Oyster Yachts gone into administration

pvb said:
It was GT Yachts, who built the GT35 in 2014. They only built one, and I think it may be inaccurate to say that they sold it. As I recall, the ownership was transferred to the boatbuilder and the boat is still for sale, 4 years later, at a fraction of the original asking price (£140K vs £320K).
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They claimed that a client had been so impressed with the design that he bought one off-plan, but it turned out that the "client" was the (now late) owner of the company who built them under contract, that it had been "ordered" in an attempt to get sales momentum going and that it was almost immediately on the market. It'll be a good buy for someone, eventually.
 
JumbleDuck said:
They claimed that a client had been so impressed with the design that he bought one off-plan, but it turned out that the "client" was the (now late) owner of the company who built them under contract, that it had been "ordered" in an attempt to get sales momentum going and that it was almost immediately on the market. It'll be a good buy for someone, eventually.
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I think they (Windboats) were looking for something to fill the hole in their Production Capacity left by (ironically enough) the departure of Oyster as their principal client, after Oyster were bought by HTP. The GT didn't fit the bill as it goes, but they ended up building Gunfleets instead.
 
davidej said:
Forumites do love keeping on about this particular aberration.

I think we should have GT35 law instead of Godwin's for this particular forum
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To be fair, I don't think Windboats have invaded Poland, and people from Norfolk are in any case well advised not to raise issues of genetic conformity ...
 
AndrewfromFal said:
I think they (Windboats) were looking for something to fill the hole in their Production Capacity left by (ironically enough) the departure of Oyster as their principal client, after Oyster were bought by HTP. The GT didn't fit the bill as it goes, but they ended up building Gunfleets instead.
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Sounds likely. Were the blokes in a shed who made Polina Star II originally Windboats subcontractors?
 
Daydream believer said:
Is betting allowed on the forum??
1 year
2 years
3 years
Success ??
One hopes that it is the latter but when one reads "a heart thing," one does tend to worry. These things need to be "Financial" to succeed ,because profit over the long term is what makes a company survive.
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Given that the new owner of Oyster made his fortune with on-line gambling, this is an ironic post!

TS
 
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I think the challenge for the new owner will be to reduce the costs and overheads (already hinted). When he mentions smaller yachts I suspect he means those that can be built in Wrexham. I.e. 45- 65ft. or so. Labour costs are lower; its a modern facility.
The yard in Southampton must have siphoned off profits like a waterfall. Those who transferred from the Ipswich HQ will have demanded substantial pay rises to cope with the higher house prices and cost of living in Soton and area. I doubt the efficiencies of consolidation at SBS offset these increased costs; and the dash for size was ill judged.
 
Kurrawong_Kid said:
I think the challenge for the new owner will be to reduce the costs and overheads (already hinted). When he mentions smaller yachts I suspect he means those that can be built in Wrexham. I.e. 45- 65ft. or so. Labour costs are lower; its a modern facility.
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Wrexham?? Do you mean Norfolk? Labour costs may be lower, but it's surely not a modern facility, it's a shed in the middle of nowhere with little men wielding buckets of resin (sometimes not too successfully, it seems).
 
An awful lot of great yachts have been built by people you disparage as 'little men with buckets of resin', and not just by Oyster.
A lot of problems occur when people try to move away from that sort of thing and cock it up.
 
lw395 said:
An awful lot of great yachts have been built by people you disparage as 'little men with buckets of resin', and not just by Oyster.
A lot of problems occur when people try to move away from that sort of thing and cock it up.
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Not disparaging, simply stating the facts. Yes, lots of sturdy boats have been built in far from wonderful surroundings, but usually by erring on the cautious side and slapping even more resin on. I bought 3 new Westerly yachts in days gone by, and visited the factory a few times, so I know what went on.
 
pvb said:
Wrexham?? Do you mean Norfolk? Labour costs may be lower, but it's surely not a modern facility, it's a shed in the middle of nowhere with little men wielding buckets of resin (sometimes not too successfully, it seems).
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You seem to be conflating Bridglands with the Oyster facility, previously Landamores. - This was a new-ish facility the yard moved into in the last 10 years (can’t remember exactly when).
 
AndrewfromFal said:
You seem to be conflating Bridglands with the Oyster facility, previously Landamores. - This was a new-ish facility the yard moved into in the last 10 years (can’t remember exactly when).
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As I understand it, the Oyster facility in Norfolk has no moulding capability; all the mouldings were made in Bridgland's shed.
 
lw395 said:
An awful lot of great yachts have been built by people you disparage as 'little men with buckets of resin', and not just by Oyster.
A lot of problems occur when people try to move away from that sort of thing and cock it up.
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You clearly do not understand modern production boat building methods. Unless one adopts them one will never compete on the world stage. Blokes with buckets of resin may have splodged about in the past, but there time has long gone. I do not think that the likes of Hanse,Ben,BavJen are cocking a lot up considering the vast quantities of excellent boats that they produce. HR are not so clever with their procedures, as has been proven in the past with dodgy layups.
 
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