marquis yachts out of business

Marquis Yachts Responds to Rumors of a Shut-Down

PHOTO BY MARQUIS YACHTS

Rob Parmentier, President and CEO of Marquis Yachts, released a press release to Marquis and Carver Yachts dealers addressing rumors of the company shutting down if not sold to a new owner by March 1, 2020. He assured dealers that Marquis does not expect a disruption in the continued production of yachts. 

“Marquis has no plans to shut down indefinitely,” Parmentier said in the statement. “Rather, we are in the process of selling our company to a buyer who will continue to operate Marquis in the manner you have come to expect.” 

He also noted that Marquis will continue to build boats “with a limited, dedicated, and determined workforce” to ensure “the timely delivery of boats for participation in key boat shows.” 

Although Marquis filed a notice with the Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development in order to let employees know of a possibility of a temporary closure, the press release said they were required by law to do so and did not intend to cause inaccurate media reports and confusion.

“We have a substantial backlog of boat orders and have seen a high volume of retail activity over the past few months,” Parmentier said. “By all accounts, we are off to a strong 2020. We are continuing to market and sell our boats.”

To read the full press release, click here . 

To learn more about Marquis Yachts, visit marquisyachts.com .

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Florida company acquires Oconto-based Cruisers Yachts for $63 million

OCONTO – A Florida company on Monday announced its acquisition of Oconto-based Cruisers Yachts for $63 million.

The purchase comes shortly after Cruisers Yachts, or KCS International, bought Pulaski-based Marquis Yachts' plant on April 26. The sale of the Pulaski operation had been a goal of Marquis Yachts executives for more than a year .

The company issued a  layoff notice in early March for 77 employees  in anticipation of the sale. The Pulaski employees can now apply to Cruiser Yachts to keep their jobs in Pulaski.

In addition to retaining the Pulaski employees, Cruisers is looking to hire additional workers in Pulaski and Oconto. It is seeking 75 people in Oconto and 150 people in Pulaski immediately. Newly hired workers will join Cruisers' existing 350 employees.

"The boating industry is booming," said Matt VanGrunsven, director of marketing for Cruisers Yachts. "For people that were going to take family trips, family vacations, or possibly go overseas, they're not doing that and they haven't done that for 15 months simply because everything's been shut down. They're looking for other ways to enjoy time with friends and families in the water, or do anything, and they found that ... boating kind of provides that socially distanced activity."

For Cruisers Yachts, joining  MarineMax, based in Clearwater, Florida , represents an opportunity to sell its yachts across the globe. MarineMax is the largest recreational boat dealership company with 100 locations worldwide. Cruisers' distribution will grow by joining MarineMax, and Cruisers in turn can fulfill a supply need for MarineMax.

Cruisers already has been doing "extremely well," and the company is working on a large backlog of boats, VanGrunsven said. Cruisers produces 33-feet to 60-feet yachts.

VanGrunsven said joining MarineMax will bring longevity to Cruisers.

"With each of those locations, we're looking to get our product in there and get their sales staff trained so that we can continue to grow our business and sell our yachts," VanGrunsven said.

Cruisers is seeking to hire  craftspeople for fiberglass, stainless steel and welding, upholstery and other work .

VanGrunsven said the pandemic and the previous sale of some other plant buildings factored into how long it took Cruisers to acquire the Pulaski plant. The company was doing its "due diligence" with researching and permits in the drawn-out process to purchase the Pulaski plant, he said.

The 216,000-square-foot Pulaski plant sits on 15 acres. The facility includes an in-water testing, research and development tank that may help accelerate research and development for Cruisers.

"There's a really big heritage in this area, or I'll just say northeast Wisconsin, boat building, and we're just looking to carry that on," VanGrunsven said.

Contact Nusaiba Mizan at (920)-431-8310 or [email protected]. Follow her on Twitter at @nusaiblah.

