tcm
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Some of you may remember i had a spat with a sealine instruction boat. To make friends, Gerrard Wainwright (who is boss of the company) sed we shouldf get together at SBS, so i thought i shd write it up a bit here.
Gerrard is probly fifty-sunnink, and quite boaty. Well, actually he's very boaty. unlike lots of boat-building bosses (or even salesmen) who can't abide talking about boats cos they are sick to death of the things and/or don't really undrstand them, GW loves grovelling around and about a boat. Any boat, I expect. I believe he even bombed off on an eveniong trip out in the MBM boat for a whizz around the solent. Not many bosses still get a kick from their own products.
I think he was owner of the company from only a few years ago, late 1990's , and then it was bought out by the US Brunswick group who own um mebbe bayliner. the links seem light, and anyway, no sign of a single yank at the boat show.
Normally if you sell a compnay they chuck you (the boss) out. So they obv recognise that GW is doing some good. Actually, I sort-of get the feeling that he'd carry on for free.
He was chatting with dave marsh from MBY, and then came over to see us , and sorted us out a sarnie and a drink. But no time to loll about - up and away in and out of thisboat and on to the next. This design here and that design there and this feature and that. He doesn't like nanky ladders so even small ladders have teaky footpads. There's a load of plans for the T60, that i promised I wdn't mention. I mention that crew cabins will be more important on a larger boat. "Crew cabins!" he exclaims, and drags us off to look inside the crew cabin of another boat. He is totally into the boat thing.
I put to him quite a lot of issues that many peeps here mentioned. The clever use of space, little touches here and there, continuous development are all very much liked. GW has overseen or instigated a lot of the work on the insides of these boats since late 1990's and plenty of them seem quite good, with intersting ideas for the T60 too, not same ole thing with slightly more swoops or a different colour dials. We anorakingly droned at each other about dashboards for quite some time. And left on good terms.
Mow i can't leave it at that at it sounds far too creepy-crawly and fawning. I did mentuions aesthgetics, but i almsot felt a bit cruel and nasty. So ididn't ddwell on these issues, but they should be mentioned.
Some of the things that aren't so easy to change are the elegant external appearances of a boat. I mean, once you have the mould - that's that. We're talking about aesthetics, so i agree it is subjective. But not that subjective. Frexample, carwise most agree that an e-type is good looking. Not so easy to win such good looks on a bulky cruiser boat as it is with say a small cramped sports boat. But I am not alone in feeling that the a boats external appearance is very important, and sealine aren't as high up the tree in this departemnt as they are in many others. Not every buyer wants to pore over the engineering, and some are just overwhelmed by everything anyway.
I think that some of the clever clever engineering if at the expense of the overall styling, and I think sleeker good looks, even at the expense of one or two features would make sealine boats more than just a sensible choice.
One wouldn't need to hire very many stylists before they suggested that the rectangualrish "lollipop stick" shaped ally framed hull windows on smaller models don't help the dynamism of the finished product. The bigger and more spensive T51 has chromy windows - but again the overall looks aren't what they might be.
I quizzed about the fake teak, which he indignatly explained costs his company an extra grand per boat - far more than actual teak - and he uses it because it has better antislip properties when wet. It's hard to argue with someone who feels so passionately about the product and knows his stuff. But for me, teak platforms still feel like the real thing, and not many platforms in the med (where more of the bigger boats will be) stay wet for very long anyway. I've not heard of people slipping off a bathing platform anyway, except when jfm deadlegged one of the kids and booted them in. Teak platforms are what feels nice, regardless of the engineering compromise it might bring. I mean, Treadmaster might be even less slippy so why not use that? I would not buy a boat with pretend teak, any more than i would buy a car with noticeably imitiation leather. I bet I'm not alone in this. I don't care if the manmade product has better properties - an important property is that it looks the biz. Real teak looks the biz, and fake teak doesn't cut it. That's why they call it "imitation teak" innit. I mean, they don't call teak "imitation plastic" do they? No.
Styleywise, some of the other engineering thins gget in the way of the overall looks. The dash of the S48 is very decent. whereas the electric bathing platform thing is very clever, but makes the stern not as sleek as other competitors. Is there a compromise possible? Could they achieve a decent swoopy style that would translate across a range, a little other manufacturers have done and all major car manufactuers have done, carrying the brand across all sizes, mobile advert and all that stuff. As I say, they will have to commision a stylist to givem this straight between the eyes, as i am not making headway. It not a hugely difficult problem. It's the simple difference between why a ferrari looks the biz and a japanese car loeks less so, but is techincally bettter.
Oops, aniother sealine chat which developed into a carp. Actually not a carp at all - they are just so into the boats that it is worthwhile making the comments with sealine, whereas often not worth it elsewhere, where they imagine you know nothing.
One of the sexiest sports boats around is riva. You know the 40 something with electric hood. There's nothing on it that sealine could make or perhaps even improve upon. The colours, for a start. But would they ensure that it looked that drop-dead sexy? If they can do that (and i think that it's not too hard) then I'd buy a Sealine.
Separately, I hope that GW understands the dynamic of the forum, and gets as much out of it (positivelY) as (say) john watson of MDL. It is not a universal carp, and not quite as "Public" as is perhaps feared. Sealine has lots of support hereabouts, and understandably so. Some carps (and i think others from uk boaty press) aims to help makem better - constructive criricism, no more. Not have a go attem.
