RM yachts

[Tomahawk]

Quite pretty....

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for a half boat!

 

[Frogmogman]

RM LIFTING KEEL

POGO LIFTING KEEL

 

[mjcoon]

RM LIFTING KEEL

POGO LIFTING KEEL

That bolt-hole on the RM keel does look rather small against the bulk and presumed mass of the keel! Making the hole bigger would not leave much material around it to take forces, either...

Mike.

 

[Ric]

There is a long thread on RM on Hisse et Oh which discusses the problems at Fora Yachts. The owner of the RM1080 that sunk ("Redemption") is active in the thread and not at all happy about the response from RM. Some are making comparisons with what went wrong for Oyster.

I hope they survive as they are very good boats and would love to buy one myself.

 

[Roberto]

As of the today, the Court has received two offers to buy Fora Marine, one by a group led by with the former founder, the second by an industrial group (possibly Grand Large, who owns also Garcia, Allures, etc)
Reprise de RM Fora Marine - deux dossiers déposés au tribunal, pour quel avenir ? - ActuNautique.com

 

[doris]

Reading this I can't imagine why anyone would buy from them without a cast iron bank guarantee.

 

[Stemar]

If I were wealthy enough to absorb the additional hassle and expense if it did go pear shaped, I'd still buy, but on a contract with staged payments where as much of the boat as has been built belongs to me, or a one-off payment on completion when I took possession.

 

[Lucky Duck]

I knew a couple who's Westerly was in build when they went bust.

Their stage payments gave them a part completed boat which they apparently seriously considered 'walking away' from before deciding to arrange for it completed by the yard at Chichester Marina. Given how much grief the subsequent build caused them I am not surprised they considered just giving up.

My last boat was paid in three installments during the build process but each of these was backed by a bank bond that promised to refund my money if the builder did not keep their side of the bargain.

 

[DownWest]

My last boat was paid in three installments during the build process but each of these was backed by a bank bond that promised to refund my money if the builder did not keep their side of the bargain.

Just curious, but what does one pay % wise for such protection?

 

[pvb]

Just curious, but what does one pay % wise for such protection?

I'd now insist on a bank guarantee, and wouldn't pay anything for it. If the dealer can't get a bank guarantee, walk away!

 

[Lucky Duck]

Just curious, but what does one pay % wise for such protection?

From memory - around 1 percent.

The contract was the builder rather than a UK based dealership

 

[dom]

Just curious, but what does one pay % wise for such protection?

Worth being aware that there is no generic answer to this question. A price will be set on a case by case basis depending on the issuing bank’s assessment of the builders creditworthiness. Which is why asking for a quote ex ante is a good idea. Tread carefully if expensive; or just run!

 

[Fr J Hackett]

Wasn't the old fashioned way for the stage payments to be put into escrow to be released on completion, commissioning and acceptance? I can see why it could be a problem nowadays with boats costing considerably more particularly the £1 million pound variety and that cash flow in these cases has become hyper critical.

 

[Frogmogman]

Just curious, but what does one pay % wise for such protection?

Of course, that's one of the advantages of financing a boat through a French leasing scheme, along with half-price VAT. It's the problem of the boat's owner (i.e. the leasing company) if the yard goes tits up before the boat is delivered.

 

[Frogmogman]

A hearing was held on 22nd Jan about the future of the company.

The developments in this saga are that the two candidates to take over Fora Marine from administration are Grand Large Yachting,( owners of Allures, Garcia, Gunboat, and Outremer) and Maxime Vedrenne (Commercial director of Fora Marine for the last 7 years) backed up by a Monsieur Olevier, President of the company V-Motech, (automotive engineering).

A décision has been postponed until 5th Feb, as the magistrate handling the issue has changed, and the new one has yet to meet the candidates.

I'd have thought Grand Large would be quite a good fit, as the technology used in their monohulls of Aluminium hulls with composite deck moldings could well provide some synergies, and their expertise might help RM to improve some of their process.

 

[DownWest]

So, the courts decided Grand Large will be the new owners of RM €180K + 15% of post tax profits for a period. Most of the staff retained and agreed with the deal, 11 let go. (I imagine they were less pleased...)

 

[Ceirwan]

I wonder if they'll continue with the Plywood Epoxy construction in the future then or start marketing similar designs but perhaps made from GRP instead?

 

[Frogmogman]

I think this is probably good news for the long term prospects of RM. I'm very glad that most of the workforce will be keeping their jobs.

I'd imagine they'll stick with the plywood hull/composite deck process, as it's pretty much RM's USP. The fact that the Allures and Garcia brands are aluminum with composite decks would mean they could produce the deck moldings for all three model lines in one facility.

 

[Frogmogman]

News in France is that Grand Large, the new owners of RM have declined to honour in full accounts paid by the 25 customers for the 28 orders on the books at the time that the company hit the wall (some customers had orders for more than one boat).

These customers have been told that they must place a new order, which, depending on the date that the contract was signed and any discount negotiated, may not even be for the same price as the customer originally agreed with Fora Marine; Grand Large originally proposed to give them a discount to the tune of 22% of the monies paid. They have since upped this to 50%, but it still a massive hit on those customers. Faced with the prospect of effectively being asked to pay in some cases up to nearly 150% of the price initially agreed, some apparently are just walking away, with a big chunk of their savings gone and a life's dream of sailing off into the broad blue yonder lying in tatters.

I get that this is a slightly unusual situation, in that it is more often the case that a company going tits up has few orders rather than a full order book, but it is cold comfort to the disappointed punters.

 

[pvb]

News in France is that Grand Large, the new owners of RM have declined to honour in full accounts paid by the 25 customers for the 28 orders on the books at the time that the company hit the wall (some customers had orders for more than one boat).

These customers have been told that they must place a new order, which, depending on the date that the contract was signed and any discount negotiated, may not even be for the same price as the customer originally agreed with Fora Marine; Grand Large originally proposed to give them a discount to the tune of 22% of the monies paid. They have since upped this to 50%, but it still a massive hit on those customers. Faced with the prospect of effectively being asked to pay in some cases up to nearly 150% of the price initially agreed, some apparently are just walking away, with a big chunk of their savings gone and a life's dream of sailing off into the broad blue yonder lying in tatters.

I get that this is a slightly unusual situation, in that it is more often the case that a company going tits up has few orders rather than a full order book, but it is cold comfort to the disappointed punters.

Dreadful! Hopefully, this increasingly common failure of boatbuilding firms will encourage buyers to insist on a bank guarantee from the boatbuilder. If they can't get a bank guarantee, walk away.