Commentary

Forecast 2015: Wayne Schaldenbrand—Sunsation Offshore Powerboats

ByMatt Trulio December 23, 2014March 26, 2020

For Wayne and Joe Schaldenbrand, Jared Morris and the rest of the team behind Sunsation Offshore Powerboats in Algonac, Mich., it’s been a very good year. In early 2014, they added another model—an aggressively priced 29-footer—to their Center Console Extreme (CCX) line. No sooner was that popular model finished than the Schaldenbrand brothers, led by Wayne, started work on adding a 32-footer to the CCX family. Throughout the year, the builder continued to produce existing models on the center console and sportboat sides. And Wayne Schaldenbrand, the oldest brother on the team, is even more bullish on the coming year.

Sunsation capped off a strong year with a display at the Florida Powerboat Club‘s Poker Run Village in Key West, Fla., during the club’s annual trek to the nation’s southernmost city.

What do you see happening in the performance boat market in 2015?

I think it’s going up, up, up—I think it’s going to be better than last year. The price of fuel is going down and people are buying boats. A lot of stuff out there has aged and people are ready and more secure, and ready to buy. The market feels good to me. It feels right.

I think the market has changed a little bit with sportboats and center consoles in that you have to build something that’s a little bit more focused on entertainment on board. People like to go out there, sit in their boats and enjoy them much more.

Everything seems like it’s going in the right direction. All of our dealers are either expanding their locations or putting up new ones. We are going to come up with something new in addition to the 32 CCX next year. Jared flew into town last week and we agreed that we’re going to get started on something as soon as that project is over. We’re just not going to say exactly what it’s going to be yet.

Forecast 2015: Wayne Schaldenbrand—Sunsation Offshore Powerboats

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