Trusty Motor Boats

[zkirkor]

Does anybody know what happens with Trusty Motor Boats company??? Their website has disappeared and there was no activity on their blog in recent two months. I dread to think that it is yet another small British boat maker who hasn't survived... I hope not. They have been making excellent small displacement boats.

 

[ALB]

As someone who took delivery of a new Trusty 23 in March I have been trying to find out what happened for the last few weeks.

Finally, just yesterday, an ex employee sent me a text saying the company had gone into liquidation.

But that is all I know.

 

[ari]

That's a real shame. Lovely 'little ship' feel to them and seemed really nice people at the boat show.

 

[ChrisJefferies]

Just heard from a former Trusty dealer that production has been moved to the Windboats facility in Norfolk... No idea how that will affect aftersales though

 

[Firefly625]

Just heard from a former Trusty dealer that production has been moved to the Windboats facility in Norfolk... No idea how that will affect aftersales though

Windboats... so that's Hardy then! But that is a shame about Trusty. Perhaps development cost of T28 one step too far??? Got to say I thought the T28 looked very good, had mentioned to Oliver James at last years SIBS he should go and have a look. 2 cabins in 28ft, single engined, and beautifully put together. Something Hardy should have been making.... I wonder what the future holds... sharing facilities, renting space or a bit more than that?

 

[ChrisJefferies]

Yup, that's the chaps behind Hardy. Apparently Trusty's Worcester plant shut down two months ago and everything has been transported to Norwich. Still waiting for official confirmation, but there's a lot of smoke around...

 

[arawa]

Paul B told me some time ago they were moving to larger premises as they had outgrown their existing ones, but I thought they were continuing as Trusty not being taken over.
Love my T23 but was not tempted by the T28.

 

[zkirkor]

I think there are plenty of boats Trusty 28 alike but T23 is truly unique. I hope they will survive this way or another.
On a different note, Arawa, I have been following your blog and I like it very much!

 

[freddy the frog]

I think there are plenty of boats Trusty 28 alike but T23 is truly unique. I hope they will survive this way or another.
On a different note, Arawa, I have been following your blog and I like it very much!

Totaly agree the 23 was amazing like a tardis , i personaly think they had the price wrong on the T28, only single engine and with the extras most of which you would need comes out a tadd under 200k at this price i would expect a couple of small twins.
compare this with the Jersey 30 same spec and about 100k. Wonder if hardy will change much on the boat?
Funny thing i was at the Salterns boat show earlier this year and a guy i was talking to was waiting for the Trusty people to turn up he looked a bit peed off
didnt find out if they showed or not .

 

[rafiki_]

I can confirm that the Kiddeminster yard has been cleared of anything Trusty. The bad news is that they have not paid some local suppliers, and I guess there have been some local redundancy. Some new kit was ordered by the new yard, but these have gone quiet now too, again leaving suppliers with unpaid orders. A terrible way to deal with some very small businesses.
I wonder if the demise of Sealine pushed Trusty's costs up?

 

[rwoofer]

Totaly agree the 23 was amazing like a tardis , i personaly think they had the price wrong on the T28, only single engine and with the extras most of which you would need comes out a tadd under 200k at this price i would expect a couple of small twins.
compare this with the Jersey 30 same spec and about 100k. Wonder if hardy will change much on the boat?
Funny thing i was at the Salterns boat show earlier this year and a guy i was talking to was waiting for the Trusty people to turn up he looked a bit peed off
didnt find out if they showed or not .

I observed that there was a considerable quality difference between the Trusty and the Jersey. Whether it is worth the price difference depends on the buyer.

 

[sailorman]

Windboats... so that's Hardy then! But that is a shame about Trusty. Perhaps development cost of T28 one step too far??? Got to say I thought the T28 looked very good, had mentioned to Oliver James at last years SIBS he should go and have a look. 2 cabins in 28ft, single engined, and beautifully put together. Something Hardy should have been making.... I wonder what the future holds... sharing facilities, renting space or a bit more than that?

Windboats are also fitting out other marks of yacht too

 

[Firefly625]

Windboats are also fitting out other marks of yacht too

they built my friends Oyster 58.... very nice it is too, that has been there bread and butter for some years now.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

I can confirm that the Kiddeminster yard has been cleared of anything Trusty. The bad news is that they have not paid some local suppliers, and I guess there have been some local redundancy. Some new kit was ordered by the new yard, but these have gone quiet now too, again leaving suppliers with unpaid orders. A terrible way to deal with some very small businesses.

