Marketing Hype - All That Glitters Is Not Gold
All That Glitters Isn't Gold
By: Jason Lybeck
I was searching the internet today trying to educate myself on all of the newest innovations for 2015 surf boats. Let me tell you, there is a lot of information out there to see and be influenced by. If it wasn’t for my personal experience behind some of these “innovations” I may have been influenced to believe that it was true too!
Upon visiting one particular manufacturers website I was prompted to “ignore the marketing lies” by a company that just straight up lies about their particular surf system performance. Through my own experience I am able to verify that EVERY SINGLE one of their 23 foot boats that I have surfed behind has had to lean to the surfers side in order to produce a legitimate surfable wake! Then when you go to transfer to the opposite side it is just a huge stacked up wave that is about 4 feet long and no fun at all to surf!
You see, the truth is that a majority of the boat brands out there right now just aren’t producing a quality hull that is designed to handle the demands of your average surfer, much less the demands of competitive wakesurfers. Sure they have their “surf systems” that bolt onto the boat. Even my sponsor, Supreme boats is offering a bolt on "Quick Surf" system for 2015. Im not saying that they do not have their place in the market today. However the "system" produced wave is in no way comparable to the quality of wave that you get from a leaned boat with a properly designed hull!
Im not writing this blog today to convince you of one brands surf system over another. Im simply addressing the “marketing hype” (lie) that a surf system is the answer to making a great wave! Its not the surf system at all that makes a great wave, It is the displacement of water by the hull(and a damn good hull design) that creates the beast that we are all chasing….the perfect wave!
Some of the major boat brands out right now produce a hull that simply isn’t designed for surfing and cannot displace the amount of water that is needed to make a nice long and clean perfectly trasitioned wave. (That, in my personal experience, is the truth.) Now once you weigh a surf system equipped boat over to the surfers side a bit more than “evenly weighted” it starts to produce a much more desireable wave to ride on. But if the boat is being weighted to one side it is still listed isn’t it?..... Then why the “surf system” bolt on”?
Bolt on surf systems typically will cause the boat to “dog walk” and drag much more in the water. Thus creating a huge demand for more power and fuel consumption. Some brands even have an additional “drag” component to their boat in order to pull the hull further into the water because their hull just isn’t designed to displace water. They aren't hulls designed to displace the most amount of water in order to create the largest wave possible. They are hulls designed for wakeboarding retrofit with gates, and systems to prduce a surfable wave. Surfable. Meaning they're fit for, likely to, or capable of being surfed. Almost but not quite the standard wave created by a boat that is designed and manufactured from the keel up as a wake surf boat.
Supremes new surf system is 40% more efficient than that of the “market leaders” design. It is designed to create lift instead of drag! Why can Supreme do this when the others cannot? Well simple…..the hulls are designed to displace water! There is no replacement for displacement!
If you’ve been one of the many people marketed to, and driven to believe that a surf system is the only way to go don’t feel bad. We have all been led to believe that this will solve our fat sacked out and listed boat. But that wave still is not as powerful or perfectly shaped as a properly designed deep-V hull that is weighted correctly with a list. If you don’t believe me try it out for yourself. Weigh your “surf system” equipped boat to one side and then tell me that it doesn’t create a more desireable wave. I’ll get you contact info to one of the brands that needs a new “marketing hype” guy!
If you think that there is too much information out there and you're not exactly sure what you should be buying, come partner with us! We are here to help you! Our personal experience in the inboard boat market gives us insight to overlook marketing hype and to get you into the boat that is right for you and your family. Not just the boat that we have on our show floor!
"Expertise Through Experience" isn't just our moto, it is the truth at Faction Marine. We put the time in on the water as much as we do in the office so that we not only know our products inside and out, but we know our competiors products as well. That's why we started Faction Marine, to help guide people in the boat buying process that aren't quite sure what they need now, in 2 years, or in 10! We have lived that experience and want to share that with you so that you get the most out of the boat that you buy!
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Thanks for the read!
Jason
