‘Crazy’ Fort Lauderdale Show Heads Into Final Day
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Event Coverage: ‘Crazy’ Fort Lauderdale Show Heads Into Final Day
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With four days of the 2022 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in the books, the Southwest Florida event closes today at 6 p.m. Show breakdown and move out begins tomorrow in earnest. But go-fast powerboat exhibitors including Adrenaline Powerboats, Cigarette Racing Team, Donzi Marine, Fountain Powerboats, Midnight Express Boats, Mystic Powerboats, MTI, Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats and Sunsation Powerboats, as well as noteworthy Lake of the Ozarks area-headquartered Big Thunder Marine and Performance Boat Center, will return home pleased with the results of their efforts.
Along with other members of the Osage Beach, Mo.-based Performance Boat Center team, Rusty Williams (from left) worked the Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show with Sunsation’s Joe Schaldenbrand and Ryan Wenk. Photos by Pete Boden copyright Shoot 2 Thrill Pix.
“It’s been great,” said Brett Manire, the co-owner Performance Boat Center, which carries the MTI, Performance Powerboats, Sunsation and Velocity Boats brands and has another location in Hollywood, Fla. “We have sold two 32-foot Sunsation CCX center consoles and brokered two late-model Cigarettes. We also took orders for an MTI-V 42 center console and a Performance Powerboats 420 catamaran.”
On the new-model side of the event, Fountain unveiled its new 38SCX center console to raves from show-goers. That’s the word from Jeremy Anderson of Big Thunder Marine, the flagship distributor of the Fountain, Donzi and Baja Marine powerboat brands.
Captured here near Fountain headquarters in North Carolina, the new 38SCX center console was a hit with show-goers this week. Photo by Mark Spencer copyright Fountain Powerboats.
Completed on Monday, the 38-footer was hauled directly to the show from Fountain headquarters in Washington, N.C.,
“It’s been amazing—a huge hit,” Anderson said. “It is absolutely a game-changer for those who want a true poker-run center console.”
John Cosker, the owner of Mystic Powerboats, described Friday’s attendee turnout—and interest in the DeLand, Fla., company’s center consoles and catamaran models—as “crazy.” And the action did not let up yesterday.
Equipped with four Mercury Marine Verado 600 engines, the new M5200 center console was one of three models Mystic displayed in Fort Lauderdale this week.
“I got on the M5200 at 10 a.m. and got off at 4 p.m.,” he said, then laughed. “I thought it was noon. We got some very good leads on the 52-footer and sold a C4000 cat. It’s the fourth cat we’ve sold this month.”
Given the clean-up challenges Nor-Tech Hi-Performance Boats faced at its Cape Coral and Fort Myers facilities in Southwest Florida after Hurricane Ian, company representatives said they felt grateful to be there. In addition to its own clean-up efforts, Nor-Tech has focused efforts on supporting its surrounding communities.
Enjoy more images from the 2022 Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show in the slideshow above.
Those efforts continued at the Fort Lauderdale event.
“We decided to bring Nor-Tech apparel to sell and we will turn over all the proceeds to the Cape Coral Caring Center,” said Trond Schou, the company’s co-founder and chief executive officer. “We hope that will give a nice boost to the more-than $120,000 raised so far.
“The show has been good to us—we’ve taken deposits on 340 and 390 Sport center consoles, a 452 SuperFish center console and a couple of 500 Sport center consoles,” he continued. “We are just fortunate to be here considering all the setbacks from Hurricane Ian. Our team really came together and I couldn’t be more proud of them.”
Despite the challenges following Hurricane Ian, the Nor-Tech team turned out in force in Fort Lauderdale this week.
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