Isn't that always the way? The ex owners walk away from the mess they've created scot free, the new owners get the assets on the cheap and the suppliers end up carrying the can

 

[ari]

Isn't that always the way? The ex owners walk away from the mess they've created scot free, the new owners get the assets on the cheap and the suppliers end up carrying the can

A friend of mine's business (nothing to do with boats) went bankrupt after a long period of struggle when he didn't even pay himself for six months. When it finally proved that he couldn't save it he lost not only years of work building the business and his livelihood of course, but his house (he had borrowing secured against it), his car (company car), everything.

I'm not sure he saw it as 'walking away scot free', but from the sound of it you have inside info on this particular business failure, so presumably it's a very different story?

 

[rafiki_]

Isn't that always the way? The ex owners walk away from the mess they've created scot free, the new owners get the assets on the cheap and the suppliers end up carrying the can

In many cases, yep. Chris Harris (Harris Hoods) supplied the OE canopies for Trusty. Fortunately most of his business comes from replacement canopies, so it won't hurt him to much, but others have got badle burned.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

A friend of mine's business (nothing to do with boats) went bankrupt after a long period of struggle when he didn't even pay himself for six months. When it finally proved that he couldn't save it he lost not only years of work building the business and his livelihood of course, but his house (he had borrowing secured against it), his car (company car), everything.

I'm not sure he saw it as 'walking away scot free', but from the sound of it you have inside info on this particular business failure, so presumably it's a very different story?

I have no inside info on Trusty and my comment was general rather than specific. I also happen to have a friend whose company went bust recently resulting in the loss of his house but, on the other hand, there are people who seem to make a career out of busting companies and starting up again as if it was just a minor inconvenience. The boating industry has seen one or two of those in the recent past. The point is that companies generally don't go bust without some input from the owners in the form of incompetence, negligence or just plain greed whereas the suppliers to those companies have supplied goods and services to the best of their ability and in good faith but then get shafted all the same. I have been in business many years and have been at the wrong end of companies going bust on a few occasions, fortunately without putting my own company in jeopardy. I have also attended a few creditors meetings at which I've met many small business and one man band suppliers for whom the loss of the money owed by the busted company is enough to put them under too, through no fault of their own. It is only at creditors meetings that you really appreciate the damage done to other people when a company goes bust and thats why my first sympathies are always with suppliers on these occasions, not the owners of the business

 

[freddy the frog]

I have no inside info on Trusty and my comment was general rather than specific. I also happen to have a friend whose company went bust recently resulting in the loss of his house but, on the other hand, there are people who seem to make a career out of busting companies and starting up again as if it was just a minor inconvenience. The boating industry has seen one or two of those in the recent past. The point is that companies generally don't go bust without some input from the owners in the form of incompetence, negligence or just plain greed whereas the suppliers to those companies have supplied goods and services to the best of their ability and in good faith but then get shafted all the same. I have been in business many years and have been at the wrong end of companies going bust on a few occasions, fortunately without putting my own company in jeopardy. I have also attended a few creditors meetings at which I've met many small business and one man band suppliers for whom the loss of the money owed by the busted company is enough to put them under too, through no fault of their own. It is only at creditors meetings that you really appreciate the damage done to other people when a company goes bust and thats why my first sympathies are always with suppliers on these occasions, not the owners of the business

Quite sad as they seemed decent people and enthusiastic about the product they done well with the T23 but i think it was the 28 that finished them, agreed quality boat but twice the price of the jersey 30, i went for a sea trial on the 28 with a view to purchase but i couldnt justify the price.
I just hope not too many deposits at stake.

 

[ChrisJefferies]

Just spoken to Oliver James at Hardy/Windboats who was keen to clear up a few points.
He was approached to build the Trusty boats in spring as a subcontractor, but they never bought any Trusty company assets.
He says that they have been left out of pocket but have paid all of their contractors everything they owed on the two models they had in progress when it all ground to a halt.
No official word from Trusty yet...

 

[sailorman]

they built my friends Oyster 58.... very nice it is too, that has been there bread and butter for some years now.

But no longer do they s/c for Oyster