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What's Different? A Tradition of Excellence
Tiara has a long history of building excellent, solid quality, well-designed boats that are designed to be used. And, they are only getting better.
Tiara Yachts, a division of S2 Yachts, Inc., has a rich boat building heritage which extends over four decades. Boaters LIFE met the Tiara team at a recent summer Tiara rendezvous, and it was easy to see the great pride and craftsmanship that they infuse into their products ... and without comprise. Their quality clearly shows it.
History and Heritage
 Leon Slikkers started at Chris-Craft in the joiner department making cabin tops in 1946. In the early 1950's, Leon began building 14' runabouts in his garage after work.
In 1954 he registered the Slickcraft name, and the following year he left a promising career at the age of 27 to open his own shop and fulfill his dream. He sold his house and started a small factory on Washington Avenue in Holland, Michigan.
Leon began experimenting with a new material called fiberglass in 1955. Within three years, the company put a few of the boats into production and, by 1963, had stopped building with wood completely. In 1969, Leon sold Slickcraft to the AMF Corporation. He stayed on as President to head up three AMF companies (including Slickcraft), but eventually realized that the large corporation's business principles did not match his own and left after four years. Leon started over in 1974 building sailboats under the name S2 Yachts. Within ten years, S2 was one of the top five sailboat manufacturers in the United States, known for building both quality cruising vessels as well as racing boats. Gradually the company began producing high-quality power boats called Tiara Yachts.
The Slikkers family clearly takes great pride in building quality boats for generations. And, one look at any Tiara and it's easy to see timeless quality and why they maintain a high resale value.
Their Primary Objective is Obvious
Tiara Yachts: First and Foremost - Built without Compromise
Tiara’s are Built without Compromise to go to Sea - to be Underway
Designed and built first for performance and then accommodated to meet today’s lifestyle requirements. Their objective is not to build a condo on the water by compromising performance. To my way of thinking, it’s the perfect combination: a luxury environment that will satisfy a true boater that plans to use his boat.
In
the past few years, Tiara has raised the quality bar even higher. They
now appeal to the high-end sport fishing market. Tiara's fishing
boats include built in bait wells, tackle centers, rod storage lockers,
Rybovich style hull vents and more.
To meet the demands
of their cruising market, Tiara created the Sovran. It's is
a slightly heavier boat than the Open and provides a more comfortable
ride in choppier waters. |
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The Open is more
nimble and more fun to drive. It's a perfect boat for those that need
a boat with the flexibility and versatility to handle all activities on the water. Plus, Tiara has a tournament Series (TTS) array of fishing options that can be added for serious fishing. Each boat is best at what it was designed for but are for different purposes. With
the return of the convertibles and the introduction of the Tiara 3900 Convertible,
we are looking forward to excellent fishing machines as well.
What do We Think?
Having spent some time with the Tiara team and on Tiara Yachts, Boater’s LIFE was impressed with the quality construction of their product line. Their boats may not all be high-tech robotic built boats - but they are very consistent and the quality is very high. Their 4400 and the 5200's are made from waterproof epoxy resins, vacuum bagged and cored for added strength and lightness. They are built right for a cored hull! The remainder are solid glass below the water line. In terms of build quality, we put them right up there with the best of them.
Tiara is a company that is truly concerned with building the best boat they can. The boat's cost reflects it. It's not uncommon for most boat manufacturers to make a price point and that determines the build. This is not the case with Tiara Yachts. You may pay a little more but you get a lot for it.
We were impressed with the quality of their build - all the way down to the screws! They chrome plate every screw in the boat where most manufacturers do not. This is done to prevent bleed rusting around the screws even if the boats are many years old. They even chrome their stainless steel screws. A barrier of chrome prevents two stainless steel parts from scratching each other and cause subsequent bleed rusting. This is something customers may not even be aware of. It adds cost to the boat but makes for a long term improvement in its overall quality and customer satisfaction.
These boats were built for performance first and then outfitted to look good.
And, look good they do as you can see in the Tiara 3800 Open below. The designers at Tiara are obviously avid users themselves. Get behind the wheel yourself and you will not be disappointed.
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