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View Full Version : A.O. DECKBOAT vs CONQUEST??????????



Not So Fast
08-16-2007, 07:09 AM
While looking thru the classified section I noticed American Offshore's add on 2007 decks. I never understood how 2 boat builders can make the identical boat (looks the same to me) without a conflict.:idea: Who is doing who to what, anybody know how this happens, just curious?? NSF

Jesster
08-16-2007, 08:19 AM
They aren't as much alike this year as they were last year. :D It's a game of who splashed who Conquest splashed the bottom and AO splashed the top. AO did a rework of a number of things when they moved the manufacturing facilities to Riverside like the walk through and the front and rear swim steps as well as now offering full gel coat options. Otherwise they are definitely similar. I thnk the AO is probably a little faster under the same power though. (lighter layup, more like the East coast guys do it from what I understand.)

lalhc
08-16-2007, 08:52 AM
AO, Conquest & Eliminator are pretty much the same hull. The big difference is how they're made. The last time I saw all 3 models, the Conquest and Eliminator had superiour workmanship. The AO seemed to be "stripped" down and they used a lot of plastic parts whereas Conquest & Eliminator used stainless steel. All of the hardware pieces seemed superior on the Conquests & Eliminators. Overall, it appeared that AO uses lower quality parts to build their boats and that's why they're able to price them so much lower.

02HoWaRd26
08-16-2007, 09:21 AM
But they are not compared as the same as the Eliminator that is a totally different lower hull design, the A/O and conquest use the old Talon bottom where the eliminator is another totally different bottom...

LOWRIVER2
08-16-2007, 09:36 AM
Keith Sayre would have the most info. as to who has what as far as molds go. Genesis is building the A/O's in Ca. Genesis brothers have backed up their boats in the past with fixing things, at least. They had the blue one on their site up at Havi. a month ago for test rides. It was for sale at a Phoenix dealer.

Keith E. Sayre
08-16-2007, 09:38 AM
While noone really knows or says where they got what bottom or top from,
the rumors that I've heard are as follows: it would appear that the Talon person got it right from the start! Hats off for him. Then going back to about 1990 the American Offshore company and the Conquest company
both showed up with bottoms that to me seem very similar. In 1997, when
Conquest redid the top of their boat, they sold the old "plug" to Eliminator.
If they've changed the bottom I haven't heard about it but who knows.
There are about 8 other companies on the west coast that currently use
a bottom that seems very similar for their cats and deckboats. As for the
tops, back in 1997 Eliminator changed the front of the deck giving the people
in the front seats more back height. Then about 3 years ago, the American
Offshore company showed up at the LA boat show with a deck that seems
a bit similar to some of the others.
Bruce Nescher, the late owner of Sleekcraft and Conquest certainly hit the
nail right on the head with his deck design in the early 90's. Magic Boats
has taken that great idea and made it the most popular way in the west
to go boating for the family!
Keith Sayre

atomickitn
08-16-2007, 09:48 AM
I agree the talon botton is by far a superior bottom, and they did it right...

bohica
08-16-2007, 10:19 AM
There's a big price difference between an Conquest & the AO. How can AO build a boat much cheaper than Conquest? It's gotta be more than just the name. Who knows of anything Conquest/AO does during layup that contribute to the big price difference?

DMOORE
08-16-2007, 10:51 AM
After seeing many Conquests in person, I can say they are very well rigged. Top of the line parts, and very high attention to detail.
Darrell.

lalhc
08-16-2007, 11:28 AM
After seeing many Conquests in person, I can say they are very well rigged. Top of the line parts, and very high attention to detail.
Bingo - after seeing the AO Deckboat, I could see me doing a lot of upgrades and/or repair work down the line. IMO their parts would detoriate or break much quicker and easier than a Conquest, especially, in the heat.

