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jimh posted 11-13-2013 10:53 AM ET (US)
This notice is quite tardy, but it should be reported that in March of 2013 Huw Bower was named president of Boston Whaler, replacing Timothy Shiek.
Mr. Bower joined Brunswick in 2006, and previously was president of Brunswick's Lowe-brand boat building operation. Lowe-brand boats are aluminum boats, and Mr. Bower is mentioned as having been influential in the re-design of new aluminum deck boats and other new models. Mr. Bower was also previously a sales and customer service manager in the Brunswick fiberglass fishing boat segment, which I believe at that time encompassed the Trophy brand.
Mr. Bower appears to have an unusual background, having military service in the British Commando Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as having been educated at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Bower appears in this photograph on the extreme right:
http://www.nsbobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/BW-Staff-Ms. -Alois-Class-620x350.jpg
Mr. Bower replaced Timothy Scheik, who had been president of Boston Whaler since December 2010. Mr. Scheik has been appointed as the president of Sea Ray. Prior to his tenure at Boston Whaler, Mr. Scheik was a vice-president at HarrisKayot, a high-end pontoon boat brand also owned by Brunswick.
Hoosier posted 11-13-2013 12:56 PM ET (US)
HarrisKayot originated and is still based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they just completed moving into a two-times-larger mamufacturing facility. They cover the full value spectrum from budget family fishing boats or cruisers to HIGH DOLLAR pontoon yachts.
Jefecinco posted 11-13-2013 07:49 PM ET (US)
Pontoon Yachts?
jimh posted 11-14-2013 01:34 AM ET (US)
We are getting way off topic. I wanted to introduce the new Boston Whaler president, Huw Bower. We can talk about fancy pontoon yachts in another thread.
When John Ward was president of Boston Whaler he attended many dealer events, including at least one, perhaps two, up here in Michigan. Many of us here in the Great Lakes met Mr. Ward at those events. I hope we all will get a chance to meet Mr. Bower at a Boston Whaler sponsored rendezvous event in the future.
egres posted 11-16-2013 10:28 PM ET (US)
Huw Bower,as the new president of the Boston Whaler boat making branch of Brunswick just possibly could be "The Thing" to bring back some affordability to the under 20 feet recreational hulls.
As a model choice
Will there be more profit in selling fewer larger Whaler hulls as in the larger Outrages and Conquests
Or would profit be much greater in concentrating on the more affordable models as in
Sport110/ RB 11'
Tender110/RB 11'
Super Sport 130/RB 13'
Montauk 150/CC 15'
Super Sport150/RB 15'
Montauk190/CC 19'
Montauk 210/CC 21'
http://www.nadaguides.com/boats/2013/boston-whaler-inc
Will the new president envision the smaller hulls sales as more profitable by his pricing strategies a workable option in captivating the interest of recreational boaters in North America for the Whaler product in 2014?
Hum, Just wondering.
Mambo Minnow posted 11-17-2013 09:12 AM ET (US)
It seems Brunswick rotates it's executives quite a great deal. The President of the Whaler division seems to be a rotational assignment.
I would not anticipate any change in pricing. They seem to more of the larger boats in bad economic times. They have recently eliminated many of the Conquest models less than 28 feet LOA. They market the smaller models (if you can call a 23 foot Dauntless small) as yacht tenders.
egres posted 11-17-2013 10:46 PM ET (US)
It will be interesting to see if Mr Bower will have inherited any power of executive decision in regard to pricing and consequent influence on volume sales on those smaller hull models.
Unless that the Whaler brand has been designed; at this time; to function as a minor cog in the Brunswick profit strategies
Mr Bower may realistically assume a traditional line of management decisions regarding the Whaler plant production.
I will be curious to see if Mr Bower will bring back a climate of excitement from the recreational weekend boaters when shopping for their next prospect "yacht tender"Whalers.
Let us see what the new president does with the Whaler brand name...today.
michaeljb posted 01-26-2014 06:09 PM ET (US)
My brother and I met Mr Bower at the Seattle boat show on 1-25-2014, very nice guy. We talked to him about specific needs on the new conquest line for our market and style of fishing. He took quite a bit of time to listen and seemed to care about what we said. We walked away impressed with the guy heading up Whaler. We've both owned several Whalers and are current Whaler owners, good to see Whaler has a President willing to listen to his customers! I wish I had known he was a Special forces guy in Britian, that's impressive! Go Whaler!
martyn1075 posted 01-27-2014 06:59 PM ET (US)
egres.. At the Vancouver international boat show I had long chat with some Whaler representatives about this as well the departure of some recent models such as the 205 235 and now the 255. Very few of the Montauks are selling all that well. However the big ones like 31 Conquest or the 285 they can't keep them in stock all year. It used to be the other way around as we all know but times have changed and so has this company. They certainly are catering to the big dollar clients that seem to be getting what they want in these boats I guess.
