Three exotic boats revealed at Hagadone Marine VIP party
Devin Heilman | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 8 years, 5 months AGO
COEUR d'ALENE — Joe and Cindy Schmidt's new custom Coeur 270 sport open bow wooden boat is a reflection not only of their design creativity, but also of Joe's can-do attitude.
"Joe did not want to name it, but we have insisted on naming it," Cindy said. "In business, Joe’s answer to any question or any request, no matter how difficult it is, is ‘no problem.’ So the boat’s name is ‘No Problem."'
And it was no problem for the Hagadone Boat Shop to help them build the boat of their dreams.
"All it took was talking to the people at the boat shop," Joe said. "We realized that they care more about the boat than the customer does, and we knew immediately that we wanted to team with them."
Joe said the wooden boat style is representative of what the Pacific Northwest is all about, and their particular boat has even more significance for the area.
"It’s the first and only open-bow wooden boat that the Hagadone Boat Shop has ever made," he said “It also is the only rear-entry boat, so it has those two features that they’ve never done before. And that was our design.”
"It was like birthing a baby for the people who built it, which is so wild to me,” Cindy said. “They are so excited about it."
The Schmidts and their $350,000 "No Problem" were honored guests Thursday evening during an exclusive boat reveal at the Hagadone Marine Center. They joined two other Coeur d'Alene couples who also showcased their recently purchased top-of-the-line watercrafts.
Kevin and Kerry Wolter went to a boat show in Las Vegas last year without the intention of buying anything, but they were curious to see the new A40 Cobalt sport yacht.
“We just went down to see it because it’s been coming out for a while, and I just wanted to see it,” Kerry said. “I wasn’t thinking at all I would be interested. And I fell in love."
They both fell for the red and white $750,000 Cobalt, which they ordered in September. They celebrated seeing it on the lake for the first time during the boat reveal event.
"We actually saw it when it was unwrapped in the warehouse, but this is the first time we’ve seen it on water," Kevin said. “We love boating, we love the water, we love Coeur d’Alene. We’ve been looking forward to this for a while."
Cameron and Aubrey Chestnut are now the proud owners of a sleek, sporty M235 Malibu, a boat that's all about throwing big waves.
"We are very avid surfers, and on the lake," Cameron said. "Literally, this is the closest thing we can get to an ocean wave on fresh water."
The Malibu, which comes with a $230,000 price tag, is top of the line when it comes to water displacement, Cameron said.
"Nothing else compares to it in that sense," he said. "There’s not many of these boats, we were one of the first ones they built. It’s kind of fun to have one of the first ones."
About 150 VIP guests attended the reveal, including friends Britt Browning and Melissa Hjeltness.
"The wood one is the coolest one to me," Browning said.
"See, and I like the red one,” Hjeltness said with a laugh.
Both women said it was pretty cool to have the first looks at the three boats, which combined are worth more than $1 million.
"We have a ton of glamour here in North Idaho,” Hjeltness said. “It’s a great secret we don’t want anyone to know."