Little by little, the J&J office came closer to the world powerboat Mecca: the American market. In 2011, we started to work with Brunswick, the largest corporation in boating, and with MarineMax, the largest marine selling organization. 

Bill McGill, the founder and head of MarineMax, envisioned a new project for Brunswick’s most prominent brand, Sea Ray. It was based on the “hidden outboard” idea, where the outboard motors would be covered (as in an inboard or I/O installation) but retain all the advantages of the outboard drives. None of the three parties involved initially realized how many challenging aspects this brilliant idea would present in design, engineering and technology. 

The Sea Ray Venture 370 project was extremely interesting, and very instructive for our office regarding the powerboat world. We teamed with Mercury guys, Brunswick’s development department (PD&E – product development and engineering) and MarineMax. J&J designed and engineered the boat with great support from PD&E, and built a scale 1 prototype for extensive testing in Portorož, on the Slovenian coast. A scale 1 interior and deck layout mock-ups were also built and checked. Issues like air supply to the engines, salt-water fog, and so forth were quickly solved by the Mercury team. 

The Sea Ray Venture 370 sailed well, looked nice, and was easy to build. She was awarded Boat of the Year title in the US in 2012, and won the Miami Innovation award in the same year.

But … fewer than 200 were sold, which was a very modest number for Sea Ray. 

We quickly learned some valuable lessons. First, that boaters using outboard engines want to show off their muscle with attractively designed engines, with all the lights and bells and whistles to advertise what power means in power boating. Second, that we had taken a very European view in focusing most of our design efforts into producing a decent aft cabin and nice sleeping arrangements at a time when sleeping on “small boats” (read: smaller than 55 or 60 feet) was becoming basically extinct in the US and elsewhere. Small boats were instead being used for day trips, for entertainment and swimming excursions. 

Sea Ray corrected the issue immediately with the Sundancer SLX 350, which prioritized a great socializing /entertainment program on-deck. That boat was an instant bestseller and became the model most powerboat designs of that size followed for the next decade.

The Sea Ray Venture 370 was a true eye-opener for our office, and it gave us a much better understanding of American boating and boatbuilding. Plus we made a bunch of lasting friendships.