Okay..
Overall? Very awesome to craw around in boats you only see on webpages. I'll try to separate my experience by type of boat. The only trend that stick with them all (minus one) is the cheap way of adding LOA by including the swim platform in the size. Every boat there had something at least 2-3ft on the back to say they're bigger (and to get more $$).
Cuddy cabins:
Nobody but Four Winns had them at the show. The S235 and S265. Frenchy wasn't around but spoke with a factory rep on why they're so small inside. Here's what he had to say about them: "The Sundowner series are closed bow cruisers but are classified as "cuddys". They're not designed for overnights that's why there's no side windows". The S235 is a 20ft cuddy with a 3ft swim platform. With it's oversized sun pad it's actually smaller cabin and cockpit wise when compared to my 19'6ft Stingray cuddy, it only beats it in height..about 10ft taller in the cabin. It's a true closed bow runabout. The S265 is a weird boat. That "aft berth" area is big enough to put a few life jackets in that's it. Looks much bigger in pics. The cuddy area itself again very small as it's not designed to sleep in. It a hybrid of a closed bow runabout and cuddy. If they called it "Liberator" that would be more fitting.
Express Cruisers under 30ft:
Seems like everyone ran out of ideas for 2013 so the trend was "bling!". LED accent lights everywhere, artistic designs, big screen TV's, shock and awe features like LED backlit wine glass holders, sun pads, oh and massive swim platforms. What does that mean in the real world? Really small usable space that got sucked up by artistic features. Four Winns takes the trophy of smallest boats in the show when it comes to personal space. The winner of best design in my eyes? The Stingray 250CS. They designed all of it's 25ft into people space. Equals the cabin room of a V305. It's the most spartan boat in the line up, but it's quite comfortable. Throw away the carpet, install some flexiteek, install better lighting and it would be almost in the same class as the rest. Four Winns were the most beautiful of course with those fancy lines, not all that good for a family but awesome boats to impress friends. All around best boat? Monterey. Good mix of bling and real world. Their 27ft class was equal to that of the 25ft SR CS. A good boat to go somewhere on a weekend. The Stingray 250CS won my heart with design, but it's way too expensive for it's lack of anything nice cosmetic or feature wise (no generator?!@!??) when for pennies more you can get something that would be on the cover of "Bling Magazine" with AC that works when you're on the water.
Four Winns announced a 24ft cruiser for 2014.
Express Cruisers in the 30-40ft range:
Every brand boat pretty much identical to the 25-30ft models but more swim platform and sunpads.
Express Cruisers in the 40-50ft range:
They all seem to be designed under one idea: Two couples will be on the boat and they need privacy. Master bedroom in the rear, bedroom in the front. Tiny kitchen/lounge in the middle. Everyone socializes outside. Sea Ray of course leads the pack of wasted user space for I'm not quite sure what. The best way I can describe their boats are... claustrophobic. There was a few other brands that were very pretty but all the same design idea. Then something magical happened: I stepped on a Four Winns V435. I'm not quite sure who designed this boat but the interior is pure genius. It's open and airy. There must of been 10 of us standing inside looking around and I didn't feel at all cramped. Master bedroom up front, kitchen/lounge in the middle and here's where they win the lottery: Living room in the back! All that closed off feeling of having the rear master was gone. It was awesome! The whole center/back half of the boat is nice and open with huge windows. My favorite boat at the show. Nothing came close to that nice open feeling not even in bigger yachts.
Ski/Wakeboard/Wakesurf boats:
Who hired the 12yo to design?
Bowriders:
Very nice designs, better seating layouts compared to the standard stuff of 10 years ago. Most now include a head. Except for the Bayliner Element. It's a bowrider shell with some Attwood seats bolted in. That's it. I think they it to you free with the purchase of an outboard.
PICS:http://imgur.com/a/LD5FS
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