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Marquis Yachts' plan for 2020 is built on the back of 2019's achievements and accomplishments

• Market introduction of the new Lexus LY 650 in September at the Lexus "Beyond the Road" event and again at the Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show to much lauded fanfare and media attention
• Relaunch of the Marquis brand and introduction of the M42 day boat at Ft. Lauderdale International Boat Show
• Establishment of 2 new dealer partners
• Rolling 12-month 3rd quarter 2019 Market share and unit sales increases 10% and 29% respectively for the market segments Marquis Yachts participates in as reported by Statistical Surveys

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Hundreds of workers could be out of a job due to temporary close of Marquis Yacht

by Amber Luckett, FOX 11 News

PULASKI (WLUK)-- More than 100 workers from Marquis Yachts in Pulaski will be out of job at the end of February, that's in addition to the 200 workers already laid off last month.

"It's been a profitable company for a long time and obviously they have been trying to sell the company and some things fell apart pretty suddenly," said Jim Golembeski from Bay Area Workforce Development Board. "So the hope is another buyer comes up in the next weeks and things can move quickly."

In the official notice to the Village President and workers, it says if the company fails to close the sale of the business with a new buyer by February 29th, the facility will temporarily close and a total of 344 workers will be laid off.

"My advice to the workers right now is to start gathering as much information as they can about their unemployment, about their benefits under the WARN notice and start looking at the different possible things that can happen in the next 30 days," he added.

While the news is shocking to the Pulaski community, some residents remain hopeful that things will work out.

"It's not nice losing your job anytime, but the good thing is there are a lot of good-paying jobs out there where you can transfer in. But yeah to lose your job especially when you have seniority and stuff is not great," said Pulaski resident Chom Mommaerts.

Golembeski said the Bay Area Work Force Development Board is prepared to help those employees to find new work as soon as possible.

"So while we aren't going to rush in this week or next week, we have already been talking to the company about setting up times where we can come in and make sure they have the information they need to move forward, said Golembeski.

Click here to learn more about job opportunities in your area.

• Jun 14, 2022

Gone But Not Forgotten- The Boat Brands We Loved That Are No More (Part 9)

The motoryacht movement with maxum, meridian, carver & marquis.

In my over forty years in the pleasure boat industry, there have been literally thousands of boat companies and brand names of boats in North America.

Some of these were and are strictly regional brands not known or recognized in the rest of the continent but many were national and even international brands known to most of us diehard boaters.

It is those well known and recognized brands that are no longer with us that I look forward to examining in this series. These brand names may still be corporately held in reserve but are not known to currently be in production.

In 1986, the Boat Group division of Brunswick Corporation , makers of Mercury outboard motors and MerCruiser sterndrive engines, purchased Sea Ray boats. They quickly followed up in the same year with the purchase of Bayliner . Both Sea Ray and Bayliner had been vying back and forth for a few years as to which was the largest pleasure boat manufacturer in the world. Now Brunswick would undoubtedly be number one.

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Sea Ray and Bayliner had also been perceived, rightly or wrongly by the boating industry, and more importantly by the boating public, as representing not necessarily the extremes, but relative opposite ends of the pleasure boat market in terms of desirability, price point, and quality. It was akin in those days to the positioning of General Motors and the Buick vs. Chevrolet argument.

Based on this market perception, Brunswick thought there may be room for a boat brand positioned between Sea Ray and Bayliner, just as General Motors had Pontiac and Oldsmobile positioned between its other two brands. Just two years after the acquisition of Sea Ray and Bayliner, in 1988 Brunswick created the Maxum brand for exactly that purpose.

Building out of a Bayliner facility in Pipestone, Minnesota, in 1989 Maxum Marine offered eight models from 16-23 feet. Growth as well as market acceptance of Maxum was slow, as many Maxum hulls were the same as Bayliner hulls but with different decks and inner liners. The public was confused. As Maxum offerings grew in size to include mid-cabin express cruisers and eventually full cruisers, production facilities were added in Salisbury, Maryland.

In 1999, ten years after its formation, Maxum was offering 18 models from 18-46 feet. This was a prelude to a 2000 news conference when Maxum introduced its all new “curvy and sexy-looking” 3500 SCR cruiser, the first Maxum to be designed independently from Bayliner with a distinct brand identity and independence.

In that news conference, Dave Heiss, Maxum’s Manager of Advertising and Marketing, said, "Now we can grow each brand's personality independent of the other." Production was extended to include facilities in Valdosta, Georgia and Miami, Oklahoma. Unfortunately, it seems that maybe the 10 years of public perception and confusion between brands had solidified in the marketplace because Maxum did not perform as anticipated. In 2001, the Valdosta facilities were sold and the Miami, Oklahoma facility closed down as the events of 9/11 resulted in a severe downturn in the pleasure boat industry.

