MasterCraft ProStar
If you haven’t heard that MasterCraft has (finally) updated their Prostar, you’ve been hiding under a rock. They’ve not kept their new design a secret. I had my first chance to get into one of these dream machines at the Utah Boat Show this year.
While trying to get an interview about this boat with Marcus Brown, I had to get in line behind two other groups who were ogling the beauty of the new Prostar. As I listened to their conversations and sat in the boat I was hit by how spacious it felt. We’re talking wake board boat style space in a twenty-foot-nothing direct drive. I think that a lot of this is due to the wider beam that makes the walkways truly walkable. It also ties to not devoting so much space at the back to ski storage.
The cockpit is very approachable for both a guy over 6′ tall and a woman under 5’6″. In fact, my sister-in-law told me that her first question was about a seat bolster and she was told she wouldn’t need one. As she sat down and looked ahead, she realized that this was correct. The lower dash makes it drivable without a bolster for even shorter drivers. You can hear more about the boat in the interview.
Marcus Brown
Marcus Brown was quick to recognize the amazing engineering patience that was required to create this boat, talking about the engineers’ spending hours to create a new design, build a mold and create the prototype, just to find after mere minutes on the water that it had to be scrapped.
In the podcast I share a story about my daughter and Marcus Brown. I want to share another story about him here. While Marcus was signing HO product catalogs at the show, a little girl – maybe five years old – came back to him with her catalog that he had signed a few minutes earlier, with her mother in tow. This cute girl held the catalog out, and matter-of-factly told Marcus, “You didn’t include your phone number.” Marcus, and everyone else around, just cracked up. The mother tried, with little success, to explain that this was only her daughter’s request and not hers. Marcus kindly looked at this girl and said, “I’ll tell you what, I’ll give you my email address. That’s just about as good.” He then added that to her book and left her with a big smile.
Utah Water Sports
I want to thank my friends at Utah Water Sports – our MasterCraft dealer in Utah – for letting me lurk around their booth for so long while I waited for an interview with Marcus Brown. I also want to thank them for being brave enough to pre-order in some of the Prostars. Typically in Utah you have to buy a direct drive boat based on magazine reviews because the dealers here don’t move enough to warrant having one in stock. I’d love to personally help them move one of these out of their inventory, but even if that’s not possible, I’d love for one of my listeners to get one of the beautiful Prostars that they’ve ordered in. Check out their selection at http://www.utahwatersports.com.
Utah Boat Show
Again, my thanks to the Utah Boat Show for getting me a press pass to record these interviews on the show floor. Their generosity is much appreciated. If you can make it in 2015, that will be the 50th running of this boat show. I’m excited to be a part of that when it comes around.
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