Gander MTN to sell boats...

[Deitz Dittrich]

Not sure if anyone is aware of this or not.. but Starting in like 2-3 weeks.. Gander MTN will be selling boats. They will be selling the Genmar line of boats.. Which includes Lund, Crestliner, ChampioN, Stratos. to name a few...

I'm feeling a little verclempt.. Talk amongst yourselves....

Thought on this?

I personally think its a good move. They already sell almost all the products to rig a boat.. why not add the boat and moter... Having more mechanics around the area is never bad. Seeing that if you have moter probs usually its a month before anybody can even look at it! Interesting!

[Clay.P]

I think it will all depend on the staff they hire to take care of this part of the business. Service should be the key. If they perform that, they should succeed.

Correct me if I am wrong. Didn't Genmar sell off all of the aluminum hull fishing boats like Lund?

[Superduty]

Correct, Genmar sold Crestliner, Lund, and Lowe to Brunswick. Brunswick is the parent company of Mercury outboards. I read recently that as soon as 2006 all of these boats will be prerigged only for Mercury motors from the factory. You will have to pay extra rigging fees to hang any other brand of outboard.

As far as Gander Mountain and boats, more competition among retailers means better deals for the consumers. Maybe now we can buy a fully rigged bass boat complete with rods, reels, and tackle! On a serious note, I think some of the gander locations will have space for boats and some won't. I'd be surprised if all of their stores were going to stock and service boats/motors.

[FlipR70]

Interesting .... I thought that Gander Mtn's invitational tour was sponsored by Triton (????)

So did I understand it right that they will NOT be selling Lund & the other aluminum boats? I'm mainly curious about this point.

Also, I'm wondering what some of the boat dealers in the area think about this whole thing. I know that Frankies in Chisago just added Triton to their line of boats. If I understood the guy I talked to right, Triton wined & dined them & apparently it worked.

Finally, my a guy I know mentioned that Bass Pro flew in some exec's last November or December to look at putting a store in Maple Grove. I'm wondering if this is a pre-emptive move on the part of Gander to head off their Nitro & Tracker lines. It would be interesting if Gander offered service to their boats because I don't think that Bass Pro does at their stores (???)

Wishin' 2B Fishin',

FlipR70