Spring 2014 Newsletter: The latest news and reviews from Family Marine

FamilyMarineBoats.com 

Spring Newsletter

Out of the Vortex and Onto the Water

Here's to hoping we're nearing the end of the winter weather.  The sub zero doldrums have made this past winter never ending. Cabin fever has undoubtedly contributed to more than a few moments of tension, and we just need to get some sun! Let's take a moment to put all of the cold weather behind us, and imagine ourselves a few short months from now  in a happy, warm place.  Close your eyes, take three or four deep breaths and imagine yourself, family, and friends together on your favorite lake.  The sun's beating down on you, the children or grandchildren are laughing and splashing while you relax on a new or used pontoon or boat from Family Marine.  Ahhhhh.... isn't that nice?

Even though spring has continued to be colder than usual boat sales are warming up.  Customers who decided to purchase early, took advantage of early season savings by ordering a pontoon or boat of their dreams while others who purchased early saved big with in stock specials.

Pontoons have been a hot ticket item again for us this year.  The most notable Premier model so far has been the 260 Grandview.  Customers love the styling and architecture, with the helm elevated 3 steps above the cabin; the Grandview impresses. The most popular model option has to be the RF designated boats.  RF stands for rear facing, which is in reference to the port and starboard rear facing lounges at the rear of the boat. Many love the "U" shape lounging area at the bow and stern of the play pen.  With an additional two-plus feet that extends out the back; the extended swim platform is standard in the RF designated models of Premier pontoons.  The RF model designation is available in Sunsation and Solaris models.

Watch the video (Competitive Test 1) to see another a feature that keeps on gaining popularity,  the PTX Performance center tube. This is the center tube that changed the way we think about pontoons.  The PTX center tube has the performance characteristics of a classic v-hull style boat, without having to compromise for all the space and storage options available in a pontoon. Watch the "Competitive Test 1" video.  That video says it all!

Centurion Tow Boats have been a very exciting product for us this year as well.  The 2014 Minneapolis Boat Show confirmed our thoughts, and proved what we thought to be true; prospective inboard owners are very excited about the brand.  Centurion has been and continues to be very well known to have set the bench mark when it comes to surf specific boat design; for 2014 they have released the Enzo FX44.   The FX44 is Centurions new flag ship boat, taking the flag from still very formidable respected, and well known surf boat the Enzo SV244.  Centurion added a number of new riders this year and most well known of the surfers added to the team was the winningest wake surf athlete of all time, Ashley Kidd.  Not wanting to give up anything in the wakeskate and wakeboard end of the spectrum, Centurion released the Enzo FX22 as their wakeboard dialed model in 2013, and this year added a number of proven  veteran winners to ride the FX22.  Adam Fields, Aaron Reed(skate), and Melissa Marquardt are all stoked to be reppin' Centurions "smaller" hammerhead. New options for 2014 are the CATS (Centurion Articulating Tracking System) and RAMFILL ("29 second fill. No pumps. No sacs. No B.S.")available on all SV and FX model Centurions.

Centurion Boats 

2014 Enzo FX22

See this boat on our show floor!

There are some very attractive Glastrons in stock both new and non current models.  We recently took into inventory 2 brand new 2014 Glastron runabouts; a GTS185 and a GTS205.  These are wonderful boats and both are I/O's with Mercruiser engines. The GTS205 is a hot rod.  It's got all the performance upgrades you could ask for.  This particularly sleek and sporty 20' runabout has the upgraded 350 Magnum MPI 300 hp inboard engine and is equipped with Mercury's Bravo One performance out drive to handle the extra torque delivered from the V8 engine. This boat will run in the mid to upper 50 mph range easy. Check out our "Wholesale Clearance" section for deals on remaining 2013 Glastron runabouts and deck boats.

Glastron GTS205 Interior

Family Marine & Wet Sounds

High Performance Marine Audio & Custom Installation

Wet Sounds Rev 3-some tower speakers and LED lighting.

We get a kick out of building loud stereo systems.  Shaun likes to help design them, by first finding out what our customers wants and needs are, then building the system that best fits that person. That's one reason why we do not stock all of our boats with tower speakers. It gives you more choices.  We've been selling and installing Wet Sounds for 3 years. We've have installed speakers, amps, built systems,  and learned along the way.    Keith is the technician and does the installs here at Family Marine. He really does a great job for each and every person.  

Coming soon to Family Marine is a Wet Sounds demonstration display featuring all kinds of different speakers, LED's Amps, Equalizer w/ PA Microphone, Bluetooth, Sub, it's gonna be great if you want to hear the difference in person you can now do it all in one place then have it ordered and installed.  If you aren't needing help with the install we would be happy to have a consultation and design the system that best suits your listening environments. 

One of the coolest things you can do to really look great on the water is some LED lighting!  We love how it looks at night and in so many colors.  The lights are definitely a head turner.  Get it in basic colors or RGB color change LED's.  They're also available as underwater LED lights to add a glow of color to the water.

