Walter Meloon is selling MasterCraft

[SkiTundra]

I know and have worked with a number of family run businesses. Too often family ties can overshadow good business decisions. CC are no longer making decisions based on family ties but instead on what will be best for CC and it's shareholders. This is good for CC and for CC owners.

In some families this could make for an uncomfortable Thanksgiving, in others not. It is very possible that they are now at a point where business is business and family is family. Walt may well bring MC swag and they'll all jab each other about which of them has the ugliest towers.

Size and market position have NOTHING to do with product quality. In fact, it is often the opposite. I have confidence in the current leadership of CC and believe that the decisions they've made over the past year (except perhaps some marketing decisions) are good ones and will benefit CC and CC owners in the years to come.

[andyray]

There was a very lengthy thread about the background of SECC no longer having the right to sell Correct Craft, after 50+ years. That was closed by the moderators. Out of respect to them, I do not want to bring that back up. But it does bother me that people are accusing the Meloons of turning their back on the brand without all the information.

It seems to me the options of SECC were:
1) Go out of business, and put everyone who works there on the unemployment line.

2) Re-invent the business, leveraging the skills and experience they have.

I know what I would choose. I'm confident the Meloons will handle thanksgiving fine.

[nautique06]

Very well said andyray....none, or very few of us know or ever will know what happened..... so why keep talking about it???

[Hollywood]

If there are threads getting nuked about this topic think about who's got the leverage to do that.

[NautiqueJeff]

There was information in that thread that violated the PN site terms of use. Also, I was in touch with people on both sides about what was being said. It was decided that the old thread was simply not a positive thing from anyone's standpoint, as quite a bit of the information there was just plain not true. Those are the reasons behind the original thread's removal. As was stated earlier, I don't know if we will ever know the whole story behind this. That's between the Meloons and Correct Craft. They don't have to tell us anything.

[kinger]

Actually as a CC owner and part of their customer base I feel CC has a strong obligation to explain the situation. When you make a 50K plus purchase you are not buying a product you are buying into what the company stands for. That may have been tarnished and believe that it is not between the Meloons and CC.

Jeff I understand because of your affiliation w/CC you have some PR responsibility, but as a consumer I feel they do have to tell us something.

[NautiqueJeff]

Here is what I know, and all of this has been posted before here on PN, whether it is in the interview we did with Bill Yeargin or other threads about this topic. Over the past few years, some members of the Meloon family have been selling their interest in Correct Craft to a non-Meloon Correct Craft board member. This board member, Daryle Doden, has been approached by them - he did not actively pursue the sale himself. Walt Meloon is one of the people who decided to sell his shares to Daryle Doden recently. He also made the decision to open a MasterCraft dealer at the site of the former Southeast Correct Craft.

It is important to remember that there are still many members of the Meloon family directly involved with the daily operations of Correct Craft. Greg Meloon is the VP of Product Development, and is doing a great job. Ken Meloon is still the Chairman of the Board. Thomas (Ken's son-in-law) runs Correct Craft East. And of course there is Ralph Meloon, the 90-year-old son of the founder of the company, who still shows up at Correct Craft every day! I can tell you from very recent personal experience that Ken and Ralph are still actively involved in the company. I spoke with them both at the Ski Nautique Big Dawg finals in Orlando just this past weekend.

We should all keep in mind that just because Walt has decided to pursue other opportunities, other members of the Meloon family are still very much involved with Correct Craft.

[SNMike]

Here is what I know, and all of this has been posted before here on PN, whether it is in the interview we did with Bill Yeargin or other threads about this topic. Over the past few years, some members of the Meloon family have been selling their interest in Correct Craft to a non-Meloon Correct Craft board member. This board member, Daryle Doden, has been approached by them - he did not actively pursue the sale himself. Walt Meloon is one of the people who decided to sell his shares to Daryle Doden recently. He also made the decision to open a MasterCraft dealer at the site of the former Southeast Correct Craft.

