Luhrs/Silverton/Mainship/Hunter files for bankruptcy

[rossjo]

Sad to see several great boat manufacturers go down ...

Luhrs Marine Group files for bankruptcy protection
Posted on 30 April 2012
http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/home/5198 ... protection

The Luhrs Marine Group, consisting of Silverton Marine Corp., Mainship Corp., Luhrs Corp., Hunter Marine Corp. and five additional subsidiaries, today filed voluntary petitions to reorganize under Chapter 11 in bankruptcy court in New Jersey, Hunter Marine president and chief restructuring officer John Peterson confirmed to Soundings Trade Only.

The powerboat companies — Silverton, Luhrs and Mainship, located in Millville, N.J. — had ceased operations in January. Florida-based Hunter Marine, the sailboat builder, has never shut down production, Peterson said, and continues to be up and running.

The bankruptcy filing was not immediately available online.

Peterson said Hunter has secured interim financing from Bank of America to stay in operation. Only one person remains at the powerboat companies, and he’s on the Hunter payroll, Peterson confirmed. About 60 people were laid off from the New Jersey operation.

A phone number to the New Jersey office was disconnected.

As for Hunter, Peterson said, “Our orders are fairly strong right now. I think things are going fairly well [for Hunter]. We could certainly pay for ourselves on an ongoing basis, but we could not pay for the whole group on an ongoing basis.”

There are “numerous” entities interested in buying Hunter and other assets, Peterson added.

“Our backlog of orders is more than reasonable and remarkably higher than the last two years. Our Hunter dealers can count on us to continue to aggressively market our boats worldwide as well as continue our R&D projects uninterrupted. Hunter’s boats, customers and dealers will be supported, as in the past,” Peterson added. “Our dealers, our dedicated employees, our products make up the Hunter brand and this action will allow us to continue.”

When the Luhrs Marine Group originally shut down it said it would be for 60 to 90 days to allow boat orders to accumulate.

The company told its dealers, “We hope you will continue to promote our products and keep in touch with our sales team so that with your help we can again start producing the excellent products of the Luhrs Marine Group.”

[Stripermann2]

Yep.
Since early February, Luhrs, stated it was slowing or halting production. (Silverton Marine Group)
I guess many in the industry saw the writing on the wall. Sad for any USA manufacturer to have to take these steps.

Who do we thank for contributing to all this? Oops, sorry... that's for Ponts.

[rossjo]

Sales of smaller boats are up YoY, but the big boats are not selling at all. Fuel prices are painful.

[k9th]

I hate to see this kind of news but it has happened to just about all of the major brands recently.

Just as an awareness, Formula Boats (Thunderbird) is located in the town I live in and we know the owners personally. They had to lay most of their people off and had quit building pretty much all together to get rid of current inventory. They are now receiving a small amount of steady orders but are only building to order - not building to any stock. It really looks strange to go by there and see no boats sitting there ready to be shipped to dealers but at least they are still in business and making boats.

[Big D]

That's really too bad, always sucks when you think about the families this affects. Having said that, I can't speak for the others but the Silverton line was left to die years ago. They stopped catering to a large portion of thier market, and basically stopped thier R&D, nothing much changed over the years, and folks just got tired of the same old same old; no variety for years. They used to be quite popular up my way, but folks like Cruisers came out with a variety of models catering to all boating styles. That was the beginning of the end. Dealerships changed hands a few times, and nobody could make it work. It's a shame, I've been on many, and I kind of liked them.

[captainmaniac]

Does this mean I can get a brand new 48 Silverton Sedan (with 6' headroom between the engines!!!!) for pennies on the dollar now? Had my eye on a used one up here for the past couple of years, but the $400K+ pricetag is still waaaaaay out of my budget.

In all seriousness though, this really does suck. There aren't too many good builders anymore, and these lines were on the short list IMO.

RE k9th's comments : hope the Porters can stick it out. Formula is, and always has been, a class act and quality product. If they were able to keep boat building as the 'family business' for decades, they have certainly been doing something right. Think I might still have original brochures from the late 70's buried somewhere in the piles in the basement!

[alexander38]

been watching this for awhile, it really sucks!....But if they regroup and rethink how they operate their sales chain they can come back...Carver (Genmar) did it over a yr ago ...

[rossjo]

The old Silverton 34 had a nice layout similar to the F32/F36 - nice boat.

