Bertram Entering the Outboard Market

Sux to be building those megayachts without concern of the IMO rule.
We are having an LNG tug built for delivery next year that uses modern technology.

Honda's kinda suked from the beginning. I noticed a few years ago, the fasteners were auto grade - not to marine standards. Rusted and fell off after two years rugged service.

Never quite liked Yamaha's - too pricey and didn't last long.

Mariners, Tohatsu-Zuks, Mercury & Evinrudes in order are the best motors made. Hands down IMHO

Back in the 90's and early 2000 Mercury (Brunswick) had huge loans to Fountain as they were their biggest buyer of Merc Racing engines. Based on this the thought that Mercury is helping the finance is probably spot on.

Honda makes a decent engine, but honestly they don't put a lot of money in new products, or dealer expansion. They also don't try to buy transoms like the other guys do (special financing loans etc). Years ago I worked at a dealer where we sold a fair amount of Honda's don't have much bad to say about them other than on work boats here in New England we had Idling problems when it was below 50 degrees.

Yamaha has done really well. They have a huge dealer network, and lot's of deals with boatbuilders. I'm a little biased against them thanks to the numerous fuel injection problems I saw in the 2005-2009 time frame on 115-200 hp models. But most people love them.

Tohatsu and Suzuki are pretty good bets for repowers. Both are well made if not flashy. Also tend to be a good value. Mercury spends alot on R and D and sells alot, not much bad to say about them (plus in my go fast days days not much was faster then a 2.4 or 2.5 Merc V6.) BRP well I have a number of older BRP motors I keep because they are easy to fix and trouble shoot. The modern E-tecs I have driven were wonderful. And would be high on my list for something like a small center console.

As far as the appeal, of Center Consoles, I see a **** lot of them here in Long Island Sound on up to about southern Maine. Not the super huge ones we see in FL now but lots in the 25-35 range.

I have a Bertram 28 flybridge with twin Honda 250s on an Armstrong bracket. It goes 48mph and cruises at 4200 rpms at 32 mph. The Honda’s have been great but Honda needs more dealerships. I can get from Stuart, Fl. To Hopetown, and then some, on 1 tank (185) of gas.

Crowded playing field, looks less fishy more sporty.....

Very much what I'd expect from Bertram today as that's their style of sporty. Looks nice.

I don't know if it's been mentioned but long, long ago Bertram built center consoles. I know they built 20' ones, don't know what else.

They haven't yet put the new ones on their web site. We have a 39' Contender and I wonder if they will tempt us with their new model. The boat looks nice in the photo and ours is primarily not for fishing.

Yamaha and Mercury have made a lot of engines for each other and do and they're branded by each other. For example a new 40HP Mercury is a 40HP Yamaha and made by Yamaha, wiring harness and such is Mercury but the entire motor is a Yamaha...........the specs are the exact same. And Mercury makes some engines for Yamaha too. The newer Verado's are very reliable and good running engines. Yamaha's big engines really aren't that reliable......the 225/250 4 strokes have a lot of mid-section issues on many where they then start overheating and the only fix is to change the entire mid section...….the 350's are problematic.

It looks good for moving a big group of people around and the broken sheer is distinctive and can’t be confused with any other brand other than Bertram.

The main design trade-off appears to be the stepped vs non stepped hull design in that class , would you go back to a non-stepped more traditional hull bottom?

It all depends on how it rides and how it performs. That also means I wouldn't order one until I could actually try one. I'm not a first implementer. Now, I'm not sure the Bertram buyer will demand performance. I do believe they'll require a good ride. Just think of how many Boston Whalers sell and they don't have the speed and performance.

I ran a 43' Tiara LS with 3-425hp Yamaha's. 13' beam, cabin in the center with 2 queen or almost queen beds and a head, with 8 people had it going 56 mph, at 4000 rpms you're doing 30 mph and 4500 rpms 38 mph, had seakeeper, diesel generator all the toys, much nicer layout IMO. We had 24 people on it one day and everyone had seating and was comfortable...look at it on Tiara's website, but it was incredibly impressive.….the Bertram looks a bit cramped especially in the aft area.

There is a huge difference between 39' and 43'. I've been on some 42's and then the 39 seems small and Tiara is especially roomy. The 43 LS is a beautiful boat.

The 43 Tiara LS is less CC and more an outboard powered Express, the helm is way far forward and is a completely different type of design. The Tiara 38LS is a closer boat model for comparison to the 39 Bertram CC, but once again, it is more Express like as they push the helm further forward and focus on more space after the console with a stern settee.

Why anyone would want 2 queen berths in a Tiara 43LS is beyond me, if I want creature comforts down below I am not looking at this type of boat.

You mean like Jimmy Buffet's 42 Freeman:



https://www.buffettnews.com/2019/08/10/28434/

According to CaptJ, there are no Freeman's operating in South Florida so they don't exist, even though this one was tricked out at Merritt Boat Works!

Notice how Jimmy Buffet's boat hasn't been launched YET?????