Yacht designers are bonkers

[Daydream believer]

"Sadly, most people choose quantity over quality..."



Sad that a costly masterpiece is less appealing to many of those who could afford it, than a much bigger boat built without particular care, but for the same cost.

I would respectfully suggest that boats from the large cheaper end of the market are in fact built to very good standards
Within the cost range
Just because Bavaria cut all the hatches & lights using robots to cut them & use robotic machinery to drill holes for hardware & does the whole job in hours at a fifth the price does not mean it is done worse than a small volume expensive producer who takes a week to do the job manually
In fact the manual element is probably not as good as small inaccuracies can become the norm

Going back to the car analogy used earlier
I loved my Morgan plus 4 but if i wanted a new hood or door i had to order the components & build myself as no 2 hoods or doors were the same
If i want a hood for a Mazda MX5 i can get one off the shelf
The Morgan is much dearer than a Mazda but the quality is far better on the Mazda
Mind you i would love another Morgan

 

[Garold]

I'd say its less to do with designers or builders than the structure of the marine leisure industry.

Lots of little guys doing lots of different work on boats means that the heating guy is only worried about his access. The electrics guys are only concerned about their kit. Etc etc.

And which of these 'specialists' ever gave a monkeys about access to seacocks?

It's a cottage industry and we get the boats that 'Jack, and Jim, and Fred, and Pat, and...... built.'

Beneteau's are at least built in a factory with some attention to how it all works together when it leaves the factory ( not too much concern for how well it will work for the private owner a few years later). It's just sad that they aren't incentivised to raise their game much because the level of the similarly priced options aren't perfect either. Bit like cars before the Japanese came along.

Most of the faults/problems with the new Beneteau group boats that we have bought have been with equipment that was fitted after they left the factory.

Cheers

Garold.

Ps. The same guys fit heaters, electronics, generators, upholstery, spray hoods etc., to other more expensive brands so they get their fair share of these problems too.