ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, March 3, 1996 TAG: 9603040102
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: OUTDOORS
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
Maybe there's no such thing as a perfect boat, anymore than there's a perfect spouse, but at the Southwest Virginia Boat Show a couple of craft come close.
For the cruise-around-the-lake, take-the-kids-skiing, fish-a-little-bit crowd, there's the deck boat. For the serious fishermen, who wants to gun his engine after surfacing stripers, work the banks for bass, hover over a crappie hole and trailer down to the Eastern Shore a couple of times a year, there's the center-console boat.
The boat show, docked at the Roanoke Civic Center through today, has more deck boats and more center-consoles than ever; in fact, ``more'' might be the best word to describe this year's show.
More of everything: pontoon boats, skiing equipment, johnboats, personal watercraft, high-performance craft, jet boats. More fishing gear, too, although you have to look for it in the corners and crevices of the civic center. More ridiculously high prices for civic center snacks, more people walking around with boat show tunnel vision that results in foolish statements like, ``Honey, I really think we can afford this big red one.'' More serious buyers, more standing in line to talk to the guy who owns the boat dealership.
``There is not enough of me to go around,'' said Mike Ratcliff one of the owners of Conrad Brothers, a boat dealership on Claytor Lake. Ratcliff was writing a contract on a pontoon boat while three other groups were waiting to deal with him.
Boat manufacturers tend to mimic each another, so you have to look a little harder to find a one-of-a-kind craft. Here's a clue: Take a gander at the Shuttle Craft in the Shoreline Marina display.
It is a beamy, 141/2-foot-long job with a slit in the stern into which you drive your personal watercraft. The PWC provides the power and steering for the craft.
``What this does is convert your jet ski to a five-passenger boat and you can use it at night,'' said Frank Robbins of Shoreline. ``You have running lights, stereo, storage.'' You can even fish from it. The price is $4,995, which doesn't include the PWC.
The show is putting more emphasis on the used boat, too. Smith Mountain Lake is 30 years old this month, which means serious boating has been around for three decades. Boat buyers nowadays likely have a trade-in. Several dealers have posted displays that featured pictures of used boats in their inventory.
David Gresham, of Boats For Sale By Owners Co., is a broker who lines up sellers and buyers for a 10 percent cut. The most sought after boats, said Gresham, are - in order - deck boats, fishing boats and pontoon boats. Gresham said he didn't see many deck boats. A used one is listed in the classified ads one day and is gone the next.
Why all the clamor over deck boats, someone asked Ed Graves, of Valley Marine Center.
``It's the deck,'' Graves explained, as in ``It's the deck, stupid.''
Graves is displaying a 241/2-foot Cobia 259 Sport Deck with a boat-show-special price of $23,195. It has room for Aunt Sue and Uncle Ed and their four kids and two dogs when they come to visit, which - hopefully - isn't too often. Maybe even room to launch a couple fighter planes. Yet underneath is a hull that will provide decent performance.
Deck boats, by the way, aren't the child of the mid-90s that many people envision. Graves was selling a Viking deck boat at the show in the 1970s. The design hung around a few years, but really didn't catch on, at least not for Viking, which went bankrupt. This year, nearly every boat manufacturer offers a deck boat.
The problem with deck boats is, frankly, they look like your father's boat.
If that's a drawback, there is a swift cure. Take a look at the Baja 232 in the Smith Mountain Yacht Club display, and the Unlimited U 191 shown by Conrad Brothers.
These speeders are bred for performance. A ``thrill'' boat is how Ratcliff describes them. ``The no windshield, blow your hair, go fast, exhaust pipes that make noise'' kind of boats, he said.
Just the looks of the Baja can take the ``ordinary'' out of boating, said Lee Arnold of Smith Mountain Yacht Club. Maybe enough to give you that ``get back into waxing it yourself feeling,'' he said.
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines ILLUSTRATION: PHOTO: WAYNE DEEL/Staff Cave Spring students Wes Coleby CNB(foreground) and Robert Clark take the controls of a Sea-Doo
Speedster Jetboat.|