Goodtime$
08-16-2007, 12:25 PM
We build the boats 100% in house at Genesis Custom Boats per
American Offshore specs.
Bottom line, the boat comes loaded with a bimini, 496HO, triple axle trailer
for under $80k. Standard boat comes with Faria Gauges, Eddie Shifter, Pioneer Stereo, Big Bimini with stainless Rails, Front wash down, transom trim,
full integrated storage liners etc. It can be easily upgraded to Livorsi Gauges and a big audio system and still be well under 90k.

boat boy
08-16-2007, 12:42 PM
While noone really knows or says where they got what bottom or top from,
the rumors that I've heard are as follows: it would appear that the Talon person got it right from the start! Hats off for him. Then going back to about 1990 the American Offshore company and the Conquest company
both showed up with bottoms that to me seem very similar. In 1997, when
Conquest redid the top of their boat, they sold the old "plug" to Eliminator.
If they've changed the bottom I haven't heard about it but who knows.
There are about 8 other companies on the west coast that currently use
a bottom that seems very similar for their cats and deckboats. As for the
tops, back in 1997 Eliminator changed the front of the deck giving the people
in the front seats more back height. Then about 3 years ago, the American
Offshore company showed up at the LA boat show with a deck that seems
a bit similar to some of the others.
Bruce Nescher, the late owner of Sleekcraft and Conquest certainly hit the
nail right on the head with his deck design in the early 90's. Magic Boats
has taken that great idea and made it the most popular way in the west
to go boating for the family!
Keith Sayre
Keith
I've never spoken to you, but I was at the Naticual launch ramp with Gary H. Saturday with his new Conquest. You came up and talked to him briefly, later Gary told me who you were. I had the red, white and blue Advantage. Gary also told us later about your test ride offer, wish I would have known about it, would have scheduled something. Anyways I can say we enjoyed the ride Gary's new boat, and would like to try out your ride sometime.
Anyways thanks for listening.

Xlration Marine
08-16-2007, 12:52 PM
It was conquest that splashed the American Offshore, back in the early 90's. There was a buch of fighting over it as well. A fiend of mine that owned Campbel told me some of the story. Guess he saw them doing it. I don't think elimintor ever touched one, they had a good plug builder at that time. Then shortly after that issue started, boating took a dump. Thats when another builder just up the road was going through a nasty time, and he was the new topic in the boating world. Thats when alot of owners started sleeping with the lights on. And the upholstry guys were using kevlar for something else. Boats stolen that were never built, engines vanishing. Fun Stuff.

extremecat
08-16-2007, 09:31 PM
Thank you for comparing our boat to a Conquest, they make a fine looking product along with Magic. They have been making their deck boats for over ten years and when you do something for that long it gives you a chance to refine your techniques. We have been making cats for over 17 years and we have spent out time refining our construction and handling. If you were to look at our first deckboat offering a couple of years ago and the product we are offering today you would be impressed in how far we have come in such a short time. Our boats used to be built by the infamous Ed Ferro, he made a strong fast product but never cared about refinement, bling, color, or other amenities that our customers wanted.
We had a lot of feed back regarding the similarities of our boat and Conquest, the original mold was built by Ed Ferro with whom we have now severed all ties.We have since moved our fabrication to California and built a completely new mold. We made some great changes in the new model, the front swim platform in now integrated instead of a bolt on piece, we now offer a rear walk thru model, and non walk thru model. 95% of our sales was with race controls so we changed the dash to accommodate them as a standard feature, we put more angle in our seat backs for more pasanger comfort and most importantly for you speed freaks we made some changes to the boat that gave us more miles per hour. I would love to be invited to a shoot out to put our boat against the rest of our competitors; we have one of the fastest, best handling,and strongest constructed 28 ft deckboats.
Several of you say we are using inferior products in our boats, I invite you to test ride in person and evaluate one for yourself. The only thing left to change is the latches used in out floor lockers which we are changing. Our boats come standard with Eddie Marine hardware. We offer as standard equipment on or boats the 496HO, front shower, windshield, race controls, dual batteries with a switch, transom trim, dual hatch activators, S/S four blade Bravo prop, S/S drop down swim step, trash receptacle, depth finder, tilt steering column, custom colored match steering wheel, gauge bezels, chart light/12V outlet, auto bilge pumps, thru hull exhaust, head rests, 3 cleats per side, HYDRAULIC STEERING, and gel coat graphics that compares to anyone out there, all standard for $79,900.00 on a trailer. Tell me where we are skimping on our boats, and our new interiors are a must see.
Our hull construction is the finest in the industry proven in offshore racing conditions. It is a composit construction using vinyl ester with a edge grain balsa core sandwitched between stiched fiberglass cloth. Our bulkheads and stringers are aquaply which is treated marine plywood that will never rot.
American Offshore has been in business since 1990 and is still in business (please disregard the recent A to Z boat builderÂ’s index that put us out of business in the 2000s). We have had our ups and downs and ownership changes. I promise we are on the up swing and I will gladly give you the phone number of our customers that have bought boats from us since we have made these business changes. We take care of our customers and will continue to do so. We work on a very small overhead and profit margin to get our product exposure. We are planning to attend some trade shows next year and who knows maybe we will even be invited to a west coast boating magazine shoot out and even do some advertising.
Please feel free to email me at extremecat@cox.net I would love to show you our products.
Sincerely Cliff Waters
General Manager

phebus
08-16-2007, 09:40 PM
Sounds like some great changes. I look forward to seeing one of the new models.

