YM test of GT35

Actual tree wood -

- as opposed to a photograph of wood treated with melamine and stuck onto a piece of MDF. (with apologies for answering for Snooks).

What you mainly pay for with a dear boat is a great deal of man hours. Which is a good thing to do, if you can afford it:

View attachment 43159

Courtesy of Yachtsnet

PS

A little while ago someone posted a picture of a cracking, sporty 30 footer that had been made in the UK to a very high spec.....I liked that as well.....anyone remember it?
 
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doug748 said:
Actual tree wood -

- as opposed to a photograph of wood treated with melamine and stuck onto a piece of MDF. (with apologies for answering for Snooks).
Click to expand...

Good heavens. Do people use that stuff in boats? Northshore Mouldings didn't in 1986, I'm glad to say. <sniff>

What you mainly pay for with a dear boat is a great deal of man hours. Which is a good thing to do, if you can afford it:
Click to expand...

Not necessarily - it may simply reflect low production numbers and therefore a lack of funds to invest in tooling. Hand made car panels are horribly expensive, but not as good, in general, as proper pressed ones. Low production boats like the Cornish Crabbers and minuscule production boats like the GT35 (I wonder if they'll make another?) are always more, or vastly more, expensive than mass produced boats but that doesn't make them better.
 
The thing is Oysters and Hallsberg Rassy' have presence the GT35 doesn't, i wish GT all the best but if the big boys (Bene, Jeanneau, Najad) are struggling like a few have in recent years with all their economies of scale and production technology to hand i cant see how these guys will last, i hope to be proved wrong but can't help but think of the Sadler 290 which i thought was a great boat but didn't do much (saw one up close with Dylan in Scarbs) along with an SJ320, another great looking boat.

Why didn't GT just facelift the Starlight range such is their similarity in looks and owner demographic?
 
rogerball0 said:
The thing is Oysters and Hallsberg Rassy' have presence the GT35 doesn't, i wish GT all the best but if the big boys (Bene, Jeanneau, Najad) are struggling like a few have in recent years with all their economies of scale and production technology to hand i cant see how these guys will last, i hope to be proved wrong but can't help but think of the Sadler 290 which i thought was a great boat but didn't do much (saw one up close with Dylan in Scarbs) along with an SJ320, another great looking boat.
Click to expand...

One lesson they appear to have learnt (from the Richard Matthews-era Oyster) is to limit your fixed costs by having subcontracting out the actual building of the boat. - For all the talk of the economies of scale that are achieved by the volume builders, they also have fairly significant fixed costs, not only in tooling but also factories, production technology, etc.

I'd agree that the GT looks a little bland, but actually this could be embellished without spending a great deal of money.
 
AndrewfromFal said:
One lesson they appear to have learnt (from the Richard Matthews-era Oyster) is to limit your fixed costs by having subcontracting out the actual building of the boat. - For all the talk of the economies of scale that are achieved by the volume builders, they also have fairly significant fixed costs, not only in tooling but also factories, production technology, etc.
Click to expand...

Hence all the posh yachts built by Northshore ...
 
doug748 said:
A little while ago someone posted a picture of a cracking, sporty 30 footer that had been made in the UK to a very high spec.....I liked that as well.....anyone remember it?
Click to expand...

Arbor 26?

IMG_5661-low-res.jpg


http://www.arboryachts.co.uk/arbor-26
 
JumbleDuck said:
Hence all the posh yachts built by Northshore ...
Click to expand...

...who weren't adverse to working as subbies for other builders, moulding hulls. Without the kind of money Lester Abbott invested when he originally bought the company, it's days were numbered.

I presume there isn't that kind of money behind GT, hence their more outsourced approach.
 
AndrewfromFal said:
...who weren't adverse to working as subbies for other builders, moulding hulls. Without the kind of money Lester Abbott invested when he originally bought the company, it's days were numbered.

.
Click to expand...

And even then its days were indeed numbered, hence last year's much maligned administration often reported as "Southerly" but which was actually of Northshore - due to an urgent need to downsize production given the decline in punters for premium yachts - principally those brands that Northshore used to sub.

It should also be noted, for the record, that Winboats used to be one of Oyster's principal subcontractors. This also looks like a well meaning attempt by them to maintain their production skills and capacities following Oyster's departure. Seems like all premium boat builders around the world have similar problems. Many of the comments on this thread go some way to explaining why their volumes have fallen so low.
 
Tempus said:
It should also be noted, for the record, that Winboats used to be one of Oyster's principal subcontractors.
Click to expand...

It should be noted it's Windboats of Wroxham ;)

They were building Oysters up until 2012 (I think that stayed in my article). They now build (motor) boats for Hardy and they are lined up for building a new aluminium Bill Dixon lifting keel (or Centreboard, I forget which) next year.
 
snooks said:
It should be noted it's Windboats of Wroxham ;)

They were building Oysters up until 2012 (I think that stayed in my article). They now build (motor) boats for Hardy and they are lined up for building a new aluminium Bill Dixon lifting keel (or Centreboard, I forget which) next year.
Click to expand...
Did they ( Windboats) take Hardy over, buy them.
 
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