I'm guessing there are a lot more quality controls on aircraft fuselages than sailing boats. I'm familiar with a goodly number of sailboat manufacturers who care less about customer safety than their corporate bottom line.
2017 Domestic Boat of the Year
- Thread starter Simon Sexton
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He was also the one credited with "They say any landing you can walk away from is a good one."
The reality is that companies is strong competitive markets aren't going with the lowest bidder to save a buck if it means sacrificing quality. Buyers will purchase from the other guy.
The reality is that companies is strong competitive markets aren't going with the lowest bidder to save a buck if it means sacrificing quality. Buyers will purchase from the other guy.
Ah.. but NASA always had fully authority to accept ANY proposal, regardless of cost. The program was full of low-bit contractors protesting the award of contracts. They often had favorite contractors who they trusted in specific areas. Its hard to imagine, for instance that anyone else besides North American Aviation would have built the LEM.
The real key is in writing the bid specification correctly .. then low bid can be (not necessarily is) an equivalently performing product..
No one has ever said while being in heavy seas offshore during a storm that they wished they had bought the cheaper boat.
There is also something called "sole source" in G-requisitions, etc., which effectively circumvents the "bidding" process. I think that may be what kloudie1 is referring to.
That for sure happens.. but I think he's talking about getting 'help' from a fav vendor writing the spec to include items that they (due to existing tech, product or patents) are the only vendor able to perform. I used to LOVE help writing bid specs.... ;^)
Kind of an off-the-record sole source.
Well.. yes and no.. Fave vendors certainly have a place, but when specifying something correctly.. then the actual low bidder can have an equivalent product.. There certainly is a place for sole sourcing as well.. and technology usually was a prime driver to that..
(Talking more custom built mechanical stuff that We'd designed for a specific purpose and nothing on any market was suitable)
(Talking more custom built mechanical stuff that We'd designed for a specific purpose and nothing on any market was suitable)
You guys are mistaking "cheap" for "value". Spending the most money doesn't mean you have the best product.
True, but there is are some big conditions that goes along with that truth: The buyer must enforce the specification. The builder must build to meet the specification. That often means that the buyer inspect every step of the build process.
We are on our third Catalina. 90/99/13 and on each boat that followed, the build/fit and finish has doubled in quality.
IMHO
Btw...
Grumman built the LEM.
IMHO
Btw...
Grumman built the LEM.
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I do not understand all the Catalina bashing. Good boat for the money.
[/QUOTE]That often means that the buyer inspect every step of the build process.[/QUOTE]
A really cool job for a professional captain is to be hired to oversee the build of a yacht for an owner. It's a great way to learn about the methods and quality of construction, and if done several times over a career, a good way to see different methods as they change over time.
I oversaw one construction where the company was fabricating parts, laying up glass in sub-freezing temperatures, even though they had heaters which they were too cheap to run. Cost them a lot more than a bit of electricity, when I refused the parts.
A really cool job for a professional captain is to be hired to oversee the build of a yacht for an owner. It's a great way to learn about the methods and quality of construction, and if done several times over a career, a good way to see different methods as they change over time.
I oversaw one construction where the company was fabricating parts, laying up glass in sub-freezing temperatures, even though they had heaters which they were too cheap to run. Cost them a lot more than a bit of electricity, when I refused the parts.
Ummmmmm... Maybe Grumman? North American built the CSM.
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They can buy up a couple of 270's as tenders.Will the market evolve to 80ft mega yachts with gold plating that only 6 people can afford?
Professional captain implying that the person knows where the markers are and what they mean, maybe has a diesel or steam ticket, but likely doesn't know diddly crap about the chemical abilities of resins penetrating porous substrates.
That is one of the reasons I tell people that my greatest sailing accomplishment is returning to the same slip in the same boat with the same crew. And they have all been alive... so far.
You’re just sayin that! One frog looks pretty much like the next, so how do we know some new ones weren’t picked up on the way back?
I have a face only a mother could love. And I’m not sure she was being totally honest with me!