It is important to remember that there are still many members of the Meloon family directly involved with the daily operations of Correct Craft. Greg Meloon is the VP of Product Development, and is doing a great job. Ken Meloon is still the Chairman of the Board. Thomas (Ken's son-in-law) runs Correct Craft East. And of course there is Ralph Meloon, the 90-year-old son of the founder of the company, who still shows up at Correct Craft every day! I can tell you from very recent personal experience that Ken and Ralph are still actively involved in the company. I spoke with them both at the Ski Nautique Big Dawg finals in Orlando just this past weekend.

We should all keep in mind that just because Walt has decided to pursue other opportunities, other members of the Meloon family are still very much involved with Correct Craft.

All of the above are dead on facts. As for Walt parting ways with CC, well, again, not for me to post, besides it doesn't matter. It is what it is.

Kinger, I understand how you feel sir, it's VERY hard to wrap your mind around such a turn of events. However, IMVHO, the only thing CC owes anyone, is to stand behind their customers, and do everything they can to keep us happy, and returning back to CC when we're ready to buy again. 6 JD Power awards say they're doing something right.

Regards to ALL!! Mike

[Zwengit]

Good luck Walt & Gary

I think everyone should wish Walt and Gary our best wishes in their new venture. Anyone who knows these men should know that they didn't want to do any of this. Keep in mind that Gary was pushed aside / out / whatever many months ago and Walt was pushed aside / out / whatever a few years back. To have their dealership stripped from them must have been the last kick in the behind.

Absolutely nothing good can come Correct Craft losing their years of expertise and experience so this is a loss for Correct Craft, a loss for Correct Craft owners and a loss for the Meloon family.

Previous post is exactly right -- not many people could explain differences between CC and MC better than these two gentlemen, so they will be a powerful sales force for MC in Florida.

[DavidG]

The new dealership

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in all this discussion is the NEW nautique dealer in Orlando. I have no input to provide on how/why they are the dealer now, and not SECC, but I can say this. As a long time customer of SECC, MANY of the people I dealt with @ SE are now at Nautiques of Orlando. T is an organizational & administrative powerhouse. If any of you in the Southeast ever went to our owner's reunion, she was the glue that put it together. Jeff is the #1 CC salesman in the world and was always the decsion maker that I dealt with at SE. Finally, Joe Mama is everyone's favorite Dude!!!! . . . and that's just the showroom! Bryon is in parts, and while he hasn't been doing CC for 700 years like Woody, he was trained by the man himself, and he hasn't let me down yet (I dealt with Bryon @ SE and always had a positive outcome). Also, the MX bays are filled with plenty of familiar faces. The point to all this? I can confidently say the CC has not left us nautique folks out in the cold, which shows good judgement on their part! The end result is that Orlando has a great dealership staffed with first class people in an excellent location.

[rocco]

Walter Meloon is selling MasterCraft

Here is what I know, and all of this has been posted before here on PN, whether it is in the interview we did with Bill Yeargin or other threads about this topic. Over the past few years, some members of the Meloon family have been selling their interest in Correct Craft to a non-Meloon Correct Craft board member. This board member, Daryle Doden, has been approached by them - he did not actively pursue the sale himself. Walt Meloon is one of the people who decided to sell his shares to Daryle Doden recently. He also made the decision to open a MasterCraft dealer at the site of the former Southeast Correct Craft.

It is important to remember that there are still many members of the Meloon family directly involved with the daily operations of Correct Craft. Greg Meloon is the VP of Product Development, and is doing a great job. Ken Meloon is still the Chairman of the Board. Thomas (Ken's son-in-law) runs Correct Craft East. And of course there is Ralph Meloon, the 90-year-old son of the founder of the company, who still shows up at Correct Craft every day! I can tell you from very recent personal experience that Ken and Ralph are still actively involved in the company. I spoke with them both at the Ski Nautique Big Dawg finals in Orlando just this past weekend.

We should all keep in mind that just because Walt has decided to pursue other opportunities, other members of the Meloon family are still very much involved with Correct Craft.

Well Said Jeff...Now we need to go on to something else............

