News

It’s time again for the Palm Beach International Boat Show! This spectacular in-water show starts this Thursday, March 23rd and runs thru Sunday evening, March 26th, 2017. MERRITT’S will proudly display two yachts currently available for sale on the brokerage market. DAUNTLESS – 86′ Custom Merritt SF 2011, offered at $6,995,000 and OASIS – 58′ Custom Merritt SF Express 2014, offered at $2,450,000. Visit us…

MERRITT’S will be hosting a 2-day in-water “open house” during the Palm Beach International Boat Show at our own docks! After you’ve seen the 86′ Merritt DAUNTLESS (SLIP 525) and the 58′ OASIS (SLIP 533) at the Palm Beach show, plan to visit MERRITT’S boatyard in Pompano Beach where amazing in-water ! 15 sportfishermen ranging in size from 30′ to 80′ will be available for…

It’s a problem every boat company at next week’s Fort Lauderdale International Boat Show would love to have. The sportfishermen built by Merritt’s Boat & Engine Works are so in demand that the company will have only one used 53-foot Merritt for sale at the Bahia Mar Yachting Center, and it might not be available for long. It’s not because the family-owned Pompano Beach company…

The latest launch from Merritt’s Boat & Engine Works is a spectacular, open-bridge 86-footer powered by twin MTU M-94 2,600 hp diesels. It is a perfect example of an owner and builder putting together their best efforts to create a first-class sport-fishing boat. Although calling it a boat is purely an oversimplification – she is 100 percent yacht-grade. I had a great coach as a…

“Thanks to an intense lobbying effort sponsored jointly by the Florida Yacht Brokers Association (FYBA) and the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF), the Florida Boat Sales-Use Tax Cap has been approved and is about to become law,” said Jeff Erdmann, President of Bollman Yachts of Fort Lauderdale and a member of the FYBA Legislative Committee, which along with MIASF’s Government Relations Committee has…

Over the past 30 years, the boats launched at the famous Merritt boatyard in Pompano Beach, Florida, have changed considerably. The nimble, purpose-built, hard-core 37- and 43-foot game-fish boats that made the Merritt name a giant tuna-fishing legend still live on, but the trend has decidedly shifted to bigger boats. As the needs of the owners and crews started including traveling to fish in more…

Like Buddy Merritt, whom he went to work for in July 1955, Carl Feddern was a true original. An uncompromising perfectionist, Feddern created the sports-car like handling that defined a Merritt boat prior to hydraulic steering. For owners of old 37s like Elly Brown of Jupiter, Florida, “It was kind of neat to be able to take your boat in and have the guy who…

Is the 43-foot Merritt the finest fishing boat ever built? From a statistical standpoint, you could make a good argument for the claim. The 43-foot Merritt established more tuna-fishing records, won more tournaments and set more all-tackle marlin records possibly than any boat in history, which is pretty remarkable, considering only 12 were ever built. The largest blue marlin ever caught on rod and reel…

Thanks to the elegant design and top-notch finish work the craftsmen at Merritt’s produce on a consistent basis, it could be argued that every Merritt that comes out of the shop is a “boat of interest.” The yard’s newest vessel, the 78-foot Precise, proves interesting even when measured against Merritt’s already demanding yardstick. In addition to being Merritt’s largest boat to date, the strikingly blue…

It’s funny how things happen in boating. The new Merritt 80’s owner originally wanted a smaller boat – maybe a 68 or 70, something with a draft of less than 5 feet to fit into the shallow marinas where he hoped to fish. But then he wanted so much stuff on it that the laws of physics intervened. Roy Merritt felt it could be done…