Bozeman Bob

It is not up to the retailers in many cases , if the MFG sets the bottom line as the " MAP " and you go lower they will stop selling you that product if caught doing it. They can be creative and for example if you buy a certain MFD they will throw in free installation or some much lesser priced item but that MFD is still sold at the MAP number. As I said before,not all MFGs care what there product is sold for as long as they are getting paid by whomever. It's a calculated risk dependent on what products they are selling and how fast they are flying off the shelf or not.

I have been in sales for the last 45 years , most ,if not all retail stores average mark up is 50 % . Overhead is huge , Brandon somehow getting a hold of a product and selling it out of Moms basement has zero overhead. The legit distributor doesn't have a fighting chance against Brandon and whenever possible they will report Brandon to the MFG who will try and track him or find out how he is getting the product and shut it down. I have been in the room when a motorcycle shop was going off on S&S ( major HDavidson supplier ) about this ,online sales . S & S took care of it , didn't want to lose shop as customer.

Sorry I am not wrong, they set the suggested retail price and if you come off it they stop selling you the product.i am talking about larger companies like Raymarine , Hummingbird etc. Some companies allow it ( price slashing ) but in the process lose there base that kept them in business over time or sell enough product that they don't care. Gearwrench would be a good example of everyone cutting each others throat. Then you have Snap On/ Mac tools that do not budge on there prices. You can argue all you want ,go to the FTC, not going to change a thing

Manufacturers can tell there distributors what the list or selling minimum price is. Don't adhere to it and your contract or exclusive right to sell there products is terminated. This keeps legit distributors from slitting each other's throat and allows them a profitable margin so they can stay in business. If I was a distributor and knew that the product I was selling was allowed to be whored out to anyone and sold with hardly any mark up I would stop buying and selling that product. This , ( MFG setting selling price ) , protects a legit distributor from having to compete with Brandon selling out of his basement . Leveling the playing field or should I say keeping your distributors happy is the end game for most MFGs. Good luck with the FTC , might as well be fighting City hall or the dictators of NY. I would be spending my spare time doing fishing gear / boat maintenance instead of getting worked up about something that you have no control over.

Might be easier to install a dedicated deep cycle battery with a isolator so that it will charge off your engine but not discharge the starting battery if the engine is off. I have converted a few and now go with a new electronic distributor that eliminates points and the Thunderbolt ignition module or whatever your wired in to Same price as petronix but IMHO a better set up and a new distributor to boot. Best price I could find for a used module was 150.00 , paid 120.00 for updated distributor and pitched the Thunderbolt module. Is your engine idling higher now ? I wonder if you couldn't put in a Mercruiser momentary kill switch that they use for there older models. I am sure you could fabricate a bracket by your shift mechanism that would hold the switch and work off something moving the shifter ( not familiar with OMC outdrives ).

Another Albe on marketplace ,28' newer engines ,in Oswego ,maybe its on this site , named Sparks, a lot more money than the other one. It is a lot more boat and gear ,so there's that. The 28 should have a 10-11' beam vs 9-6" .

That Sportcraft has the doghouse located towards the center of the boat ,not at the transom. Still somewhat in the way and you end up working or always walking around it. Keep looking for what you want , do not settle for anything less.