Maxum announced a re-invigoration of its lineup in 2002 but it was too little, too late. By 2009, it had cut back its product offerings to 12 models from 18-37 feet. But damage had also been done by the horrendous financial downturn of 2008 and, after a 20-plus year run, Maxum boats were discontinued in 2009.

The downturn in Maxum sales in 2001 was reflected in almost the entire industry, including almost across the board in the Brunswick Boat Group. Bayliner was building over 50 models in five series of boats and its sales were hit hard. It was also building larger and larger boats up to almost 60 feet and not paying enough attention to the smaller boats in its lineup that had always been its winning formula.

2002 was the final year for Bayliner Motoryachts. In 2003, Brunswick launched its Meridian line of yachts out of Bayliner’s old yacht and former headquarters location in Arlington, Washington. Meridian started with the old Bayliner lineup of seven models of sedans, flybridges, and pilothouse motoryachts from 34-58 feet, with the direction and intention of gradually re-tooling the lineup.

This would include not only new and more aggressive designs but also new materials and hardware to bring the Meridian brand closer to Sea Ray and its perception quality. All Meridian models were equipped with Brunswick’s new Docking on Command™ system of utilizing bow and stern thrusters under a single control.

Sales rebounded under the new direction but the financial downturn of 2008 caused more rationalization of Brunswick’s facilities, including the closing of the Arlington plant and all Meridian production moving to Florida. In 2011, it was claimed that Meridian had the best selling sedan and flybridge cruisers in the United States for the past five years.

It was not enough, though, and by 2018 Brunswick Corp. announced the end of not only Meridian Yachts but also the yacht and sport yacht models of Sea Ray. It must be noted here that both Bayliner and Sea Ray continue to this day both as major manufacturers of pleasure boats.

As a post-script, while we are dealing with Bayliner and its many changes in product lines over the years, there are a couple of series (at least) that have come and gone over the years – series that many boaters will remember with fondness.

One series is the Avanti series of more upscale mid-cabin express cruisers and flybridge boats from 29-40 feet from the years 1987 to 1999. The second series is a personal favourite of mine and one that has attracted almost a cult-like following from long-range cruisers. That series is the Pilothouse Motoryacht models 4588, 4788, 5288, and 5788 built in various of those lengths between 1985 and 2002, and of course continued under Meridian in 2003 and until model changes were made.

It is difficult for me to believe that Carver Yachts , one of the most popular and recognizable motor yacht brands found almost everywhere for decades might no longer be with us. It was said to have closed its doors permanently in mid-2021. Its huge production facilities in Pulaski, Wisconsin, which it shared with Marquis Yachts, was almost simultaneously purchased by KCS International, parent company of Cruisers Yachts of nearby Oconto, Wisconsin.

Charlie Carter and George Verhagen put the three first letters of each of their last names together to create the “Carver” name in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1954. Their first designs were mahogany planked runabouts. As sales grew, in 1956 they moved operations to Pulaski, a short distance northwest of Green Bay.

In the 1960’s, Carver recognized the growing consumer demand for “family-sized” overnighters and built roomy boats to satisfy that market. It recognized the growing demand for flybridge models as well. By 1971, Carver was offering seven models from 21-31 feet, all of which were built from wood.

By the mid-70's, Carver introduced fiberglass hulls but still with wooden superstructures. It first introduced its Mariner series at this time, one of the roomiest boats on the market with loads of indoor living space all on one level. It also came with a huge flybridge which had the only helm control station. The Carver 33-Mariner of the 1970’s satisfied both consumer boating needs and was a huge sales success. The Mariner series expanded over the years while keeping its original successful design philosophies.

By the 1980’s, Carver had grown worldwide into a major builder of what became referred to as motor yachts. The 32 and 36 flybridge aft cabin motor yachts became synonymous with Carver as boat owners enjoyed the privacy of an aft cabin stateroom with a private head compartment, while guests slept at the extreme other end of the boat in the bow.

