Thanks beemer, that's nice to hear.
Charlie points out that Trophys made by Brunswick are following the Grady White model, so does that mean Trophys made from 2001 and later are much heavier than the earlier models and require extra horsepower.
Also, is there a way to tell, other than age of boat, if it was made by Brunswick ie; a marking or some characteristic that the Bayliner models didn't have.
Thanks again for the helpful info
No... no! Brunswick is NOT following the Grady White model with Trophy. They don't need to, Trophy has a good built and designed hull itself! Brunswick is using Trophy to go after Grady White "smaller boat" market share! They have Boston Whaler to go after larger (offshore) market share. Actually, pretty good marketing on Brunswick's part!
IMHO– if you are looking at buying a used Trophy, I personally would NOT buy one built prior to 1995 and would probably recommend sticking to one built in the 2000 (2001 model year) or newer! Here is a little Trophy and Bayliner history.
Trophy has always been part of the Bayliner lineup. Starting with just putting a rod holder on their boats and calling them “Trophy Series.” If an early 80’s Bayliner has a rod holder from the factory, you will probably find a Trophy nameplate on it. I would NOT recommend purchasing one of those!
In the 80’s Bayliner added the Trophy model to their lineup - Be careful there also. One sure way of telling, is it originally came with a Force engine. During that time,it was all about profit, the cheapest components used, and quality control was lousy!
When Bayliner first started, they were actually known as inexpensive“good” boat. In the early 80’s their quality control went to **** and they obtained the reputation of “poorly made cheap boats” and gained the “whatever it takes to get on the water” reputation. Not arguing with either there, as some of those boats – were pretty BAD! They started losing market share and their boats were literally falling apart; including hull problems. As a result, Bayliner put into effect an all out quality control program, which was prior to Brunswick buying them. Brunswick really didn't do Bayliner any favors in their early years, right after purchasing them. At least, not until market share started to drop!
Brunswick bought Bayliner in 1986 and the Trophy model was part of that Bayliner Marine Corp lineup. Brunswick really didn't do much during that timeframe and you still need to be thinking cheap components and problems. Things started changing in the mid 90’s and that is when Brunswick realized the potential of the Trophy brand name (along with the Meridian Yacht name). In 2001 Brunswick introduced the “Trophy” to their "new" lineup of manufacturers, which is also when they started using Trophy to go after the Grady White smaller boat market share. ALL Brunswick manufacturers are required to use Brunswick owned components and in model year 2001 Trophy started benefiting by using basically the same components as Boston Whaler. While those running components (IMO the most important thing) are the same, you will still see differences especially in trim (e.g. bow rails).
All in all, Brunswick did nothing more than break the name association between Bayliner, Trophy, and Meridian. Done so to get away from that Bayliner stigma! In other words, the boats are still being manufactured in the same plants, using the same procedures, by the same people – just a name change - with higher quality control! With the added benefit of Trophy getting the to use more top of the line components - owned by Brunswick!
FYI…depending on your engines and different options (e.g. hardtop), I don’t believe you will find much difference in the overall weight between a 23 foot Trophy and Grady? The Grady will weigh more, it has to as it will have a wider beam and higher gunnels!
J
