News About Brunswick

[jimh]

As perhaps every reader already knows, there is no longer a Boston Whaler boat company. Since Brunswick acquired Boston Whaler from Meridian in 1996 for about $25-million, "Boston Whaler" had been a brand of the Brunswick corporation's boat building operation, and a very successful one, too. There has been significant expansion of the Edgewater, Florida, plant where Boston Whaler boats were built following the move of all production from the Boston area that began in 1987.

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:

[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 :

"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