In 1985, Carver was purchased by Miramar Marine Corp which soon added another production facility in North Carolina. Carver then started building Miramar’s new acquisition of Californian Yachts and offering them through its vast worldwide dealer network. In 1990, Carver offered a substantial lineup of 30 models from 22-55 feet including six Californian models. Sales topped out over $200 million.

The federal luxury tax of early 1991 along with an economic turndown almost crippled Carver. Buyout specialist Irwin Jacobs worked his magic and by the end of the year had assembled Miramar along with Carver into his Genmar Industries. A few years later, this became Genmar Holdings, Inc. which evolved into one of the world’s largest pleasure boat manufacturers.

In 1992, Genmar purchased Trojan Yachts of Pennsylvania and moved the tooling and molds to Pulaski to build the yachts there. Trojan’s lineup ranged from 30-46 foot express and sport cruisers, but unfortunately it did not last long. California Yachts was sold. Meanwhile, Carver started to rebound under new management and with the repeal of the luxury tax a year later.

The late-90's saw consumer demand wanting luxurious interior accommodations and Carver was happy to oblige. By the end of the 1990’s it introduced its ultra-luxurious 53 and 57 Voyager Pilothouse motor yachts with their ”skylounge” helm station with powered Captain’s chair, huge flybridge, solid finished cherrywood cabinetry throughout, leatherette furniture, and plush carpeting.

Following this success, Carver saw the need for even more luxury and better sales in European and offshore markets. In 2002, it started working with the Italian design team of Nuvolari & Lenard. This resulted in Carver building new upscale European designed Nuvari yachts from a new facility in Fano, Italy. With this background, in 2004, Carver created Marquis Yachts as an even more upscale line with European influences built in the Pulaski facilities. Originally, Marquis offered two models, the 59-foot and 65-foot motor yachts, and their success led to a full line from 42-72 feet.

In the same year, 2004, the Genmar Holdings, Inc. portfolio included 18 boat brands, but the financial crisis of 2008 had a devastating cumulative effect resulting in its bankruptcy. At the subsequent auction in 2010, Platinum Equity Group purchased the bulk of the brands, while Irwin Jacobs and a partner purchased Carver and Marquis Yachts. Shortly thereafter they added the Larson group to form the Marquis-Larson Boat Group consisting of six brands: Marquis, Carver, Larson, Larson FX, Larson Escape, and Striper.

After all of these changes, Carver tried to revitalize itself with some striking new designs which didn’t catch on with the market. In 2019, Larson, FX, Escape, and Striper were sold to the Polaris Group. For 2021, Carver was offering only six models from 34-52 feet, none of which had any resemblance to the Carver models which had excelled in the marketplace in the past.

Carver and Marquis were closed in summer of 2021. The extensive Pulaski manufacturing facilities were purchased by KCS International of nearby Oconto, the parent company of Cruisers Yachts, builders of 16 models from 33-60 feet. This company was then almost immediately purchased by MarineMax , the largest recreational boat dealership company with a hundred locations worldwide. Cruisers Yachts continues to excel.

Don't forget to check out:

Part 1- The Story of OMC

Part 2- Chrysler Boats, the Chris Craft Stinger, the Sea Ray Pachanga, and the Houseboat Craze of the 1970's

Part 3- A Retrospective Look at the Peak of Doral, Thundercraft, Magnum, Cadorette, Sunray, & Peterborough

Part 4- Connecting the Heydeys of Silverline, Striper, Owens, Penn Yan, Rinker, and Winner

Part 5- The West Coast Influence of Fiberform, Sun Runner, Apollo, Uniflite, Tollycraft, & Prowler

Part 6- The 'Sleek & Sexy' Era of Sidewinder, HydroStream, Switzer Craft, Challenger, and Lone Star

Part 7- The Web of Connections Between Thompson Boats, Cruisers Yachts, Slickcraft, Grew, Tiara, Pursuit, and Chris Craft

Part 8- The Incredibly Short but Influential Eras of Mariah, Lyman, Celebrity, and MFG

#culture #gonebutnotforgotten #cruisersyachts #marinemax

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Anko Mast, CEO of VanDutch America, Inc., stated, "VanDutch is very pleased to have Marquis become its sole manufacturer for all VanDutch requirements globally. We are extremely impressed with the level of Marquis' yacht building sophistication along with its dedicated workforce throughout its Pulaski, Wisconsin campus. VanDutch has had great success selling its unique and beautiful yachts around the world; we are also impressed with the high quality and success of Marquis yachts, which was one of our main reasons for choosing Marquis to become the exclusive manufacturer for all VanDutch Yachts globally." Mr. Mast further stated, "We look forward to a very long and successful business partnership with Marquis, America's premium quality yacht builder."

