Hatteras at Ft Lauderdale Boat Show

Did you also catch who would not be there? Hatteras related.

Interesting first post and first thread, 4 years after joining. Do you have a connection to Hatteras?

New to the show

I will be going to the Ft Luaderdale boat show for the first time this year. Other than looking at the boats, any tip from those of you who have attended before? Things to see/avoid, good restaurants, bars, etc?

Barring the show, no trip to Ft. Lauderdale is complete with out hitting the Blue Moon Fish Company, Commercial Blvd. on the ICW (Ocean side) This time of year, reservations are required. On 17th Street to the immediate West of the Southport Shopping Center is Southport Raw Bar, great local place, and great Conch fritters! Then of course is the Bimini Boat Yard (known to the locals as the Bimbo Boat Yard) be there at Happy Hour and you'll understand...beautiful women looking for rich Boat owners. But they do have very good food, especially their homemade Bimini Bread with Honey swirled throughout the loaf. Across the street from Publix is Duffy's, a sports bar in a strip center, and one night a week they have all the snow Crabs you can eat for about 12 bucks a person. It's a local's place (not for the snooty FLIBS goers)

Oh, and since this is your first trip, drinks at the top of the Pier 66, it's a circular room that rotates 360 degrees every 66 minutes. Cute huh? Great vista's at night, and there are three or four observation decks you can step out to and take in the Ocean breeze. From Southport Raw Bar to Pier 66 is within walking distance....assuming that you didn't walk yourself to death at the Show. Enjoy and have a Great time!

Originally Posted by olderboater View Post
Did you also catch who would not be there? Hatteras related.

I'm surprised as a broker who works for a Hatteras dealer...well, here's a clue....The new 45 EX you speak of. It wasn't born a Hatteras. What was it originally?

An Albemarle?!?

Yes, it does sound like that.

Cabo Website

May be I'm the last one who discovered it, but it seems the website is not on-line anymore...sad

Actually they just made the website change. A few days ago it was still up. I'm assuming they felt they needed to finally say something. Maybe Ferretti will do the same on Bertram some day.

Thanks for the info and insight, NEO56!

Sad too

My pleasure Sir, I hope you have a great show!

Neo's list is very good, but in addition to the restaurants NEO mentioned.....you HAVE to visit Rustic Inn in Dania Beach not far from Ft. Lauderdale for some of their garlic crabs and seafood.

Well, I guess I will spill the beans. Versa is shelving Cabo at the moment and planning on re-introducing the brand again at a later date, citing low profit margins on them. They had good profit margins prior to moving to New Bern, and in fact turned a profit in 2011 before the move. The Adelanto factory was very efficient. For example, they would average 7300 man hours to build a 40' express, the best the New Bern guys could do was 10,800 man hours. The Hatteras 45 EX is the Cabo 44' hull with a Hatteras superstructure. Sad news on the Cabo front. Hatteras' entire problem is production efficiency.

You have that backwards. It was the former Cabo44 that was downgraded to a Hatteras 45ex. Cabo uses a better hull design and hull designer than Hatteras in many peoples opinions. Cabo also built things a lot cleaner than Hatteras IMO. I noticed several instances of that changing when they moved to New Bern.

I would also be remiss by not mentioning the Bluewater Book & Charts store at the East end of the Publix shopping center on 17th Street. Bluewater has been around for 37 years, and have just about every publication of anything Marine related. I remember spending hours in that store every time I was in that neighborhood. I looked up their address to make sure they were still in business. Their address is 1811 Cordova Rd. It would be kind of like going to Washington D.C. and not hitting the Smithsonian.

Have you been on and driven both a Cabo 44 and the Hatteras 45EX?

Didn't think so. Give us a review when you have!

And looking further into the past, what Cabo are you comparing to what Hatteras? Neither has built a boat in the same size class for a long time.