become a vulture boat buyer in down market?
Hello All,
I am looking for information on building a new sailing catamaran in Thailand.
Can I recieve information from people who have built catamarans in Thailand.
Thanks
Swabber
The best advice, as stated by others is to investigate the used boat market first in your home country then in other easily accessible countrys keeping a close eye on exchange rates.
If for some reason you absolutely have to build your custom design in Thailand and you have builder skills, language skills, and a sense of adventure investigate renting a site, hiring labor and building yourself. Alternatively, you could take advantage of the current economic climate, become a vulture capitalist and take your cash to Thailand, visit the boatyards and bid on abandoned, incomplete projects.
There is anecdotal evidence of the happy client, but they don't post here. We sorely need their expertise and guidance.
Custom building in a foreign country is very risky unless you can have complete trust in the builder. Like the builder is a member of your immediate family or his family, in your country, lives in a house that you own. Basically, you need some power and leverage on the builder because if you are a foreigner, he has all the power. He has your money (client always pays in advance). He has your boat in his possession. He has the goodwill of his employees, local vendors, local courts, etc. You may find some verbal sympathy for your plight "I'm so sorry for your loss" in the event you get screwed. But no real monetary compensation.
What is in it for local brokers, marina owners, yacht club members, vendors, court system, etc. to side with you? Absolutely nothing. In a few weeks you are gone. Your boat is sold at auction to a very happy buyer who got a hell of a deal 90% funded by you. If you were so naive to have taken the civil court route then you've left money in the hands of local attorneys too.
That promised 40% cost savings from low labor costs can get eaten up really fast and in the worst case as per the infamous "Low Price Catamaran" thread can turn into a 100% loss.
On the other hand perhaps only the disgruntled minority posts here. The happy majority, having gotton good value for money are out there enjoying their boats then selling them on the used market for a good price. Find out who are the best builders by seeing if their boats retain value relative to similar boats, ex. at brokerage
http://www.leemarine.com/brokerage_2.php?type=sail
or any brokerage. At the brokerage website search on your favorite builders name to see if any owner feels that the builder's name conveys a positive recommendation of the boat.
In the final analysis, the only thing of value that you have that the builder wants is cash. The client always pays in advance. As the boat progresses there is less and less incentive for the builder to please you because his future cash flow from you has decreased. In fact the incentive for the builder may be to force you out of the picture all together by unscrupulous means because he already has a buyer on the sidelines who will give him more for your boat then is owed in the last stage payment thereby increasing the builders profit margin. This can happen if the owner puts some "sweat equity" into his boat by supervising construction in place of the builder and doing a better job thereby attracting vulture buyers "in the know".
cheers
