 years ago, I put Loren Schweizer onboard the latest iteration of the Bertram 54 that supposedly had the hull reworked/tweaked by Ulberg. Loren went on a sea trial then called me immediately afterwards asking... "is this same Bert 54 that YF declined to review previously, citing a wet ride? I said no, this was a new boat". Loren said... "then decline the review on this one too". It was the wettest boats he'd ever been on. Keep in mind, Loren's been on more Bert's than Dick himself. He worked for Bertram for 15 years, then another 20 years as yacht broker specializing in big sportfish boats.

Accurate assessment. It's actually been a thorn in the side for Ferretti Group USA in working with Zuccon International and Ferretti Corporate. They want to keep Bertram US designed and built. That was the reason for bringing in Ulberg. It's been like fighting a giant Marlin with the bite of a Great White.

Hopefully someone will buy the name, and not take any of the molds and current designs and start from scratch! At this time I think the name is the only thing worth a few bucks.
Should be interesting to see what they say at FLIBS, maybe a bothersome internet journalist can get them cornered for some answers?

Does the name really carry any value now? It wouldn't be the same people who built the name nor the same boats. Plus the name has really been damaged by the last few years. It would be interesting to see what one got from focus groups regarding the name. I just know in the past when I've seen tests of formerly great names that had been greatly tarnished, they've been very disappointing. It's easy to reverse years of good reputation but very difficult to reverse bad.

I have heard the same things. The good. I've heard that the boat is more stable and doesn't roll around on the troll like the early ones. The bad is that I've heard that it is a wet boat also.

Biggest problem I see, is Ferretti likes to use one very large fuel tank at the front of the engine room bulkhead to quiet down the master stateroom. On a SF this setup doesn't work because a SF likes the fuel weight or general trim of the boat much further aft generally. The fuel tank at the front of the engine room seems to make the trim too far foward and a wet boat because of it.