Apparently back in 2008-2012 they dropped these smaller cuddies because they were not popular or selling yet the biggest most expensive ones were selling. Despite hard times they were able to make it with the high end cabin models with big gas sucking outboards. Took our local BW dealer two years to sell one 255 vs quite a number of 285's in half the time. They make far more profit on these models for the obvious reasons. The sales rep said they pretty much have to carry the lower line models such as the 170-190 but wasn't showing a great deal of confidence nor excitement over them and it showed with groups of people waiting to get into the big ones. The Montauks etc were like a ghost town. It was kind of sad actually. Some of that is just window shoppers who look for the flashy boats and have no interest in buying one.
What if Whaler keeps moving these models out of their lineup are they quickly going to lose the market to other companies who keep them around? Your clients who want these boats will be forced somewhere else. He said we simply can't find a market right now for them which means we don't get that question too often. However he thought BW might reintroduce them back in at that time the market shows some life again.
Personally I think you drop the price a bit on these smaller models and you get some life again but perhaps he is right people do not have much interest in "new" Boston Whaler smaller boats anymore.
Spuds posted 01-28-2014 11:24 AM ET (US)
Perhaps if they announced that they were revamping the lineup to make the Outrages actually look like Outrages, would generate some excitement.
Whaler27 posted 02-06-2014 11:33 AM ET (US)
I just don't see the consumer buying up all these expensive larger whalers. If you look online there are more 32-foot [or longer] used or [unsold new] Boston Whaler boats for sale than most other boats. Are the first owners re-selling quickly after a brief ownership or are dealers stuck with these boats across the country?
To this day they do not make a fishing boat for the west-coast-style live-bait fisherman. In California, Boston Whaler seems to be on the downside of market share.
They should think about a Vigilant style walk around pilot house configuration.
jimh posted 02-07-2014 08:34 AM ET (US)
[Corrected spelling of Timothy Schiek's name.]

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Author	Topic: Boston Whaler President
jimh	posted 11-13-2013 10:53 AM ET (US) This notice is quite tardy, but it should be reported that in March of 2013 Huw Bower was named president of Boston Whaler, replacing Timothy Shiek. Mr. Bower joined Brunswick in 2006, and previously was president of Brunswick's Lowe-brand boat building operation. Lowe-brand boats are aluminum boats, and Mr. Bower is mentioned as having been influential in the re-design of new aluminum deck boats and other new models. Mr. Bower was also previously a sales and customer service manager in the Brunswick fiberglass fishing boat segment, which I believe at that time encompassed the Trophy brand. Mr. Bower appears to have an unusual background, having military service in the British Commando Forces in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as having been educated at the Harvard Business School. Mr. Bower appears in this photograph on the extreme right: http://www.nsbobserver.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/BW-Staff-Ms. -Alois-Class-620x350.jpg Mr. Bower replaced Timothy Scheik, who had been president of Boston Whaler since December 2010. Mr. Scheik has been appointed as the president of Sea Ray. Prior to his tenure at Boston Whaler, Mr. Scheik was a vice-president at HarrisKayot, a high-end pontoon boat brand also owned by Brunswick.
Hoosier	posted 11-13-2013 12:56 PM ET (US) HarrisKayot originated and is still based in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where they just completed moving into a two-times-larger mamufacturing facility. They cover the full value spectrum from budget family fishing boats or cruisers to HIGH DOLLAR pontoon yachts.
Jefecinco	posted 11-13-2013 07:49 PM ET (US) Pontoon Yachts?
jimh	posted 11-14-2013 01:34 AM ET (US) We are getting way off topic. I wanted to introduce the new Boston Whaler president, Huw Bower. We can talk about fancy pontoon yachts in another thread. When John Ward was president of Boston Whaler he attended many dealer events, including at least one, perhaps two, up here in Michigan. Many of us here in the Great Lakes met Mr. Ward at those events. I hope we all will get a chance to meet Mr. Bower at a Boston Whaler sponsored rendezvous event in the future.
egres	posted 11-16-2013 10:28 PM ET (US) Huw Bower,as the new president of the Boston Whaler boat making branch of Brunswick just possibly could be "The Thing" to bring back some affordability to the under 20 feet recreational hulls. As a model choice Will there be more profit in selling fewer larger Whaler hulls as in the larger Outrages and Conquests Or would profit be much greater in concentrating on the more affordable models as in Sport110/ RB 11' Tender110/RB 11' Super Sport 130/RB 13' Montauk 150/CC 15' Super Sport150/RB 15' Montauk190/CC 19' Montauk 210/CC 21' http://www.nadaguides.com/boats/2013/boston-whaler-inc Will the new president envision the smaller hulls sales as more profitable by his pricing strategies a workable option in captivating the interest of recreational boaters in North America for the Whaler product in 2014? Hum, Just wondering.
