B-Faithful

If I were having a boat built now, I would go with the Lowrance HDS with bottom scan and broadband radar. With that said, I havent owned lowrance. I have owned the three brands in the survey and would say furuno is top dog but garmin is great for the $$$

Gus, I have been waiting for an invite. Would love to get on that perdy bert Thanks for the kind words fellas. I am told the article will run in Chesapeake Bay Magazine soon too.

Northeast boating Magazine in the Tried and True section entitled "Judge of Character". 3 page article. Here is the header to the article

I will be helping Judge Yachts with the 3 boats they will have entered Thurs-Sat

new one of my Dad's...

I believe they are the same. You may want to find a merc dealer who sells opti oil out of a drum though. Often it is much less expensive.

I dont think the guy was serious quite frankly. I think he just wanted a boat ride on his terms. Being that our boats are typically made to order, he hadnt fully discussed what he was looking for or seen a completed boat before demanding we take the boat to him. As stated before, I offered him a no obligation sea-trial on the Chesapeake Bay where the boat is kept. Had he seen the boat and confirmed it was what he was looking for, I would accomodated his needs without a refundable deposit or contract pending sea trial. I am confident in my decision to not tow 4 hours chasing what could have been my tail... I agree sales are picking up. We have sold at least 4 boats in the last couple of weeks alone and I have a couple of more deals pending. (one that I hope comes to terms before the weekend)

One of the finest ramp facilities in the USA. Beach traffic on Sat can make it tough for out of towners to get through Annapolis on Sat though. Lines can form to get in the park on weekends too but you rarely have to wait to launch. Pleanty of parking too. I live a couple of miles from the park

Capt Rick, your photos remind me of why I am now living in MD. I chased one of those fine southern SC girls back to MD that I found while going to Coastal Carolina (She was born in Myrtle but her family had moved to Annapolis)

There are advantages and disadvantages to each business model.. Judge currently is factory direct. However we would love to establish a dealer network in order to reach more people and sell more units. Regional dealer networking is the best way to reach and support the most people. Unfortunately floorplan financing is too tight to be able to do so rightnow. We certainly hope that loosens up in the future or we can find some self-financed dealers (few and far between). I will say that being smaller and factory direct will help us get through the slow time as there are no dealer inventory buy-backs and currently most boats are built to order. We have a good regional reputation and are still selling some boats. Right now for our out of the area customers who run into small issues, we work with the customer to work with a local repair shop of their choice to resolve any small issue (like bildge pump failure etc). Of course if there were to be any major issues, then the boat would come back to the factory which I believe is the same for most manufacturers who sell through dealers. Hopefully as our reputation grows outside the region and demand increases, the financing will begin to flow again and we can reach more people and support them through a dealer network who the buyer can have a relationship with. Until then, Judge will have to continue to plug away on a smaller scale at dealing factory direct with our buyers and support them directly were ever they are the best we can on a first name basis while we are on a volume level that we can continue to do so well

I understand the need to sea trial and do jump through hoops to do it for people. I offered a no obligation sea trial to the guy in DE. While the ocean offers different sea type than the Chesapeake, it can get very rough here and was willing to take him out on any day of his choosing. This offering was just at the request of a sea trial. If someone wants to go for a ride, I take them. However it was the 4 hours of towing the boat without a good faith gesture on his end. I doubt any dealer would have towed a boat over 2 hours to a location without at least an agreed upon price (Judges are built to order and prices greatly vary depending upon what the client wants or needs) or at least a small refundable good faith deposit. I actually have done very well with selling boats this year and most the people I have dealt with said I have gone beyond the call of duty to make them understand the boat. One of the tools I use is the no obligation sea trial. Personally I believe the guy may not have been all that serious if he didnt want to even sea trial the boat in the Chesapeake Bay. Had he sea trialed it here and was still interested, I probably would have towed it to the ocean without a refundable deposit or signed contract. I probably would have wanted an agreed upon price though. Being how the guy responded to the good faith request, it probably isnt worth dealing with him anyhow.

There are usually two-sides to the coin... I help sell Judge Yachts as I am a satisfied customer who thought it would an easy sell as they offer a product that I believe in. While I havent been in the marine industry long and only do it part time, I have seen how demanding and unreasonable some potential buyers can be. Case in point, I got yelled at earlier this week for the first time by a customer who claims to be a serious buyer. His beef was that I wouldnt tow my boat from Annapolis MD to the ocean in DE, which is 2 hours a way from me, for him to sea trial my boat in the ocean for him without a signed contract or small refundable deposit. He said that he had never heard of such a thing and would never consider one our boats due to it. I even offered a no obligation sea trial on my boat in the Chesapeake Bay without a contract or deposit (which is where the boat is kept). However for the 4 hours of towing time and expensive involved with that, I want a contract on an agreed price and small deposit to show he was serious. I didnt think that was unreasonable but this person did. In this tight market I know you have to jump through hoops and work extra hard to earn someones business but there are some unreasonable people who can wear on you. Fortunately there are a lot of good people too that do make this type of business enjoyable. The guy in the inital example should be grateful for the offer and present it to the owner of the boat. Yes things are tight but do your best to move the boat. That is his job.

My friend who is a cop said that they look for the boat to be within the fenders of the trailer. Just about all trailers are no wider than 102" so it is an easy visual for them. You cannot tell the 3" over..

Capt Charlie, Welcome aboard. This is the only forum I belong to

Cheaper than buying chum flats and fresher too