[SNMike]

Re: The new dealership

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in all this discussion is the NEW nautique dealer in Orlando. I have no input to provide on how/why they are the dealer now, and not SECC, but I can say this. As a long time customer of SECC, MANY of the people I dealt with @ SE are now at Nautiques of Orlando. T is an organizational & administrative powerhouse. If any of you in the Southeast ever went to our owner's reunion, she was the glue that put it together. Jeff is the #1 CC salesman in the world and was always the decsion maker that I dealt with at SE. Finally, Joe Mama is everyone's favorite Dude!!!! . . . and that's just the showroom! Bryon is in parts, and while he hasn't been doing CC for 700 years like Woody, he was trained by the man himself, and he hasn't let me down yet (I dealt with Bryon @ SE and always had a positive outcome). Also, the MX bays are filled with plenty of familiar faces. The point to all this? I can confidently say the CC has not left us nautique folks out in the cold, which shows good judgement on their part! The end result is that Orlando has a great dealership staffed with first class people in an excellent location.

ABSOLUTELY dead on target true. Having been a judge at our SeaWorld reunions, it's a task that starts the day after one is over. I missed having one this year, but understand why it didn't happen. Here's hoping in the next year or two, we will be back up and enjoying the reunions again.

Jeff, T, Mama, just let us know what we can do to help.

Michael & Tracy

[Zwengit]

Re: The new dealership

One thing that hasn't been mentioned in all this discussion is the NEW nautique dealer in Orlando. I have no input to provide on how/why they are the dealer now, and not SECC, but I can say this. As a long time customer of SECC, MANY of the people I dealt with @ SE are now at Nautiques of Orlando. T is an organizational & administrative powerhouse. If any of you in the Southeast ever went to our owner's reunion, she was the glue that put it together. Jeff is the #1 CC salesman in the world and was always the decsion maker that I dealt with at SE. Finally, Joe Mama is everyone's favorite Dude!!!! . . . and that's just the showroom! Bryon is in parts, and while he hasn't been doing CC for 700 years like Woody, he was trained by the man himself, and he hasn't let me down yet (I dealt with Bryon @ SE and always had a positive outcome). Also, the MX bays are filled with plenty of familiar faces. The point to all this? I can confidently say the CC has not left us nautique folks out in the cold, which shows good judgement on their part! The end result is that Orlando has a great dealership staffed with first class people in an excellent location.

Wow, I've got a totally different view on what CC has done here. To me it sounds like the only guys that kicked out were Walt Meloon and Gary Meloon and Woody. What the heck ??? What exactly did that accomplish? Was that really necessary to kick them in the tail like that by taking away a dealership of the company that they busted their backsides for for decades? That is not the Correct Craft that I know. What CC did was force Walt and Gary to go a different route and I'd be willing to bet that they will work 10x harder to sell MC in Orlando. Heck, if I were them I'd sell the MC boats at cost or maybe below cost. I'll bet there are a ton of CC owners who aren't real happy about how SECC was treated.

[boardbaby]

RE: Re: The new dealership

I don't think people are going to care. The staff that made Southeast what it is for many years are all at the new dealership. Even Joe Mama-who everybody loves! If you are a Nautique owner you don;t switch cause Walt or Gary are not involved. Don't kid yourself! I never saw either one of them in all the years I went in for service. There was an opportunity for improvement with a new dealer, same people: Best of Luck to all of them!

[hondaprlud]

RE: Re: The new dealership

about 10 years ago NE Ohio lost their longtime CC dealer(20+ yrs). Much smaller market but same principal. Much like this, he and his staff had everyone convinced there was only one ski boat for sale. The owner retired. Now the excellent staff sells Mastercraft. They still service CC and all inboards. The CC franchise has bounced around to a few owners, but that staff is still around, and that's where I shop. I still own a Nautique (2 as a matter of fact- anyone interested? Yellow_Flash_Colorz. They are still great people who know what they are doing. I'm sure Walt made a very tough decision, but ski boats is what he knows, what was he going to do, sell used cars?