Any owners of one in here?

Just put my down payment on a 24' cat on Friday

I wish I had that kinda money. Congrats!

I'm looking at a used one they've got. Have talked to Donny on the phone a bunch but met his Dad today, really cool guy!

TH36 said:

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I wish I had that kinda money. Congrats!

I'm looking at a used one they've got. Have talked to Donny on the phone a bunch but met his Dad today, really cool guy!

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Banks will finance for 15 years! Then you can pay 250% of the price of the boat!!

They build a solid boat and stand by them better than just about any other mfgr. Which model are you looking at?

It's an 05 21' cat with 05 150 Yammy/TRP

Is this a boat that identifies as a utv?

Sorry.. I will see my self out.

Are they still owned by the original Vietnamese guy? Few years back, according to a Texas GW I spoke with he had got in trouble for taking repaired warranty replacement boats and putting new serial numbers on them and selling them as new. It was alleged and they were going to come down pretty hard on him if found guilty. Just asking if same guy owned them as original Trans. I never heard how it came out. Are the boats NMMA certified now ?
I see that TPWD owns a couple of them so they must have kissed and made up. Maybe he did a plea bargain. Ha ha.

I have a XLR8 LS. Can't go wrong with any Tran boat. Love mine.

I thought that was a roller coaster

Buddy of mine has had 3 of them, I have spent a lot of time on them back in the day. 1 Trans, 2 cats. Great boats for Texas bays, run shallow and are built well.

Gunny456 said:

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Are they still owned by the original Vietnamese guy? Few years back, according to a Texas GW I spoke with he had got in trouble for taking repaired warranty replacement boats and putting new serial numbers on them and selling them as new. It was alleged and they were going to come down pretty hard on him if found guilty. Just asking if same guy owned them as original Trans. I never heard how it came out. Are the boats NMMA certified now ?
I see that TPWD owns a couple of them so they must have kissed and made up. Maybe he did a plea bargain. Ha ha.

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TPWD owns more than a couple of them, and yes the same family owns the production facility and has opened a repair shop that had to expand to have room to park all the boats waiting to be worked on.

The cats run great in shallow water and are easy to set gill nets from. Never heard anything about selling repaired boats as new, where was the warden working from?

Great boats and a great company.

ROFL

I thought this was about trans sports bras

Old man Tran is a great guy! He builds a heck of a boat. Would be a serious contender if buying new. He has had many of the big name Texas boat manufactures ask him to design molds for them. I wouldn't hesitate buying a transport. They are rugged and reliable, but not speed demons.

TH36 said:

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It's an 05 21' cat with 05 150 Yammy/TRP

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What's the most you guys would pay for this boat? 16 years old, in good shape, trailer needs new axles, oil tank compartment has oil everywhere so who knows what that might be. Could just be a spill. Motor has 280 hours on it.

I offered 24. Guy came up to 29 and originally wanted 38.

Prices are nuckin futz right now. That's not unreasonable

FIDO*98* said:

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Prices are nuckin futz right now. That's not unreasonable

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Absolutely but in all reality there's no need for them to be nuts other than boats are a hot commodity and production is down a bit like everything else is. I doubt prices will stay the same once the market settles out again.

Paying something like that for something that's 16 years old just sucks. But I get it, you want a boat RIGHT now then you've gotta deal with the current market.

I think $24k is reasonable right now, but don't blame the guy trying to get more.

sold my 2002 with 2002 suzuki 140 for 22k, several months back. May could have got more but I wanted it gone. FYI

I left off the part where he wanted me to cover the commission to Tran as well, so it'd really come out to about $31k and still need new axles on trailer plus one reef rash spot fixed.

I'm very mehhhh on that.