Mind you they sell a load of boats (even as we sat there) so what do i know?
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Gerrard is probly fifty-sunnink, and quite boaty. Well, actually he's very boaty. unlike lots of boat-building bosses (or even salesmen) who can't abide talking about boats cos they are sick to death of the things and/or don't really undrstand them, GW loves grovelling around and about a boat. Any boat, I expect. I believe he even bombed off on an eveniong trip out in the MBM boat for a whizz around the solent. Not many bosses still get a kick from their own products.
I think he was owner of the company from only a few years ago, late 1990's , and then it was bought out by the US Brunswick group who own um mebbe bayliner. the links seem light, and anyway, no sign of a single yank at the boat show.
Normally if you sell a compnay they chuck you (the boss) out. So they obv recognise that GW is doing some good. Actually, I sort-of get the feeling that he'd carry on for free.
He was chatting with dave marsh from MBY, and then came over to see us , and sorted us out a sarnie and a drink. But no time to loll about - up and away in and out of thisboat and on to the next. This design here and that design there and this feature and that. He doesn't like nanky ladders so even small ladders have teaky footpads. There's a load of plans for the T60, that i promised I wdn't mention. I mention that crew cabins will be more important on a larger boat. "Crew cabins!" he exclaims, and drags us off to look inside the crew cabin of another boat. He is totally into the boat thing.
I put to him quite a lot of issues that many peeps here mentioned. The clever use of space, little touches here and there, continuous development are all very much liked. GW has overseen or instigated a lot of the work on the insides of these boats since late 1990's and plenty of them seem quite good, with intersting ideas for the T60 too, not same ole thing with slightly more swoops or a different colour dials. We anorakingly droned at each other about dashboards for quite some time. And left on good terms.
Mow i can't leave it at that at it sounds far too creepy-crawly and fawning. I did mentuions aesthgetics, but i almsot felt a bit cruel and nasty. So ididn't ddwell on these issues, but they should be mentioned.
Some of the things that aren't so easy to change are the elegant external appearances of a boat. I mean, once you have the mould - that's that. We're talking about aesthetics, so i agree it is subjective. But not that subjective. Frexample, carwise most agree that an e-type is good looking. Not so easy to win such good looks on a bulky cruiser boat as it is with say a small cramped sports boat. But I am not alone in feeling that the a boats external appearance is very important, and sealine aren't as high up the tree in this departemnt as they are in many others. Not every buyer wants to pore over the engineering, and some are just overwhelmed by everything anyway.
I think that some of the clever clever engineering if at the expense of the overall styling, and I think sleeker good looks, even at the expense of one or two features would make sealine boats more than just a sensible choice.
One wouldn't need to hire very many stylists before they suggested that the rectangualrish "lollipop stick" shaped ally framed hull windows on smaller models don't help the dynamism of the finished product. The bigger and more spensive T51 has chromy windows - but again the overall looks aren't what they might be.
I quizzed about the fake teak, which he indignatly explained costs his company an extra grand per boat - far more than actual teak - and he uses it because it has better antislip properties when wet. It's hard to argue with someone who feels so passionately about the product and knows his stuff. But for me, teak platforms still feel like the real thing, and not many platforms in the med (where more of the bigger boats will be) stay wet for very long anyway. I've not heard of people slipping off a bathing platform anyway, except when jfm deadlegged one of the kids and booted them in. Teak platforms are what feels nice, regardless of the engineering compromise it might bring. I mean, Treadmaster might be even less slippy so why not use that? I would not buy a boat with pretend teak, any more than i would buy a car with noticeably imitiation leather. I bet I'm not alone in this. I don't care if the manmade product has better properties - an important property is that it looks the biz. Real teak looks the biz, and fake teak doesn't cut it. That's why they call it "imitation teak" innit. I mean, they don't call teak "imitation plastic" do they? No.
Styleywise, some of the other engineering thins gget in the way of the overall looks. The dash of the S48 is very decent. whereas the electric bathing platform thing is very clever, but makes the stern not as sleek as other competitors. Is there a compromise possible? Could they achieve a decent swoopy style that would translate across a range, a little other manufacturers have done and all major car manufactuers have done, carrying the brand across all sizes, mobile advert and all that stuff. As I say, they will have to commision a stylist to givem this straight between the eyes, as i am not making headway. It not a hugely difficult problem. It's the simple difference between why a ferrari looks the biz and a japanese car loeks less so, but is techincally bettter.
Oops, aniother sealine chat which developed into a carp. Actually not a carp at all - they are just so into the boats that it is worthwhile making the comments with sealine, whereas often not worth it elsewhere, where they imagine you know nothing.
One of the sexiest sports boats around is riva. You know the 40 something with electric hood. There's nothing on it that sealine could make or perhaps even improve upon. The colours, for a start. But would they ensure that it looked that drop-dead sexy? If they can do that (and i think that it's not too hard) then I'd buy a Sealine.
Separately, I hope that GW understands the dynamic of the forum, and gets as much out of it (positivelY) as (say) john watson of MDL. It is not a universal carp, and not quite as "Public" as is perhaps feared. Sealine has lots of support hereabouts, and understandably so. Some carps (and i think others from uk boaty press) aims to help makem better - constructive criricism, no more. Not have a go attem.
Mind you they sell a load of boats (even as we sat there) so what do i know?
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