New England Boat Dealerships

They've been around since 1944 so I'd guess you'll find some good and bad. Don't doubt that they've been hurt by the economy, but who in the business hasn't. Viking and Princess are doing fine. Probably more solid than several others. So I'd tell the client to have fun on his new VSC.

I spoke with one of their VSC salesmen a few times when we were looking for our VSC. I thought he gave me sound advice and straight answers to my questions even when he knew we were going to ultimately buy ours from a different seller. The Viking folks in NJ are also very helpful and we have been pleased with our purchase.

Tell him also how you used her this first summer (She's no dock queen).

Catmando, we bought a 50 viking sport cruiser, 1998 model first launched in 1999. We actually prefered the 1998-99 model year to the 2000 and newer layouts because of the nice open salon and galley. Maybe three years ago they went to a midship master which is a nice change, but that new of a boat was not in our current plans.

She has been wonderful, although I am almost embarrassed at the number of hours we have put on her this year. After the trip down from Long Island NY through Cape May and several weekends throughout the Chesapeake we took her down to FL and then for a week and a half in the Abacos and Grand Bahama. After a second trip to the Bahamas we took our time returning back to the Chesapeake in early August.

We did some offshore fishing in the Miami area and off Moorehead city and caught a bunch of tuna. But I think some of the highlights of the trip were stops on the ICW such as Saint Augustine, Charleston and Myrtle Beach. We did probably half the trip on the outside and half on the inside which was a very nice mix and kept things moving but interesting. As soon as we returned we began planning next years expedition.

Silver Lining,

Great to hear of a boat being used for what it was designed for, it amazes me how many stay tied to a dock.

Just out of interest, what kind of retrofits, it any, did you have to make to accommodate fishing equipment and the ability to land a tuna?

Short fishermen . I'll be passing your way next wk S.L. guess you'll be working, but I'll give you a call if I go via the Ches to see if you're cruising.

Bassett Boat has been sucessful for a long time. I was a salesman at the Westbrook, CT location back around 1984. It was a family business, but brother Dick Bassett had gone to Florida to open Bassett Boat in Pompano. He later became one of the driving forces to start MarineMax. Lou Bassett and his sister Diane ran the business, then Lou left to go out on his own. I do not know of any "shakedown" but I have not seen Diane since the Fort lauderdale Show last year. i would think that all new boat dealers are having difficulty now but Bassett Boat has been around long enough that they may get by better than some other new boat dealers that have not been in the business that long.

A "Shakedown", as I understand it, is to extort money from someone by using threats, which in this case might go like, " If you don't improve the bottom line, Perkins, we'll short your paycheck by five large." That's plausible in this dog-eat-dog era.

Unless, of course, what was really meant was a "Shakeout", which is usually defined as a major change in an organization resulting in some streamlining.

Either way, one could argue that Perkins became, as they say, history.