Future Plans

Franklin · Jun 4, 2018

Love hearing from people back home

Keep in mind, Texas, Especially Kemah is a monohull market, but the boats that are selling like firecrackers are catamarans. I also seem to think building cats are easier than monohulls. So that would be my delima if I were to start building boats in Texas. No mooring fields and not many dock slips for cats in Kemah area.

In fact, I am thinking of moving to a cat because even though I like monohulls better, I think it is better for the family when cruising and I want to keep cruising for another 20 years

but the thought i keep having is, what if we decide to go home. Where will I put that big thing?

I too thought about opening a boat building company. Our motto would be "We sail it before we sell it".

nightowle · Jun 4, 2018

See if you can work for a boat production company to gain worthwhile experience before starting your own.

kappykaplan · Jun 5, 2018

Simon Sexton said:
Tomball

Very close to my old stomping grounds of Magnolia. Good luck with wherever the future takes you.

Will Gilmore · Jun 5, 2018

Simon,
I love the way you think.
My thoughts are to start with small fast one designs like the windmill. Build up a clientele and revenue, then expand from there. Work on a prototype of your own design after you get a sense of your market.
I would really like to watch you succeed, as I know you will.

- Will (Dragonfly)

sailnoproblem · Jun 5, 2018

Before you start dreaming, work for a boat builder somewhere, Florida comes to mind. Gain experience from the ground up.
Just jumping in with little or no experience is not wise. I have been involved in custom boat building all be it Sport Fishermen. There is a lot to know from design to manufacturing.
I don't intend to crush your dream, I don't want you to fail. Just my two cents worth of life experience.
Good luck and I hope your dream comes true.

sailnoproblem · Jun 5, 2018

Oh I did forget to mention one very important thing. "WORKING CAPITAL"

Crazy Dave Condon · Jun 5, 2018

From design table you have to build a plug to a mold and that costs alone a lot as you will have to build a certain amount of boats to break even. Then there are many other considerations regarding zoning, building with required equipment, EPA and state equivalent and the list goes on. Some areas became difficult and sailboat manufacturers had to leave CA. Check this out. Not trying to be a downer but what reality in fiberglass manufacturing does entail.

Scott T-Bird · Jun 5, 2018

Hello Simon,
How exciting is that to start to formulate an ambition! Great things can happen with the right formula. I'm in agreement with nightowle and snp ... it will be useful to get some valuable experience. You might not want to advertise your intentions, though. I'm reminded about the start of Malibu boats in the early 80's. Two guys that worked for a boat maker in the very tight market of competition ski boats learned their craft very well. One in gel coating, the other in upholstery. The market was basically dominated by 2 major players, Correct Craft (Ski Nautique) and Mastercraft, and several other minor players. A competition ski boat in those days was essentially a "standard block and chassis" (as my friend in the industry described them - he rode a wave with Malibu when he became Midwest distributor in 1986, when I bought my Malibu from him). These 2 guys couldn't differentiate themselves from the already entrenched market by reproducing a better boat when they started building boats on their own in 1982. But they figured out that they could differentiate their boats by making them look much better and be more comfortable. Competition skiers spend hours (well beyond the normal boater) in their boats and the extra luxury made the difference.
The company took off from it's start in 1982 and soon became a major player, eclipsing the competition. They couldn't sacrifice quality and performance (that would have been death in the extremely limited world of competitive water skiing), they had to build in the extra marketing pizzaz. I'm sure there were innovations and strategy differentiation that set them apart as well. They are the dominant force in sport boats today. They probably were the first to capitalize on the exploding market for wake sports, to their credit and which really catapulted them in the 90's. Competitive water skiing is a non-growth or even shrinking market. Somehow, they entered a stagnant, entrenched market and grew to domination as they still had their eyes open to opportunity.

nat55 · Jun 5, 2018

Simon, I would highly recommend, after your 2 year BA, enrolling in a boat building school such as The Landing School https://www.landingschool.edu/ or The Apprentice shop http://apprenticeshop.org/ or the Wooden Boat School https://www.thewoodenboatschool.com/ there are many others around the country as well, especially in the Pacific Northwest. Learning the traditional building skills translates very well to modern materials. Most of these schools have intensive programs or shorter programs making it easier to ease into it or dive in head first.

