Boatbuilders endurance

[aluijten]

I have been scanning the sailboat market for quite some time now and came to the conclusion that in many cases the boat model lasts longer then the company that builds them. There are a lot of boats out there that were build by several builders after each other. What is it with these guys? Is going out of business the next best thing for boat builders after building a few boats? It seems to me that building boats is quite a risky adventure, unless you are a well established builder (and even then...) .
What do you all think?

Arno

 

[Evadne]

It's the curse of modern technology. Boats have always lasted forever its just that in the old days with no engines and by-guess-and-by-God navigation, the attrition rate was a lot higher. Added to that, the more boats that get built the more second hand ones there are are available, further depressing the 2nd hand price and making it less reasonable to buy a new one. I really don't know why they keep going either, but I'm glad they do.

 

[boatmike]

There are 2 basic reasons for this.
1. The cost of mould tools is a very high percentage of the cost of introducing a new model. You need to sell a lot of boats to recover this initial investment. Mould tools change hands when a company goes bust and the marque lives on until the next guy goes bust.
2. Most small companies are started by entrepreneurs who don't understand how difficult it is to control costs and make profits. It ain't easy and gets even more difficult when competing against people like Bavaria who invest a massive amount of money to produce a high volume low cost production line product at the outset.

There is an old saying in boatbuilding that if you want to make a small fortune you have to start off with a large one......

 

[Cornishman]

There is also the 'supermarket' effect. The big boys e.g. Tesco, Wallmart/ASDA etc have seen off many of the smaller competition, and we will finish up with a choice between just two. I can see similar happening to the mass boat building industry. Even Marine Projects have virtually given up on the sailboat industry and are now called Princess Yachts concentrating on very expensive mobos.
The only small builders to survive will be the one-off builder, often in any material except plastic. They have a niche market which is not very big, but a few should be able to keep their order books looking healthy.

 

[aluijten]

This is almost exactly what one of the sales reps from Jeannau told me at the Düsseldorf boat show!
I think it makes sense, most people want to buy good value for money and also good return value when they sell it again hence large production volumes. People (like me) buying used boat, try to accuire a much as possible info on a particular boat(type) before buying. This is easier when production volumes were high for the particular boat.
Same thing happened to the car industry, many yeas ago.

Arno

 

[Brian_B]

What I've never worked out is why there are so many.
Ripped this this list from a links site and I'm sure there's more.
Why are there so many answers to the same question?

Alliaura Marine
Baltic Yachts
Bavaria Yachts (Germany)
Bavaria Yachts (USA)
Beneteau
Beneteau USA
Boo Marin
Catalina Yachts
Corsair Marine, Inc.
CR-Yachts
Degero Yachts
Dehler
Dufour Yachts
Elan Marine
Flying Scot, Inc.
Fountaine Pajot
Freedom Yachts
General Boats
Grand Soleil
Feeling
Hallberg-Rassy
Hans Christian Yachts
Hinckley Yachts
Hobie Cat
Hunter Marine
JBoats, Inc.
Jeanneau
Lagoon
MacGregor Yachts
Malö Yachts
Maxi Yachts
Melges Boatworks
Moody
Najad Yachts
Northshore Yachts
Oyster Marine Ltd.
Pacific Seacraft
Prout Catamarans
RGC Steel Boat Builders
SABRE Yachts Corporation
Saga Yachts
Sam L. Morse Company
Santa Cruz Yachts
Shannon Yachts
Siltala Yachts Oy
Swan Yachts
Tartan Yachts, Inc.
Valiant Yachts
Van de Stadt Design
Wally Yachts
Westerly
Wasa Yachts
X-Yachts

 

[Flogging_Molly]

Don't forget Island Packet... third largest boatbuilder in the US now apparently

F_M