In a recent article in TRADE ONLY for April 2020, there was an interesting mention of a change in location for production of some Boston Whaler boats. In an article titled "Brunswick's Merritt Island Plant Building Larger Sea Rays," on page 24 of the printed edition, Boston Whaler is mentioned in passing:
tradeonlytoday.com wrote:[Brunswick] announced last year [2019] that it would build larger Sea Ray and Boston Whaler at the Merritt Island facility...
I don't recall hearing about this. I presume that the "larger" Boston Whaler boats must be some of their newer and really big, more than 32-foot-long boats. I am also curious if the Merritt Island plant has its own foam mixing and injecting machine, like the one at the Edgewater plant. Brunswick refers to the Merritt Island plant as an "Integrated Manufacturing Center."
Also in that same edition of the magazine, RIck Norgart, sales manager of SOLAS propellers is quoted on page 34 about what OEM engine brands use SOLAS to make their propellers :
tradeonlytoday.com wrote:"Mercury and Yamaha use us because nobody makes everything," Norgart says.
This was a surprise. It was widely known that SOLAS made some propellers for Yamaha, but I never heard about a SOLAS-Mercury relationship. I think some Mercury super-fans who tout Mercury propellers as the absolute best would be shocked to learn those propellers might come from SOLAS.
Sources:
- TRADE ONLY magazine, April 2020,
- "The Boston Whaler Company" by Jim Hebert, published on continuouswave.com
- "Boston Whaler Factory Tour" by Jim Hebert, published on continuouswave.com