Mrs 2LKHVSU
08-16-2007, 10:08 PM
We love our Eliminator..same bottom as both..

Dan Lorenze
08-16-2007, 10:12 PM
Our boats come standard with Eddie Marine hardware. We offer as standard equipment on or boats the 496HO, front shower, windshield, race controls, dual batteries with a switch, transom trim, dual hatch activators, S/S four blade Bravo prop, S/S drop down swim step, trash receptacle, depth finder, tilt steering column, custom colored match steering wheel, gauge bezels, chart light/12V outlet, auto bilge pumps, thru hull exhaust, head rests, 3 cleats per side, HYDRAULIC STEERING, and gel coat graphics that compares to anyone out there, all standard for $79,900.00 on a trailer.
80K for a brand new 28' deckboat and trailer is a pretty good deal these days.

Mrs 2LKHVSU
08-16-2007, 10:17 PM
80K for a brand new 28' deckboat and trailer is a pretty good deal these days.
I love your sleestacks (sp?)..thanks!

Dan Lorenze
08-16-2007, 10:32 PM
I love your sleestacks (sp?)..thanks!
:D

havasu5150
08-17-2007, 05:17 AM
In 2006 Conquest redesgined their hull and added a second step. which improved the performance. they also refined and rounded a lot of the corners and made changes to the location of lockers etc. Cant beat the rigging and fit and finish. It appears that Conquest is putting more marketing efforts into the Boss cat vs. their deck offerings as of late. Looking forward to seeing their new 32' deck
Hey Keith, I'm in town nest Sun - tues. I'll look for you in the channel or stop by Magic and say hi.

parker guy
08-17-2007, 05:48 AM
When AO showed up @ The LA Boat Show with there Splash of a Conquest Top Cat 1 , they should of been kicked out of the show due to no boat ID put into the hull . Ever boat has to have one to show who made it ! Let's face it , it cost alot of money to build a Plug and a mold vs a splash. The resale on the Conquest will be alot better then the ao regardless of the price.

OGShocker
08-17-2007, 06:00 AM
When AO showed up @ The LA Boat Show with there Splash of a Conquest Top Cat 1 , they should of been kicked out of the show due to no boat ID put into the hull . Ever boat has to have one to show who made it ! Let's face it , it cost alot of money to build a Plug and a mold vs a splash. The resale on the Conquest will be alot better then the ao regardless of the price.
Keep your opinions to yourself. This is Hot Boat and there is NO ROOM for peoples opinions here.
PS. Me thinks you are full of shite!JMHO;)

Dribble
08-17-2007, 07:08 AM
While looking thru the classified section I noticed American Offshore's add on 2007 decks. I never understood how 2 boat builders can make the identical boat (looks the same to me) without a conflict.:idea: Who is doing who to what, anybody know how this happens, just curious?? NSF
Many builders have purchased the right to use the same mold or molds. For example; the Cobra 21 is also built by Lightning, Aftershock, Eagle Pacific, and about five others. The Cobra 23 was originally an Eliminator 236. Was used by Ultra for a while and is now built (legally) by several other builders also.

Jesster
08-17-2007, 07:19 AM
When AO showed up @ The LA Boat Show with there Splash of a Conquest Top Cat 1 , they should of been kicked out of the show due to no boat ID put into the hull . Ever boat has to have one to show who made it ! Let's face it , it cost alot of money to build a Plug and a mold vs a splash. The resale on the Conquest will be alot better then the ao regardless of the price.
My AO has a hull ID as does every AO I have seen. I really doubt they ever built a boat without one. It's not legal. Plus, I believe anyone looking to purchase the boat would be unable to finance it without one. Where did you look for the number? I'm with OG on this one. ;)