TH. If you spend anytime on the OB you probably are aware of my background being in the marine business just at 38 years.
I have never seen the marine market as it is right now. Demand far outweighs supply. All reputable good boat builders have huge backlogs. This is due to manufacturers not being able to hire plant manufacturing folks because they make more sitting at home drawing checks than working.
Also the vendors that boat manufacturers use for boat building supplies like resin, fiberglass, seat vinyl, pipe work .... like leaning post and T-Tops, bilge pumps , flotation foam products and stainless hardware like cleats and dashes etc etc ...are in very short supply.
Dealers have unprecedented low inventory levels so they desperately need something to sell so the marine auction houses are buying and selling used inventory like crazy and at crazy prices.
It is truly a sellers market right now as people are willing to pay prices that are way above blue book trade in or retail pricing.
Due to Covid and the demand it created for recreational boat sales the market is crazy high in prices.
A lot of knowledgible people in our industry believe there will be a tremendous selling market in a year or two when all these recently purchased new boats get sold or traded in.
Unprecedented low interest rates have also fueled this fire.
In my opinion, and just my opinion, is that the boat you are looking at is grossly over priced. Banks are going to lend what blue books show typically. You can easily look up blue book value of it yourself.
When the marine market settles, and it will, these boats (high priced used boats)will plummet in trade in value and sales value.
If you can stand that loss financially and have the boat buying bug that bad then go for it.
Paying that much for a 16 year old boat that did not cost that much when new is just hard to imagine.
The shallow water Texas flats boat market is a vey niche type of market with a lot of small local boat manufacturers playing in it and they feed off one another. They copy one another's hull designs and become the then "hot boat" Then one of them splashes (copies) that guys hull and buildS a "new and improved" version and it becomes the hot boat or a new brand shows up with its new hull design till they are splashed by another manufacturer.
Boating commerce laws do little to prevent splashing of hills as the law only requires a measly 10% hull (running surface) design change to be legal to copy that hull.
That is why few boat companies have true patents on their hull designs. Usually it is the larger companies as they have the legal strength to apply for the patents and to fight a person who would copy them.
There are a lot of good Texas shallow water bay boats. Myjak, Shallow Sport, Shoalwater are very reputable and have the greatest market share typically year to year.
Everybody says they build the best. If you have the boat buying itch and don't care about what you are going to pay then I'd say just do your research.......Look at multiple brands......Go for a ride in rough water before buying anything,...... and get the boat manufacturers warranty and read ever line of it.
Have fun above all else.

TH36 said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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Prices are nuckin futz right now. That's not unreasonable

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Absolutely but in all reality there's no need for them to be nuts other than boats are a hot commodity and production is down a bit like everything else is. I doubt prices will stay the same once the market settles out again.

Paying something like that for something that's 16 years old just sucks. But I get it, you want a boat RIGHT now then you've gotta deal with the current market.

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Your post is quite contradictory. You say there is no reason for boat prices to be high but admit they're in high demand and low supply. That's economics 101 for price increases. Like you said, If you want a boat now, you have to pay what the market is now. If you're in no rush, wait until the market settles. Thing is, nobody knows how long it'll be, could be months, could be years.

You could offer him your max and give that justification. But can't get mad at the guy for taking advantage of the market. Completely different market, but I'm selling a bike and the sole reason is I can get more than I paid for it. So I have zero reason to deal with lowball offers as I really wasn't planning on selling anyway and don't have to sell.

Would be interested in what "big name Texas boat manufactures" you are talking about Tran designing "molds" for them. You don't design a mold. Boat builders build a prototype from engineering, test it for performance, and when it is the way you want it you use it to make your mold you will use for production.
Lots of small manufacturers merely get a competitors boat and ( splash the hull ) which means pop a mold off of it..... then change it the required 10%..,, ( some don't even do that)
and "presto", they are now in the boat business.
The above not withstanding, Tran does Indeed build a good boat.

htxag09 said:

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TH36 said:

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FIDO*98* said:

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Prices are nuckin futz right now. That's not unreasonable

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Absolutely but in all reality there's no need for them to be nuts other than boats are a hot commodity and production is down a bit like everything else is. I doubt prices will stay the same once the market settles out again.

Paying something like that for something that's 16 years old just sucks. But I get it, you want a boat RIGHT now then you've gotta deal with the current market.

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Your post is quite contradictory. You say there is no reason for boat prices to be high but admit they're in high demand and low supply. That's economics 101 for price increases. Like you said, If you want a boat now, you have to pay what the market is now. If you're in no rush, wait until the market settles. Thing is, nobody knows how long it'll be, could be months, could be years.

You could offer him your max and give that justification. But can't get mad at the guy for taking advantage of the market. Completely different market, but I'm selling a bike and the sole reason is I can get more than I paid for it. So I have zero reason to deal with lowball offers as I really wasn't planning on selling anyway and don't have to sell.

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I just sold my boat for $500 more than what I paid for it 4 years ago, I took advantage of the market. Only difference was if anything I might've been $1000 off. Not $14,000

Sorry, I should have worded it as boat not mold. When el pescador was wanting to build a cat they asked Mr. Tran to build it. He declined. When I spoke to him at the fishing show he named off some other builders that have asked him to design boats for them and I can't recall all of them. Also not sure if he has actually designed for other companies but he has been approached to do so. All of his boats are designed by his two hands. Not in a computer. He is a very knowledgeable guy and known in the boat building industry as building a heck of a boat that will last.

Pretty much everybody builds their prototypes or "plugs" by hand. CAD/Cam is used for initial engineering concepts .......especially at the larger performance fishing boat manufacturers due to the high performance nature of the hulls. But the shaping of the deck and the final tweaking of the running surfaces of the prototypes are still done by master craftsmen totally by hand......at least they are at our company.
I am very familiar with old man Tran. I knew him when he worked at Flats -Cat before he started building his own boats. His boats perform well and are well built for sure.