tico
Well-Known Member
Signs at the factory now taken down!
Chris_d
Well-Known Member
Do not agree, if anything it just reinforce's their decision to move upmarket, not enough profit in small boats. I doubt Sealine made much profit on your S23 it was just a loss leader to get people hooked and move up to bigger boats, unfortunately I suspect too many switched to Fairline, Princess when they could afford a bigger boat.
CX54WEK
Well-Known Member
If that were the case then there wouldnt have been a lot of point in making the S28, S29, F33, F34, S34, SC35 etc. Sealine did and still do have a loyal following. But not everybody can afford for their first boat to be a 35fter. Sealine shelved plans to build a new 30ft model which IMO was a mistake.
Chris_d
Well-Known Member
Yes they all make great second hand buys so why buy a new one, did you buy your S23 new? Certainly the UK market is saturated for smaller boats, why would anybody pay nearly £100K for a new S23/25 now when there are loads of great secondhand ones around for £30K. Could you afford an 30footer at £150K+ new? If you can then you could probably stretch another 100K for a 35footer, hence thats where Sealine did the most buisness.
volvopaul
Well-Known Member
I've just heard that the last investors sold the site to morrisons to make way for supermarket and retail park, if its true then looks like it was purely bought to asset strip it for the site and dump the rest if it didn't make enough from there investment.
Anyone else locally the wiser? Might be worth a look at kidderminsters planning applications.
Very sad.
Anyone else locally the wiser? Might be worth a look at kidderminsters planning applications.
Very sad.
[2068]
...
In 2003 (new prices)
S25 was £47k
S28 was £99k
S34 was £130k
S37 was £160k
There was an upgrade path...
S25 was £47k
S28 was £99k
S34 was £130k
S37 was £160k
There was an upgrade path...
Crabman
Well-Known Member
Sad news when a manufacture goes . What was there target market UK , Europe? For the smaller boats automation is the way to go and keep staff costs down. Then they might have a chance . Keep it simple.
halcyon
Well-Known Member
In the 80's / 90's there was also the 16 foot Nippy, 185, 215, 255, then the 210, 230.
Brian
NEB
Well-Known Member
I've heard the very same except for the Morrisons bit.
wonky
Well-Known Member
What??!!!
IDAMAY
Well-Known Member
As a past owner of eight Sealines (seven of them bought new), starting with a 195 and finishing with a T47, this is very sad news to me. Our boats took us safely as far as Bergen, Santander, Fastnet Rock and Shetland. None of them were perfect - what boat is - but they didn't give us any really big troubles. On looking for an upgrade we always looked at Princess and Fairline but the Sealine dealers made a change impossible by the value they put on the part exchange. I must admit that I did somewhat fall out with the brand when they changed the design to the current chunky one. I like Marmite but not slabby sided fly bridge boats!
All the best to the staff and creditors and let's hope something good can come out of it.
Richard.
All the best to the staff and creditors and let's hope something good can come out of it.
Richard.
oGaryo
Well-Known Member
Latest rumours I've seen on the web
halcyon
Well-Known Member
Sealine update
A bit appars in the Kiddermibster Shuttle http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/10454201.Wyre_Forest_MP___50_bids_for_Sealine/
Nearly 50 bids, is this a pre warning that it's moving from Kidderminster, did hear one was a German firm who wanted to move production out of the UK.
Is there no one prepared to back British manufacture around now ?
Brian
A bit appars in the Kiddermibster Shuttle http://www.kidderminstershuttle.co.uk/news/10454201.Wyre_Forest_MP___50_bids_for_Sealine/
Nearly 50 bids, is this a pre warning that it's moving from Kidderminster, did hear one was a German firm who wanted to move production out of the UK.
Is there no one prepared to back British manufacture around now ?
Brian
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Probably not. I suspect many potential buyers will be looking just to buy the moulds and the brand name which, lets face it, are the 2 valuable bits of any boat building company and then ship the moulds to a lower cost country to restart manufacture. In fact, its probably what Sealine would have done anyway in time, given that they were competing more at the value end of the market
petem
Well-Known Member
It's what Sealine should have done sooner. Surely it's more economical to have the small fibreglass parts (apart from the hull) made abroad and shipped back to the UK for assembly? As long as it's designed in the UK and assembled in the UK that would be good enough for it to qualify as "Made in England" for me.
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rafiki_
Well-Known Member
In reality, there really aren't many lower cost manufacturing locations than the UK. It is how you organise the manufacturing processes that is important. Exchange rates can outweigh labour cost differences, and the £ is junk at the moment. If Sealine could relocate near to the sea, with a reasonable grant to facilitate the set up costs, then they could make a go of it. UK costs are better than most Eu countries. There are savings to be made in free trade zones like in Turkey, but I would still favour the UK.
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Agreed that Sterling is junk at the moment but thats probably temporary in the longer term, particularly if the UK economy begins to take off and the Eurozone is still stuck in the mire but actually I was thinking more of countries like Poland, China and yes, Turkey, which all have proven boatbuilding skills, rather than a Eurozone country
rafiki_
Well-Known Member
Mike, I'm not sure that Poland is hugely cheaper than the UK these days. Coastal China is also very expensive. Western China is cheap, but would you build large boats so far inland?
D
Deleted User YDKXO
Guest
Fair enough, rafiki, I hope I'm wrong but I can't really see any other scenario. It doesn't look as if anybody is interested in buying and refinancing the existing factory and can you really see investors sinking millions in the present economic climate into a new seaside factory for Sealine, a brand, with all due respect, which doesn't have the same reach as some others?
halcyon
Well-Known Member
Comment on the radio the other night when they were talking about buy British, did you know they made MP3 player and ipods in the UK, but only the cheap ones, the expensive ones like Apple are made in China, Now it looks like the British public consider China as high quality high cost producer.
Why do we keep classing Sealine as cheap low quality boats, part of the problem they got into trouble was introducing hi-tech fiberglass moulding for hulls and internals. By having a perceived low cost low quality product by a large section of the market they could never win. Like Rover and BMW, though the Rover came out in reports as a more reliable car, we will pay more for the BMW's perceived image.
As a Country we have lost our product engineering base, we now rely on buying it cheap else where, and sell it on, one day we will run out of cheap supply, or the cheap supplier will cut out the middle man, and sell direct.
Brian