CATS & RAMFILL

NEW Wake Surf boat technology offerings from Centurion Tow Boats. 

I'll be honest, I am so excited to get on the water as soon as absolutely possible to do all the pre-delivery inspections on our 2014 Centurion Tow Boats.  I plan to document most of, if not everything that I can in the process of testing and delivering a new boat to a customer, and what that requires of our team at Family Marine, and then we will a keep everyone in the know, via social media posts or a blog entry about all the great new features the boats have and how they affect performance. So you'll definitely want to stay tuned for that!
                                                                                                                     

CATS is a new system Centurion developed to help "Roll" the boat to port or starboard to create larger surf wakes. The center rudder turns left or right to assist this.
What I can tell you now is that the CATS(Centurion Articulating Tracking System) is safeguarded to reset itself back to center when the MPH reach 27 and also when below 7.  Above 27 could cause damage to the boat and below 7 the CATS fin is rendered nonfunctional.   The RAMFILL ballast is SUPER fast (3600 lbs. in 29 sec), and has a plethora of great features!  Both of those are discussed in our CATS and RAMFILL videos.

World Championship Wake Surf Expo and Silent Auction

Youth for Christ and Family Marine are proud to host their inaugural “Centurion World Championship Wake Surf Expo and Silent Auction”

June 28th, 2014 Zorbaz on Green Lake  RSVP NOW!

Youth for Christ and Family Marine are proud to announce their inaugural “Centurion World Championship Wake Surf Expo and Silent Auction”. This is a FREE event for the entire family and crew! Family Marine will have their 2014 Centurion Towboats on display for instruction and demo including professional athletes from Centurion with factory support. The entire line will be available including the all-new Enzo FX44, the ultimate wake surf machine and the reigning king of waves in the industry.

Youth, Amateurs, Intermediate and families of all ages are welcome to come out and join us in the spectacular event. If you already own a boat, feel free to bring it out, Family Marine sales staff will be happy to help facilitate the sale and service as well provide estimates, inspection and guidance on maintaining your boat and maximizing value with your boat ownership. We will have new wake surf boards from Liquid Force and Phase 5 Boards for demo and purchase. Wet Sounds High-Performance Marine audio will be on display and we will host a silent auction of new wake equipment and swag for all! You don’t want to miss this event!

For registration please RSVP online or call us at 866-977-BOAT.

For partner or sponsorship opportunities and information on showcasing your product please contact Tom; familymarine@hotmail.com or Shaun; shaun@familymarineboats.com or call (320)222-2628.

NEW! Phase 5 and Brigade Wake Surf Boards

Family Marine teams up with two solid wake surf board manufacturers

Phase 5 Board Co.

We decided to bring in 2 new wake surf manufacturers this year.  We like what both have to offer to the.  Phase 5 is a proven winner and we had a nice conversation with Drew at Surf Expo.  From there I looked around and just kept coming back to Phase 5.  We hope our customers like them too!  I think you'll find we have a nice selection to choose from.  We chose Brigade for a number of reasons, one of which is that Shawn seems like a genuine guy.  He thinks out side of the box and wants to see everybody be successful with his product. We appreciate that approach.  We also chose Brigade because we had a great reference on each and every model from one family.  The Sorensons really liked the Brigade boards and the company over all. Customer feedback is so important to our business and we really appreciate that they took the time to talk with us about their experiences.  We look forward to 2014 with both of those manufacturers and of course we still carry Liquid Force, H.O., Hyperlite, and Byerly.

Thanks to Phase 5 for reaching out and donating a board for the charity auction in June.  We really appreciate that as well.

Brigade Wakesurf Co.

  The "Radical"  Surf Style            "sKM Custom" Skim          Tamarindo Skim 

Brigade Wakesurfing Co. really specializes in one off, custom wake surf boards.  They are built to best fit each riders taste in artwork and ability.  Brigade has just come out with a line of boards that are built with every body in mind.  The beauty of it is you can stop in and pick up a Brigade board, fall in love with it then down the road, order to match your specifications.  We're excited to be involved with the new dealer program and look forward to you giving them a surf too.

Coming Summer 2014

Some of the exciting things to look forward to

Check our "Events Calendar" frequently for any exciting events that pop up as we get closer to, and through out the summer.  We will be on the lake often doing Centurion boat demos.  If you'd like to schedule a time to demo a particular boat or Premier PTX Pontoon please email me shaun@familymarinboats.com.

• June 28th Wakesurf Expo and Silent Auction for Youth For Christ w/ Centurion Boats and Demos
• July 4th Fourth of July!!!
• July 18 - 19th MN Wake Surf Championships
• August 15 - 16th 10K Wakesurf Open: World Wake Surf Championship Qualifying event

Bookmark this blog and come back for different specials and new product announcements.