Mambo Minnow	posted 11-17-2013 09:12 AM ET (US) It seems Brunswick rotates it's executives quite a great deal. The President of the Whaler division seems to be a rotational assignment. I would not anticipate any change in pricing. They seem to more of the larger boats in bad economic times. They have recently eliminated many of the Conquest models less than 28 feet LOA. They market the smaller models (if you can call a 23 foot Dauntless small) as yacht tenders.
egres	posted 11-17-2013 10:46 PM ET (US) It will be interesting to see if Mr Bower will have inherited any power of executive decision in regard to pricing and consequent influence on volume sales on those smaller hull models. Unless that the Whaler brand has been designed; at this time; to function as a minor cog in the Brunswick profit strategies Mr Bower may realistically assume a traditional line of management decisions regarding the Whaler plant production. I will be curious to see if Mr Bower will bring back a climate of excitement from the recreational weekend boaters when shopping for their next prospect "yacht tender"Whalers. Let us see what the new president does with the Whaler brand name...today.
michaeljb	posted 01-26-2014 06:09 PM ET (US) My brother and I met Mr Bower at the Seattle boat show on 1-25-2014, very nice guy. We talked to him about specific needs on the new conquest line for our market and style of fishing. He took quite a bit of time to listen and seemed to care about what we said. We walked away impressed with the guy heading up Whaler. We've both owned several Whalers and are current Whaler owners, good to see Whaler has a President willing to listen to his customers! I wish I had known he was a Special forces guy in Britian, that's impressive! Go Whaler!
martyn1075	posted 01-27-2014 06:59 PM ET (US) egres.. At the Vancouver international boat show I had long chat with some Whaler representatives about this as well the departure of some recent models such as the 205 235 and now the 255. Very few of the Montauks are selling all that well. However the big ones like 31 Conquest or the 285 they can't keep them in stock all year. It used to be the other way around as we all know but times have changed and so has this company. They certainly are catering to the big dollar clients that seem to be getting what they want in these boats I guess. Apparently back in 2008-2012 they dropped these smaller cuddies because they were not popular or selling yet the biggest most expensive ones were selling. Despite hard times they were able to make it with the high end cabin models with big gas sucking outboards. Took our local BW dealer two years to sell one 255 vs quite a number of 285's in half the time. They make far more profit on these models for the obvious reasons. The sales rep said they pretty much have to carry the lower line models such as the 170-190 but wasn't showing a great deal of confidence nor excitement over them and it showed with groups of people waiting to get into the big ones. The Montauks etc were like a ghost town. It was kind of sad actually. Some of that is just window shoppers who look for the flashy boats and have no interest in buying one. What if Whaler keeps moving these models out of their lineup are they quickly going to lose the market to other companies who keep them around? Your clients who want these boats will be forced somewhere else. He said we simply can't find a market right now for them which means we don't get that question too often. However he thought BW might reintroduce them back in at that time the market shows some life again. Personally I think you drop the price a bit on these smaller models and you get some life again but perhaps he is right people do not have much interest in "new" Boston Whaler smaller boats anymore.
Spuds	posted 01-28-2014 11:24 AM ET (US) Perhaps if they announced that they were revamping the lineup to make the Outrages actually look like Outrages, would generate some excitement.
Whaler27	posted 02-06-2014 11:33 AM ET (US) I just don't see the consumer buying up all these expensive larger whalers. If you look online there are more 32-foot [or longer] used or [unsold new] Boston Whaler boats for sale than most other boats. Are the first owners re-selling quickly after a brief ownership or are dealers stuck with these boats across the country? To this day they do not make a fishing boat for the west-coast-style live-bait fisherman. In California, Boston Whaler seems to be on the downside of market share. They should think about a Vigilant style walk around pilot house configuration.
jimh	posted 02-07-2014 08:34 AM ET (US) [Corrected spelling of Timothy Schiek's name.]