[cgmartin]

I received this message today from Sea Fox Boat Comapny...

The Mariah brand was sold to a Canadian Boat Manufacturer. They have not started to produce the boats as of yet.

JMT

Jason M. Taska
Director of Customer Service



Sea Fox Boat Company, Inc.
2550 Highway 52
Moncks Corner, SC 29461

[Andy b]

Those moulds Must be getting a bit second/third hand by now!

[mikeyt]

Wonder who it was? I think that only Grew, Campion & Doral are left up here now.

[cgmartin]

Im not sure, but I bet we will find out by the end of the year or early next year when they start producing new boats again.

[mikeyt]

The Canadian small boat industry is just starting to recover from the last few 'dismal' years. I see that both Campion and Doral are starting to hire again so it may be one of those two. Doral has been reasonably successful over their lifetime, Campion has been around for about 30-40 yrs & Grew existed since the 1920's (but went bankrupt & reinvented itself in 2011) so its hard to say which one ponied up the cash. Doral did have their own line of 'inexpensive run-abouts' that were quite popular up here at one time, Grew's products were nearly always built to a price-point so if i had to guess i'd suggest that Campion may have done it. Campion bought Reinell & Bluewater boats last year and i think they are the largest boat builder here in Canada. Campions line has always been middle of the road to slightly upscale so maybe the Mariah line fits in as their value line. There are a number of small boat (read tin cans & pontoons) manufacturers up here but i cant see any of them jumping into the pleasure boat market at this point.

[cgmartin]

Thats interesting! Im just glad that they will continue to be built in the future... I wonder which market they will try and go afte with the new boats.... Cheap sport boat or higher end...

[mikeyt]

There is no guarantee that the new owner will actually build 'Mariah' boats. They may simply use the molds & add to their own model lines. If they plan on going upscale then they've got a lot of work to do with the present Mariah to improve the product.

[cgmartin]

Yes, I hear you on that... I have a 2011 Mariah. I know its not like the older original models but I am enjoying it.

[mikeyt]

Originally Posted by cgmartin

Yes, I hear you on that... I have a 2011 Mariah. I know its not like the older original models but I am enjoying it.

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like they weren't very good. They are simply built to a certain price point where Sea-Fox thought they could sell pleasure boats. Given their background of open console style boats, apparently they couldn't make the switch over successfully and decided to sell off the line. Hopefully the new buyer will make a go of it but i suspect that the new buyer wont provide support for the existing product and securing trim parts/glass etc will become difficult for the 'Sea-Fox' Mariahs. It's only a guess at this point as to what happens to the existing warranties....

[cgmartin]

Originally Posted by mikeyt

Sorry, didn't mean to make it sound like they weren't very good. They are simply built to a certain price point where Sea-Fox thought they could sell pleasure boats. Given their background of open console style boats, apparently they couldn't make the switch over successfully and decided to sell off the line. Hopefully the new buyer will make a go of it but i suspect that the new buyer wont provide support for the existing product and securing trim parts/glass etc will become difficult for the 'Sea-Fox' Mariahs. It's only a guess at this point as to what happens to the existing warranties....

No worries man! I understand. I hope they have a go at it but they might not... We will see.