Marquis Yachts, LLC is a private company owned by John Paul DeJoria and Irwin Jacobs through J&D Acquisitions. Premium quality Marquis yachts are designed, styles and constructed at the company's American shipyard in Pulaski, Wisconsin.

VanDutch Marine, Ltd. -- in short "VanDutch" -- was founded in 2008. VanDutch introduced its first product, the VanDutch 40 in 2009 and have sold an impressive more than 110 VanDutch 40' YACHTS. From 2012 onward, VanDutch introduced an additional three new products, the VanDutch 30', the VanDutch 40' Walk-Around version and the highly sought after VanDutch 55. The VanDutch 45 and 70 are under construction and will be available in early 2014.

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Marquis M42 Review

• By Chris Caswell
• Updated: August 21, 2020

With an entertaining-focused layout and a striking, aggressive profile, the Marquis M42 is part of a new breed of express-style dayboats.

Consider that the cockpit can handle a dozen friends without imposing on the yacht’s double-wide helm seat or using the 9-foot-wide sun pad stretching partially across the transom (there’s a walkway to the hydraulic swim platform).

Consider that there is a full shower stall with a teak seat and Lucite door.

And consider the black carbon-fiber helm console with twin 16-inch Raymarine multifunction displays, as well as a joystick to link the two 480 hp Cummins QSB diesels with the bow thruster for maneuvering in tight quarters.

And finally, consider the Michael Peters-designed hull form (exterior styling is by the Italian team of Nuvolari Lenard) that carved white chunks from the Gulf Stream while remaining dry and stable and tracking true in a variety of sea states. The M42 we got aboard topped out at just a hair shy of 40 knots; if owners hanker to get into the 50-knot range, an outboard version of the model will sport triple 400 hp Mercury Verados hanging on the transom.

For entertaining, there is a choice of galleys, inside or out. The primary galley is opposite the cockpit dinette, with a sink, a fridge and an optional grill. All of the these are shaded by a cantilevered carbon-fiber T-top that leaves enough space between the top and wraparound windshield for a cooling breeze.

If guests are still too warm, the M42′s air-conditioned cabin has a smaller galley and a U-shaped dinette that converts to a berth measuring just an inch shy of king size. Combine that with 6-foot-5-inch headroom throughout and wraparound windows around the cabin, and the result is a bright, airy interior that seems far larger than one might expect on a 42-foot express cruiser.

With an eye-catching choice of hull colors (black, anthracite and charcoal), the Marquis M42 should stop traffic in harbors from St. Tropez, France to Miami.

Engine Room

If you thought that any low-and-lean boat would have a cramped engine room, think again. The M42′s entire sun pad raises, so owners can descend on steps to move between the engines for the service chores. The 7.5 kW Onan genset (optional) is offset and easy to access, and the batteries are reachable as well.

Take the next step: marquisyachts.com

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The Baltimore bridge disaster is what happens when 95,000 tons of modern cargo ship meets America's aging infrastructure, experts say

• Baltimore's largest bridge collapsed after a cargo vessel, the Dali, crashed into it.
• Experts told BI that a mechanical failure aboard the ship could have caused the crash.
• The bridge was never built with modern container ships in mind. 

The destruction of Baltimore's largest bridge early Tuesday morning has raised major questions about how such a disaster could have happened.

The National Transportation Safety Board said it has launched an investigation into the incident, in which a cargo vessel — the Dali — collided with one of the bridge's support beams, bringing it crashing down . It's unclear if there are any fatalities.

Much is still to be learned about what happened.

Both the FBI and the White House have said that nothing so far indicates nefarious intent or a terror attack. And Maryland Gov. Wes Moore said that "the preliminary investigation points to an accident," NBC News reported .

But what is clear is that one of modern shipping's largest vessels met with a bridge that was never meant to fend off such an impact, experts told Business Insider.

