I was listening to the Mercer podcast this morning on the way to work and he was talking with Lee Livesay. Lee said he set up his new boat order with Ballistic back in September and they called him two weeks before the season and told him they wouldn't be selling him a boat. He will be running a Phoenix he was able to get pulled together, with a lot of help from Ship's Marine in Gladewater, at the last minute. I haven't finished listening to the whole deal and know a total of zero about how the industry gears turn so I am curious about this.

Does this type of thing happen a lot or is this as crazy as it sounds? 2 weeks before the season starts is insane. Unless Livesay violated some sort of contract or did something terrible, I just don't see why a company would pull the plug the way they did. I genuinely hope everything is going alright over at Ballistic Boats. I've never fished out of one, but man they look sweet.

Really small company so no telling the dynamics of a decision like that

Lee didn't violate any sort of a contract. I spoke with his best friend but not going to speak about it. Not my place.

Ballistic has problems. Look how many boats they built last year. Hard to sustain a business like that. Advertising dollars are everything now. If you cant generate enough sales to have a large Adv. budget, your in trouble. My prediction? Ballistic is gone in 18 months to 2 years. (or part of White River)

Man, all I know they are fast. We tried to keep up with him on Championship Sunday last year and he probably wound up 2-3 miles in front of us if not more.

Hill County Hammers didn’t have any problem getting some Ballistic boats. I wish the day of sponsored pros would end for all boat manufacturers.

That and bonus cash. I read that the 721 phoenix cost Livesay $25g more than the Ballistic, must suck. It does show the markup the rest of us are paying for the pros to chase their “dreams’ though.

No different than lining Pat Mahomes or Aaron Rodgers pockets when buying a certain insurance or Lebron and Lily with AT&T. Its just the way things are done in the world of advertising and marketing.

dont know why folks get worked up ballistic cant build very many boats in a year no more than they build its more like a hobby say if you build 12 a year an 4 are sponsored boats at some point it is not sustainable.

Isn’t ballistic moving to Texas? Probably not the best PR move.

Thought they were already building them in Texas. It looks like the smaller companies may offer bigger margins to pros, albeit a more fragile guarantee.

Ballastic is having some hull issues. Couple boats are cracking up with one being a complete replacement. Lee got a better boat after seeing them in person now

So why did Feider get his Ballistic and he didn't? More to the story probably and kinda surprising Livesay would conject they are in financial distress on that national podcast multiple times, he opened himself up to legal action on basis of slander. Actually the whole segment sounded a bit re-hearsed by Mercer and Lee, hmmm.

Seth Fieder still in a Ballistic. Probably gives them more exposure.

I would imagine a guy with 3 Elite and 1 Open win in a Ballistic got them plenty of exposure.