January 21 - February 2, 2001. This question was suggested by Thomas Byrne. In what kind of water is your Whaler mainly used? Local lakes? Great Lakes? Oceans?
The response was really a huge surprise to me--a fresh water boater most of my life. I had no idea there was such a high percentage of salt-water boaters among Whaler owners. In thinking about it, it does make some sense. You really don't need a boat as well built (or as expensive) as a Whaler to go fishing on a little pond.
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February 3-16, 2001. This poll sought the estimated influence of the Classic Whaler website on a potential new boat buyer. It asked:
"Imagine that you are a prospective buyer of a new boat. By that I mean that you are not going to buy a used boat, you want to buy a new boat, period. You have heard of Boston Whaler boats, and stumble across this website. You spend an hour or so reading the website. What would the net effect of this website be on your decision to buy a new Boston Whaler boat? Would the existance of this website and its contents have a positive influence on your making a decision to buy a new Boston Whaler? Or would the existance of this website and its contents have a negative influence on your decision to buy a new Boston Whaler? Again, we are just talking about the decision to buy a new boat, not a used boat. An answer of "negative influence" would mean you were influenced not to buy the Boston Whaler brand of new boat and would be more likely to buy another brand. An influence of "positive" would mean after visiting this website you would be more likely to buy a new Boston Whaler in preference to other brands."
The majority (62%) thought the website was a positive or very positive influence on a new Whaler buyer. A much smaller segment thought the website was either neutral (15%) or had no effect (6%). A small minority thought the effect of the website was either negative (13%) or very negative (3%).
In retrospect, it was a difficult question to ask. I am sure some respondents had difficulty separating their own feelings about new Whalers from the collective influence of the website's contents.
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February 17, 2001. This question was suggested by KCarlsen. After Poll 7's rather hypothetical query, you have to admire this question for its simplicity! Good idea, KCarlsen.
The majority of respondents have owned more than one Whaler. Brand loyalty is probably higher among Whaler owners than most other boat owners.
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March 3, 2001. Boston Whaler boats often outlive their outboard engines several lifetimes over. They are frequently repowered. Assuming your current boat suddenly needed a new engine, how would you repower it? Base your answers on your own particular situation and all the limitations of money, horsepower, weight, and environmental regulations that affect you. What would you actually buy if you had to make a purchase tomorrow?
The results were quite interesting. Re-powering with a 4-stroke was the favorite, but conventional 2-strokes came in a strong second. Various implementations of low-emission 2-stroke technologies were closed bunched for third place.
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March 16, 2001. Many folks have been quite critical about their preferences in boats. Folks find things to like or to hate about new boats, so we wondered: Have you purchased a Boston Whaler boat as a new boat? As a used boat? Voters could respond multiple times to reflect different boats owned, although they had to wait a couple of days to vote again.
The results were interesting. About a third of respondents had purchased a Boston Whaler as a new boat. I thought that was quite a high number. There is probably nowhere else in the world where one-third of the population of particpants has already been a new customer of Boston Whaler boats.
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March 26, 2001. A poll about the poll: The poll questions seem to only attract a portion of the website visitors. Are they interesting? Should the poll feature continue? Participants voted almost ten-to-one in favor of continuing the poll feature.
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Polls 1-5 have been moved to a separate page.
Copyright © 2000 by James W. Hebert.
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