I've known many builders here in Maine that have made a million $$ in the business of building boats, of course they all started with two million!

The busiest building segment here in Maine right now is the lobster boat market, monohull production is limited to custom work at places like Brooklin Boatyard or Rockport Marine, there is an organization Maine Built boats https://www.mainebuiltboats.com/members/ lots of boat porn there.

Good luck in all your dreams and endeavors.

capta · Jun 5, 2018

To the best of my knowledge, two major sailboat builders have gone under in the last year and there may be others. Dreams are fine, but the reality is that most sailboat manfacturers over the last 40 or so years have gone under.
A short list:
Pearson
Irwin
Gulfstar
Morgan
Cheoy Lee
Bavaria
Green Marine
Stephens Brothers

All U Get · Jun 6, 2018

Didn't Island Packet get bought by Hake Marine, that would be a good place to get some quality stuff.

gettinthere · Jun 6, 2018

Try thinking "out of the box" like this guy did..

jwing · Jun 6, 2018

Don't invest a penny until you can identify a market niche that you can dominate. That usually means inventing a new market niche. Or having a unique insight in your field of expertise and the wherewithal to bring it to market and sell it.

Edit: I just watched the Foiling UFO video. That guy is doing exactly what I'm trying to describe.

From your post, the only differentiator that you have identified is that you will be making sailboats in Texas. I, being a non-Texan, would not attribute any value to a product just because it was made in Texas.

I would sell my boat in a heartbeat to buy a new one if somebody came to my area and sold a significant number of comfortable-yet-sporty, low-cost-yet durable sailboats so that there was a one-design fleet on my lake and neighboring lakes. Sailing back and forth across the lake gets old fast and PHRF racing is essentially the same experience, just with more boats around.

Edit: I might spend $7600 for a toy like the Foiling UFO. It doesn't look comfortable, but the fun factor may be high enough to forgo comfort. If only there was one nearby that I could demo...

BobHorn · Jun 6, 2018

Valiants are, or used to be, built in TX on Lake Texoma.

jon hansen · Jun 6, 2018

after reading this thread, i would sell fireworks then have the boat of my dreams built. say, a sistership to jimmy buffet's new boat.

JRT · Jun 6, 2018

What about starting our restoring to like new condition? I head someone is doing that with Catalina 22?

Jackdaw · Jun 6, 2018

sailnoproblem said:
Before you start dreaming, work for a boat builder somewhere, Florida comes to mind. Gain experience from the ground up.
Just jumping in with little or no experience is not wise. I have been involved in custom boat building all be it Sport Fishermen. There is a lot to know from design to manufacturing.
I don't intend to crush your dream, I don't want you to fail. Just my two cents worth of life experience.
Good luck and I hope your dream comes true.

This is the deal right here.

You first need a huge dose of real-world experience. In the well-known 4 stages of competence, you are at Level 1, unconscious incompetence. You don't know what you don't know. Nothing wrong with that, we all start there. The worst thing would be to be there but not know it. The trick is to move up. Fast.

Then as other note, you have to find a DEFENDABLE NICHE where you can make money long term. This is very hard in the world of good used boats and nimble competitors that will be looking to steal your oxygen supply if you happen on a good idea.

pateco · Jun 6, 2018

New techniques and materials may be your friend here. The technologies of composite construction are changing daily, and they keep getting better and cheaper. Combining that with the ability to rapid prototype using 3D printing technologies may take new ideas off the drawing board and into production in much shorter times than in the past. You may also want to look at the history and design path of Local Motors

We are unlike any manufacturer you have ever seen.
Local Motors is a ground mobility company focused on shaping the future for the better. Founded in 2007 with a belief in open collaboration and co-creation, Local Motors began low volume vehicle manufacturing of open-source designs using multiple micro-factories.

Their collaborative design and manufacturing method allows your designers to become your first customers as well as part of your production supply chain.

You may also wish to look at Metan Marine

They began as a restoration and fiberglass company, and branched out into reproducing classic powerboats from the past using new materials and methods.

This allowed them to start with tried and trusted designs, and improve them for today's market.