Building a boatbuilding business

Sounds like a plan.

 

No drawings yet Ike, but I have acquired a very old hull mould that is roughly the dimensions that I want. I'm going to pull a hull out of that and make the changes I want and then make a new mould. A large part of the work is going to be doing the deck layout then building that and taking moulds off it. It has to be the way I want it, but also designed in such a way that labour is kept to a minimum because that is where the cost it. A lot of time is going to be spent staring at it with a beer in hand thinking about the best way to do every tiny piece of it. So that's why it will have to wait until winter when I'm quiet enough to give it the time it needs. Every extra hour planning it could save multiples of that over the live of this boat's production run. But that is the fun part too. I enjoy thinking about it and working out how to shave a few minuets off here and there in the build process.

 

I hope it's a Murphy's.

 

Not Murphy's out of a can, that is just not right. Murphy's should only ever come from a tap and unfortunately I don't have a tap in my workshop...yet

 

I think that if you posted your actual location it would help on giving advice. You may be in the Maldives for all we know.

 

That's a good way to do it. Even Richard Feynman, one of the physicists on the Manhattan Project, said that when he was a boy he used to fix radios for people. He said "he fixed them by thinking" . That is he spent more time thinking about it than the actual doing. (see Richard Feynman - Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Feynman) It's a good technique. But I would prefer a good cup of coffee. I'm not a beer drinker (yes ,I know that's blasphemy)

 

Gonzo, Location is Cork, Ireland. I hadn't updated my location on this site since I returned from my wanderings around the world. Fixed now.

 

We sailed into the Crosshavem Yacht Club once, many years ago. We crossed from Rhode Island to get there. Beautiful country you're in.

The fists time I wrote a math parser, never having even heard of one, I stared at my screen for three days before I took three days to write it and three days to debug it. We call it meditation today, the ancients called it 'incubation'.

 

I assume the boats you sell will need to meet the relevant EU ISO rules. Do you have a plan for ensuring compliance?

 

I have to get a CE cert for them to comply with the EU's recreational craft directive. I studied the older RCD in detail and it was all fairly straight forward and made sense. I haven't looked at the new one yet, but I imaging it is not too different, I will study it in depth and make sure everything will conform before progressing with the project anyway.

 

I don't know the old RCD but the current ISO 12215 and ISO 12217 are not easy to apply.

 

As far as I know, now I could be wrong, but only ISO 12217 applies for a boat of less than 6m in category C. I have approached a couple of companies regarding RCD compliance anyway and they should be able to guide me through the process.
For cat C boats under 6m I can self declare conformity with no need to involve a notifying body. I spent a few hours last night reading up on the new RCD, the system is not very clear so I will need help to get through the various hoops.

 

ISO 12215-5 applies to monohulls up to 24 m length (LH) or length (L) freeboard.
ISO 12217-3 applies specifically to vessels less than 6 m.
It is not easy to keep up to date with the standards because they are changed without prior notice and the designer must always be very aware of these changes.
You should seek advice from a professional who has not become obsolete because, although it may seem difficult to assume, he will save you a lot of money, time and will avoid unpleasantness.
Good luck with your project.

 

Incidentally, I tried to use Facebook ads and Google Search ads to advertise a small business in a completely unrelated field.

They were not even close to being cost effective at that scale.

E.g., while many people "liked" my Facebook page, Facebook rules prohibited me from contacting them. And the big guys could put more money into Google ads, so their stuff came first in the Google search results.

I think those routes only make much sense if you are a fairly large business, with a lot of sales to support it, and that is likely true for most commercial advertising.

Probably the most effective advertising in the business I tried to break into - posting ads on telephone poles, and putting ads under people's windshield wipers, I couldn't afford to do - because they were illegal. I think the bigger businesses in the field treated the fines they had to pay as one of the costs of doing business, and they did it a lot - but the costs and legal hassles wouldn't have been practical for a one person startup business.

Likewise, in the U.S., you can do bulk mailing or use U.S. post office Every Day Direct Mail - but doing that in my area would have costs hundreds or thousands of dollars / small neighborhood - too much for a small startup.

Are there any rules that would prohibit you from putting a sign on your boats, that people could see as you pilot them around? (Have a few waterproofed business cards on you, in case anyone asks.) Perhaps even as you leave them parked at a marina?

Some marinas have bulletin boards where you can freely put up ads. So do some other businesses, like laundromats, grocery stores, and marine supply stores. Very old school, and possibly more significant in small communities than large ones, but that doesn't mean it doesn't work. Also, some marinas that don't run their own repair or customization business, might keep a card file of people who do, for those that ask.

It would be a lot of effort, but can you create a web page that a lot of people in the local boating community would find useful? And put ads for your boats on it? And while you are at it, maybe you can add other things useful to that community that your skills might be relevant to - e.g., offer to do small boat repairs, or paint boats, or add decals.

Are their already advertising circulars for boat and boat service sales in your areas - if you ran one, and distributed it through marinas (which might not charge you, because boat sales are good for their businesses), you could add your own prominently. If one exists, maybe it is a fairly effective way to advertise to a small local community.

Likewise, is there already a boating club? If not, start one, and use it to advertise your business. If one exists, maybe it is worth paying their advertising fee, which is probably pretty low.

I notice there is an Irish Craigslist. Quite possibly, you could advertise there for free, or for a commission on sales there - I'm not sure.

I think eBay charges a listing fee - e.g., in the U.S. see www.ebay.com/help/selling/fees-credits-invoices/motors-fees?id=4127#vehicle-price. But it isn't high. Yes, you have to pay more if something sells, but if you are having trouble paying for advertising, commission sales maybe make sense. I believe eBay requires item already be in stock for immediate sale, so that might not be the best way to offer customized boats, though some of the fancier ads let you add options.

This forum has www.boatdesign.net/gallery where people put their designed boats on display. I don't know if they charge for that - but if not, it's worth a try.

 

A lot of good points there mitch. Thanks for taking the time.
I had the same feeling about facebook and the rest. A few people have told me that it is just not effective on a small scale.
I don't think anyone here uses craigslist, the only reason I even know it exists is because I spent a while in Canada. Donedeal would be the equivalent here, but that is mostly used for 2nd hand stuff, though its cheap so no harm using it anyway. I fear that it would attract a lot of tire kickers though. In an ideal world I'd only have to deal with people who are really really serious about buying a new boat, but I'm resigned to the fact that I'm probably going to have to deal with all kinds of people who just want to have a look and a chat.
I like the idea about setting up a useful website and using that for advertising. I will have to look into it and think about what niche is not being served at the moment. Unfortunately I have no idea about how to set up or run a website. It is something that will require outside assistance, but I do like the idea.
I have been toying with the idea of starting up some kind of club in the Cork Harbour/ South Coast area. I'd need a few boats out there on the water first though to get some kind of momentum behind it. Definitely an idea worth pursuing.
There are no laws against putting up signs on the boat. I will be doing that, in fact that will probably be one of the best things about launching my own boat brand, I will have to go out on the water to show them off, my wife won't be able to complain about me always being out on the water because technically I'll be working.
I was thinking about loaning a finished boat to one or two of the well known local anglers, the ones who write for angling magazines and spend a lot of time on angling forums. If the boat is as good as I hope it will be then it should have them singing its praises at every opportunity.

Getting the boat through the Recreational Craft Directive is my next hurdle. It seems to be a bit of a complicated maze, but that is for another thread.