Henry Lipian, an expert at Introtech Accident Reconstruction and Forensics, said in a call with BI that while current information is limited, "the first thing that comes to mind to me is some kind of a mechanical failure, where either there's a problem with the steering of the ship or maybe a generator went out."

Lipian, who received specialist training in watercraft crash investigation during his time in the US Coast Guard, said this is more likely than "any mismanagement by the pilot or the captain."

Port pilots bring specialist knowledge of local waters and channels to guide visiting ships until they are out in open water.

The Maryland Association of Pilots was not available for comment on whether one of its pilots was in control of the Dali at the time of the collision.

Gov. Moore said in a news conference that the crew on the ship notified authorities they had lost power.

Moore told reporters that the ship was moving at a "very rapid speed" and that the mayday call stopped a greater disaster from occurring , with cars redirected away from the bridge.

He also said the bridge was "fully up to code" and had no structural issues.

An unclassified Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency report seen by ABC News said that the ship signaled to authorities that it had "lost propulsion" and was potentially going to crash.

A loss of propulsion would have had an effect on the rudder's ability to steer effectively, Lipian told BI. "If the rudder went out, now the ship's going to be at the mercy of the wind and the currents," he said.

The size of the vessel, even if it was moving slowly, would have created enormous kinetic energy, he said.

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"There's no brakes on a ship," Lipian added. "You either have to reverse your engines or let it coast, and there's not enough time to drop any anchors."

A modern ship meets an old-school bridge

According to shipping publication Lloyd's List , the Dali is part of a modern generation of massive container ships with extended cargo capacity.

The ship is 300 meters long with a gross tonnage of roughly 95,000, according to the website vesselfinder.com .

That wasn't common when the Francis Scott Key Bridge was first designed, Tim Broyd, a professor at University College London and a former president of the UK's Institution of Civil Engineers, told BI.

"Almost certainly when the bridge was designed, there was little to no consideration given to a hundred-thousand-ton ship hitting it," Broyd said.

But regardless of its age — construction on the bridge finished in 1977 — there's little chance it would have survived a head-on impact of this kind.

Instead of building bridges strong enough to withstand a direct impact from a ship like the Dali, engineers focus on deflecting a wayward vessel from its path.

This is achieved by putting structures in place around the bridge.

While it looks like some of these were in place around the structure, it is not clear what impact force they would have been designed for, David MacKenzie, Senior Technical Director of engineering and architecture consultancy COWI in the UK, told BI in an email.

In fact, engineers would struggle to design a bridge capable of stopping a ship as large as the Dali, Broyd said.

Newer bridges, built with heavier cargo ships in mind, may include larger gaps between the supporting piers, Broyd said. But "commercially, you can't make every bridge able to withstand a direct hit from a hundred thousand-ton vessel," he said.

"There's a balance between the amount of money you spend and the ability to withstand ever lower probability risks," he added.

Others see a much more worrying reality.

"This disaster reveals how exposed America's critical infrastructure is to sudden and devastating accidents as well as intentional destruction," said Rick Geddes, an infrastructure policy expert and director of the Cornell University Infrastructure Policy Program, in a statement seen by BI.

"Improved resilience should be on everyone's mind as aging infrastructure is rebuilt," he added. "Enhanced protection against ship-bridge collisions will certainly become more salient."

Broyd said that the fact that this collision happened at all points to a failure in the entire system of moving freight from the port down the river, rather than a flaw in the design of the bridge itself.

If it was indeed a mechanical failure that caused the Dali to crash, Lipian said, his next question would be to ask who was maintaining any systems that may have broken.

"Ships are very, very complicated machines," he said. "So in the future, there might be more information that we can glean in the human error part, like why did a mechanical condition fail?"

As Mark Richards director of NESTA consulting engineers, put it: "It's the full set of circumstances here, I think, which have led to the demise."

Correction: March 27, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misattributed quotes sent by COWI. These were from David MacKenzie, the senior technical director, not Lorna Wharton, the head of public affairs. MacKenzie's position about the strength of the structures in place to deflect the ship was also clarified. It is not clear what impact force they would have been designed for, he said. An earlier version of the story also misstated the weight of the vessel. The figure 95,000 refers to its gross tonnage; its weight in tons wasn't immediately clear.

Watch: The container ship that destroyed the Francis Scott Key Bridge has crashed before

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