Had the opportunity to make a road trip with my fishing partner to Flippin, Arkansas to pick up his brand spanking new bass boat. A 20 foot Vexus. Highlight of the trip was taking a tour of the manufacturing plant and having dinner with Randy Hopper and the management of Vexus. I’m in no way affiliated with Vexus so there’s no sales pitch here, just recapping a very informative trip. We stayed at Gaston’s White River Resort. The White River is where Ranger Boats founder Forrest Wood starting his guiding and boat building legacy. As a matter of fact, we went by multiple manufacturers in that area. Vexus, Ranger, BassCat and a few smaller builders. Interestingly enough, the boats all the guides use on the White River are long shallow bottomed boats with 30-40hp prop or jet drives. It is predominantly a trout fishing area with Bull Shoals nearby for the bass guys. I got to see the construction of bass boats, deep v multi species, tin boat line, center consoles, and even a prototype 23 foot bass boat that is designed to perform as well as their smaller models with a 250hp motor. They will rig any motor you like and had Mercury, Yamaha, and Suzuki. All available. I’ll finish by saying that if you ever get the chance to tour any of the manufacturer’s facilities, for sure do it.

I would love touring the factories. When I wrote for business magazines, I loved touring factories. The only one that scared me was a glass-making factory. They had an oven the length of a football field and my tour guide asked me if I'd like a look inside the oven.

"Sure," I said, and he opened a teensy-tiny door.

It was heck on Earth inside it.

@Swamp Girl There were a few areas of the plant that were a little overwhelming. Of course the fiberglass resin smell was very strong. The welding smoke in the tin boat area was intense and the spray they put on the aluminum to prep it for paint was pretty strong. I have a very sensitive sniffer so it may affect me a little more. They did have spray booths for some of the processes and huge exhaust fans to help moving the particulates. They do pultrusion and vacuum bags so the resin is pumped into sealed forms.

Thanks for those details. I hadn't considered that such plants might come with strong smells.

Pretty flippin’ cool! See what I did there……..

I went 12 rounds with a raccoon on top of a paint booth inside a boat factory once, wild ride

Who won?

I’m still posting so….. me 😂

Dang. Sweet tour

Very nice. When we lived in South Carolina I visited a couple factories when debating my bass boat selection. Got to meet Davey Hite at one.

I love the learn how the sausage is made!