yachts AND motor boats?

[Rob_Webb]

is it only me that feels a tiny bit disconcerted when I visit a glossy website to see the latest sexy new yacht launched by AWB manufacturer only to be presented with a choice of power or sail?

ya mean you aren't a purist yacht designer? ya mean you don't focus all your energies and passion on just sailing boats? ya make motor boats as well? surely you can't do BOTH equally well? in which case, which one DO you do well?

meanwhile, I'm not gonna risk it, so I'll go find a pure yacht designer thanks.

or am I alone?

BTW, how's tcm's search going?

 

[fireball]

you been visiting the macgreggor site again?!

 

[Twister_Ken]

I think you have to accept that when a boat building business gets big enough it can finance and resource design, development and construction teams in both rags and stinks. Eg Beneteau, Bavaria.

 

[Rob_Webb]

No, Elan actually (my current favourite stocking filler).

Check out The Range: Elan Yachts

 

[Marsupial]

Hi Rob

Yes I know what you mean but consider this, a small AWB yard like Jeanneau make 4,700 hulls a year, and each “type” goes through many evolutions and is refined to a certain extent during its life, compare a low sail number with a high sail number example of the same boat you will find differences that enhance the design. All this happens in 2 or 3 years and production is typically 500 or so. Take a low volume producer that has one set of moulds and after 30 or 40 years has 50 hulls on the water all the same. I don’t believe that they got it right first time, but I am willing to believe that it was good enough for their target market.

Yes they are passionate about what they do, all credit to them, but do they have the resources to refine their designs? Some but very few have been fortunate and have a niche others (most) in the UK have disappeared. There is a huge debate about what caused the demise during the 1980’s but its clear that a “UK high” small-time mentality did not help.

It may be of interest to know that Bristows Yacht handbook 1975 lists 120 UK manufacturers (of sailing yachts), of these 44 had vanished by 1986, only 3 of the original 120 remain in the pleasure craft industry in 2006. The UK cottage yacht industry is very fragile. So we can forgive them if they have ago at anything that floats!

 

[Whitelighter]

Dunno, but my Bavaria Motorboat is superb. Hull very very thick and nothing has dropped off yet /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif

Mebbe they are spending all their efforts making the proper boats. Eland Mobos look very good as well - quite fancy a 42 in a few years.