Cruisers Are Hot? Wait? What? Squirrel?
I am so confused?
WARNING: I have focusing issues when it comes to crazy claims. In this months email newsletter from a large Broker they make the claim that “Cruisers Are Hot” Now, in a way there could be a good argument to that statement. I mean, RV’s are impossible to find. Real estate in rural areas is selling like hot cakes.. Like Lisa Douglas Hot cakes? Hold on..
Ya, that took longer than expected. Where was I ? Dang that was a well written show. And good god, she was hot. Oh wait, ya, Cruisers Are Hot. The headline does bring up the idea of a cruiser, and the idea that a cruiser is a better idea than an R.V. mainly because you can live on the water and look cool while doing it. And the cruisers featured are cool. VERY COOL.
AHHHHH! Amazing Commander at Freedom Boat Service.
Some of the best ones are at Freedom Boat Service, another broker than the newsletter. which is a confusing message, since I would not be sure who to buy from? Which of course brings up another strange thing that this community does. Sells a boat with several brokers.
Now, I am all for marketing, But, I will say it. Sorry. many of the Cruisers featured have been for sale for over a year.. and longer. Heck we featured many here. LOVE THEM. And they are priced extremely well for what has been done to them. But hot, hot? How about this headline.
Look Cool While In Isolation.
Amazing just sitting there
The idea of selling Cruisers right now is brilliant. If you are a broker, or own a cruiser that you have lost interest in. NOW IS THE TIME. And so I suppose they are a hot item. And I am sure there is a ton of interest. Which is SALES. But Marketing takes into consideration MIND SET.
SOCIAL DISTANCE IN STYLE
At Freedom Boat Service HERE
People get scared off. Which is sad because a classic woody cruiser is one of the most fun rewarding additions to the family you can make. And when you are the captain of one.. Well, you are hot!
I am so hot, I was sweating like a pig
Cruisers are COOL!!!!
The nice thing about cruisers is you can change an afternoon boat ride into a weekend, week, month, or even years if you choose to. It really is a totally different experience.
Spot on. They also can keep a marriage alive while you work and your wife lives on it all summer.
NR
Gotta love cruisers!! Best boat ever!
Dave and Cheri Bonacker, Lake of the Ozarks, Missouri
Just got back into a wooden cruiser this past Sept. Had forgotten how much I loved having one. This one hadnt been in the water for almost a decade. Swelled up in a little over 2 days and engines started right up. 1965 chris craft constellation 30
Absolutely my favorite small cruiser. Almost bought one when we first got married. Sale ended when the surveyor put a screw driver into the split keel.
1963 Silver Comet vs. CCC
Anytime Andy, Anytime
Thanks! Now you got me watching Green Acres snippets on YouTube!!…. Especially enjoying the ones with Arnold the pig…
…..Green Acres is the place to be
Farm Livin is the life for me
Land Spreadin out so far and wide
Keep Manhattan, just give that countryside.
and seemingly true to things these days….
.squirrel ….
“And they are priced extremely well”
No, they are not. I have seen this sentiment across a number of hobbies and even businesses. If it is on the market and hasn’t sold, and there aren’t buyers lined up, it’s simply overpriced.
Another thing you will see across multiple markets is the bigger, fancier, more expensive when new thing that is now selling for less than what was previously the cheaper option is almost always because there is a higher cost of ownership. If you could stick a cruiser on a trailer in your barn for little cost and launch it when you want to go boating like you can a runabout, they would be a heck of a lot more popular and more expensive. Unfortunately, simply owning one takes significant resources which means there are far fewer people with both the desire and capability to own and enjoy one.
Mixed emotions! Love the looks and would really like to drive one again but having spent my youth on a 1951 31′ CC Express I have way too memories of sanding and painting the bottom every spring while laying in the mud. I can still hear my dad yelling at us “no holidays”!
Yes. As a kid I was covered in red lead paint every spring. Surprised it hasn’t caused health problems. Also since there was always some water in the bilge the boat and everything in it, including our cloths, had a distinctive smell. We didn’t mind it though as it was always the smell of summer.
Well, as the resident cruiser guy on here: I loved having a woody cruiser, twenty years of work and fun. As I have said in the past though, I am the exception because I liked to work on them almost as much as cruising in them. If you want one you had better like that aspect too…or have DEEP pockets. I went over to the dark side and got the retro repro that is docked behind Troy and Sandi and Me in the first photo today…
Going Boating some more this week! Cruiser style.
John in Va.
wow! and Wow again!! Check out the 35 footer on Freedom Boat service site….over the top restoration….look at that helm…and the crash-o-matics have been replaced….what’s not to love and want.
John in Va.
I personaly like the Chris craft commanders looks good less work
Wooden Cruisers are really neat. I have said many times, if I didn’t have so much other “stuff “ I would have one. Perhaps someday. In the mean time I will have fun and wash my soul with Clorox.
If anyone has interest and questions about the 35’ Commander featured, feel free to contact me or Ron Stevenson. We were the second owners of and restored that boat about 18 years ago. “Itchin” is a remarkable cruiser – as much as we enjoy our current cruiser, “Thisuldu”, the 39’ Tollycraft, that Chris Craft is a favorite and missed here in the PNW…
It’s just not a resto shop without a few Cruisers hanging around in the back cold storage – Love em!
Matt, it is easy for you to forget all that has gone on at WB. Here is the link to the story I wrote and Texx posted May 14, 2014. (search $100 Chris in your search box)
https://www.woodyboater.com/blog/2014/05/14/itchin-the-100-dollar-chris-craft/
Sadly, they talk about or even show a picture of the boat at speed. My partner in the boat Dick Dow did some amazing work designing the propulsion system, proper props, transmission ratio, camshaft power curve, etc. I would cruise at 2300 RPM, about 21 MPH, at 10-12 gallons an hour. To those who are not familiar that is amazing mileage.
Ron, I commend the work that you and Dick Dow did on that beautiful Commander. There are very few around any more that could tune those engines/drive systems to that successful result!
OOPS “They DON’T talk about”
Huh? I just posted the story about this boat, where did it go?
Search $100 Chris in the search box, you will find the story that I wrote and Texx posted May 14, 2014
The picture shows me cruising on Puget Sound at 2300 RPM, about 20 MPH, with 10-12 GPH
Okay, this brings back memories… good memories. I used to own the 34′ Pacemaker that is tied next to Dick Dow’s Tollycraft, Thisuldu. I wish I had never sold it!
Secret Island! Shhh…it’s a secret!
My dream boat is a 1950s Owens Flagship Cruiser… some day!
My grandfather had an Owens (25 footish?). He was not a boater but wanted to look out the window of his place in Amityville NY and see a boat in the slip. Unfortunately when he passed I was very young and the boat passed to my uncle who neglected it to the point of it sinking in the backyard slip. What a shame.
How about a 1954 23ft Chris-Craft cabin cruiser?Same one as in u-tube video of Dale Prothero’s Chris -Craft.Love that gurgling sound.
Miss Conduct, 1957 30 ft Constellation on the St John’s River cruise a few years ago