Statement Yachts for Sale

Statement came to market in 2009, when Nick Buis and his then partner Todd Werner launched the 42 Ultimate, a vee bottom center console with an air suspension cockpit, and the company has built performance center consoles and outboard sport catamarans out of Florida ever since, first from St. Petersburg and latterly from Clearwater. Buis owns it today. The line has included the 350 and 380 Open, 35 and 38 foot SUV center consoles, the 42 Ultimate, the 430 catamaran and the 50 Passion, and the company picked up the Pilini Marine assets to widen the sport catamaran side. Output has always been small, on the order of twenty odd boats a year, and almost every one is specified individually: paint, upholstery, electronics and two, three, four or five outboards.

The important thing for a used buyer is that Statement has never been one factory, so ask who actually built the boat in front of you. Hull and deck work has been contracted to well regarded Florida composite shops, including Doug Wright Designs and High Tech Composites at Melbourne, with rigging by specialists such as Grant's Signature Racing at Bradenton, and the newer 44 GTrs and 396 are built in Brazil. That is not a criticism, those Florida shops build some of the best performance hulls in the country, but it does mean build quality and detailing vary by hull and by year, and it makes the boat's own history more important than the badge. Survey accordingly: get the build story from the owner, look closely at the rigging, bracket and transom, at gelcoat and paint over the laminate, and at the engines, which on a quad or quint outboard boat are most of the money. These are low volume custom boats, so resale depends heavily on spec and on the paint being to somebody else's taste as well as yours.