Mainsheet

[Ken Heyman]

I noticed that there is a full page ad for "Gemini Catamarans"in the current issue of Mainsheet.
-----seems a bit odd. I don't recall this sort of advertisement in previous issues, or am I having a senior moment.
Ken

[Andrew Harvey]

It kind of jumped out at me as well.
i guess advertising $$are good though

[Roc]

I've noticed at the past few boat shows (Annapolis), that the Catamaran display now takes up a LOT of dock space.  Years ago, you would see only a few Catamarans.  Now they have a whole section of dock space (quite a large section) geared only for Catamarans.

[2ndwish]

This press release might explain it...

http://geminicatamarans.com/News/2014-09-25.Catalina-Partnership-Builder.html

[Ken Heyman]

I think you are spot on and that link definitely explains it. It will be curious to see if their pricing changes.,
Thanks all, for your comments.
Ken

[Andrew Harvey]

Thanks for the link.
Doesn't look good for Hunter's image.

[Roc]

One way to think of this could not be due to positive circumstances for Catalina.  Apparently, Catalina must have available production capacity, otherwise how could they bring this on.  Maybe Marlow-Hunter became too busy to build the Catamarans because their production is at full capacity (i.e. selling is going well).  So Gemini looked for someone else, and Catalina had spare time....  Meaning, they aren't building as many boats as they could (should).  If you look at the Catalina display at the boat show, it's pretty slim compared to other brands.

[Ken Heyman]

clearly there is idle production capacity. How much and how it compares to the "glory days" would be interesting to know. I wonder if the factory ever worked double shifts ?----suspect not.
As an aside, If things continue to deteriorate internationally, maybe the plant will be producing tanks(amphibious of course).
Ken

[lazybone]

Makes you wonder why Catalina just doesn't make their own catamarans?

[Clay Greene]

According to Cruising World, the number of sailboats built in the U.S. has declined from 14,158 in 2007 to 6,078 in 2013.  That is down almost a thousand from last year.  Sailboats in the 36-45 foot range, presumably the higher margin boats, have declined from 695 in 2009 to 324 last year.  Catalina has to be having a difficult time keeping its labor force working so this Gemini deal is good for them. 

http://www.cruisingworld.com/sites/cruisingworld.com/files/the_sailing_market_2014_with_2013_data1.pdf

[Solstice]

I suspect another reason they have capacity is because when they switched to the 5 Series, they went from making an entire range of sizes to just 5.