Hard to imagine Mainship going down too - but people are not buying thees big boats.

Overall, US March 2012 powerboat sales were up 7.6% (buoyed by aluminum boat sales) over March 2011, but the big boats were:
> down 22% for 31-40',
> down 40% for 41-62' and
> down 36% for 63-99'

ref: http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/images/st ... es0424.pdf

[aaronbocknek]

The old Silverton 34 had a nice layout similar to the F32/F36 - nice boat.

Hard to imagine Mainship going down too - but people are not buying thees big boats.

Overall, US March 2012 powerboat sales were up 7.6% (buoyed by aluminum boat sales) over March 2011, but the big boats were:
> down 22% for 31-40',
> down 40% for 41-62' and
> down 36% for 63-99'

ref: http://www.tradeonlytoday.com/images/st ... es0424.pdf

mainship will probably be resurrected as there is still a market for trawlers
in some boating segments. the bottom line is these boat companies refused to adapt to the market place and were doomed to die. while broom is a UK boat builder, they too suffered a shut down until they were reborn with fresh new designs using fuel efficient engines and hull designs
that the market wanted. they are not cheap boats, and fuel prices are double/triple to what we pay, and yet they are holding their own. the greenline hybrid yacht, while built overseas, is doing very well here in the american market place. the dealer in annapolis reports that sales are brisk for the hybrid 33 and 40, and, they are modestly priced all things considered. american tug and nordic tug, two manufacturers in the usa are doing well, as is ranger tug and their other vessel marketed under the cutwater brand. if the silverton group can take a breather and regroup under chapter 11, then they might make a comeback.
my two cents for today.

[alexander38]

hope fully some one will save Mainship, as for Silverton not so much they make another me to round bleach bottle boat ( as Carver does and pay the $ for it ) Investors will have to pick which one they want to save. If it's Mainship and I hope it is they'll have to work on getting the name back to where it was, craftsmanship has dropped. I'm helping a owner of a 2 yr old one re-bed his hatches and epoxy in edges due to leaks there's other things like gel cracks and oxidizing has all ready started....but we might be watching the end of boats made here .....

[rossjo]

Sad to see Mainship's quality on a 2-year boat going down. Unacceptable to lose quality. I think they can be saved. The Luhrs wasn't a top end boat, but popular, nice appointments and relatively affordable (made in St. Augustine, FL). Hunter has always made a nice sailboat, so they're doing OK as people turn to sailboats with the high fuel prices.

The smaller boat manufacturers are picking up a bit this year.

Locally, we have Key West, Scout, Sea Hunt, Pioneer, AmericanSail and a few others - who have picked up in business. I know Boston Whaler has picked up as well, so maybe we're seeing the market turn a bit ...

[ready123]

My view is quite different... I think the only one that will continue is Hunter... it has not in fact stopped building.

Mainship is caught in the middle ground pricewise where those buyer's are tending to buy used with the wider selection available.
The next level of buyer (from income level) is moving on towards the single level trawler/tug style.
The wealthy have never wavered from their buying but none of these boats match that level of affluence

With respect to the runabout/fishing group such as Key West, BW etc: those will continue selling as the teenager from a boating family grows up and get's their own boat.....

[alexander38]

My view is quite different... I think the only one that will continue is Hunter... it has not in fact stopped building.

Mainship is caught in the middle ground pricewise where those buyer's are tending to buy used with the wider selection available.
The next level of buyer (from income level) is moving on towards the single level trawler/tug style.
The wealthy have never wavered from their buying but none of these boats match that level of affluence

With respect to the runabout/fishing group such as Key West, BW etc: those will continue selling as the teenager from a boating family grows up and get's their own boat.....

I think ready123 hit it.

[rossjo]

Plenty of 40-60 year old "teenagers" buying new 17-22' boats ...

[prowlersfish]

My view is quite different... I think the only one that will continue is Hunter... it has not in fact stopped building.

Mainship is caught in the middle ground pricewise where those buyer's are tending to buy used with the wider selection available.
The next level of buyer (from income level) is moving on towards the single level trawler/tug style.
The wealthy have never wavered from their buying but none of these boats match that level of affluence

With respect to the runabout/fishing group such as Key West, BW etc: those will continue selling as the teenager from a boating family grows up and get's their own boat.....

I think ready123 hit it.

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