Viability of a One Man Boat Shop

This is what I was thinking, but the guy I spoke to said he rode in a 42' Don Smith with this drive system, and he BACKED the boat right up to the beach and stepped off the swim platform onto the beach. The protrusion of the prop below the hull also concerned me with the oyster reefs and rocks in Baffin Bay and Nueces Bay, where several lower units are lost a year. Would this prop be cheaper than a lower unit? Looking at the picture of the drive again though, I think I'd still be looking at a 10" draft.

 

Power Vent site.
http://www.powervent.com/
I think those props are spendeeeeee!

Low Radar Profile
Minimal IR Signature
What's that all about?


Gary

 

No doubt about that Oyster, and one more reason I considered custom boats. Good thought from 8Knots about building a "production" boat and doing custom work on the side. Or making semi-customs from the same hull. One local builder, Stoner Skiffs, builds semi customs this way. 'Glass hull, wood/glass inside in the configuration of your choice. Sure would like to get that nasty O/B off the transom for 360 degree fishability though

 

Too different animals, 42 foot and 18 foot. Forget about what the guy says about the 42 foot picnic style boat. A lower unit, trims up for shallow water use. Do your search. Do your homework. I can't say much more. Everyone is always going to make a million. Fiberglass boats, under 20 foot, is a dime a dozen, on every street corner. You want to do it, have at it. Build your plug, build your mould, build a hull, and take it on the road, to every corner boat dealer. Then make your decision.

Another alternative is to buy a bare boat, and trick it out. Talk to other existing hull makers. Some will also sell you a hull, with your own marketing name on it.

 

Saw their web site, they developed this for the military.

 

My true love is deep sea fishing boats. Better route? Not many builders of medium size (26'-32') inboard sportfish types, especially lobster hulled (mostly custom). All offshore boats around here are deep v or Carolina types that don't work well (too rolly/pounders). No offense, Oyster No local builders whatsoever. For a reason maybe? D. Pascoe (Yachtsurvey.com) says it's too costly to produce a quality boat of this size, and is the reason Bertram, Hatteras....no longer produce them. These were all twin screw. Maybe single? Hmmmmmmmmm......

 

The market, right now, in the mid range is single inboard diesel express cruiser, at least in the mid Atlantic states. Offshore fishing in Texas, has always been found of the Bertram-Hatteras type, big deep vee. One big majority of reasons, for the decline in production boats in the mid range, is the market demand for the larger hull.

A carolina type hull, is designed for a head sea running. The original boats went 20 to 25 knots. BUt now they are running 40 knots. Please tell me about your rolly boats. Buddy Davis built the 47 footer, deep vee, weight in the stern, with all the fuel aft, fiberglass hull and did not do well in the following sea condition. A tower made it worse. But they were in the years of transition, of high performance large hulls.

Ocean Yachts are not carolina hulls. Lets not even go there. These were sold in the gulf and many were a disaster in that setting.

 

Boats ridden by me, and input from friends:

21' Seaswirl Striper- sharp entry, 19 deg. (approx) aft, light weight. Wouldn't stay in the water! Flew off wave tops above 16 kt. Whip snapped so bad in 4 footers you couldn't stand.

29' Blackfin- knife edge entry, extreme deadrise aft, pounded unmercifully, with tuna tower, rolled probably 20 degrees or more in 3-4 footers.

My boat-26' Chris Craft flybridge (photos in my gallery). Very stable in the swell due to flatter aft section, moderate entry, but can't run more than 12-14 kt in a chop 'cuz she'll beat you to death, and herself apart! On the plus side, she's very dry, and comfortable to fish, just terribly inefficient at transition speed I'm forced to run most of the time.

28' Bertram- good ride due to deep v and heavy weight (I guess, 2 foot longer and outweighs mine by 3000#), very wet, rolls to the point you can't stand up.

39' Hatteras- Don't know if she's wet cuz the captain refused to run faster than 10 kt in the 6' chop. Deep v. Rolled terribly for such a beamy boat, my 21 Seaswirl wasn't that bad at 8'6" beam!

25' Hydra-Sport- another spine cruncher. 'Nuff said.

26' World Cat- Great boat until a wave crest contacts the underbody between the hulls and buckles your knees right out from under you.

Don't mean to sound whiney, but I'm only 30 and in reasonably good condition, and if I'm uncomfortable, I can imagine if I was 50 and riding one of these vessels, I sure wouldn't want to be cruising more than 12 kt, which is the speed most of the deep v boats wind up running at to keep them in one piece and her occupants reasonably dry.

 

Heck, you are talking about runabouts. except maybe the 39? Hatteras. I suspect, your running in most of those boats, was not in conditions that the outer banks see even on a typical 3 to 5 off the banks. 28 bertram has too much vee for a stable platform, but will run, even wet, in the a larger sea, than most of the hulls you mention. Still a modified vee hull, single diesel, is a great compromise and is being bought, from the standpoint of fuel consumption and costs reduction for power plants with the single engine. Maintainance is reduced, and access to engine compartments, is inhanced as a selling feature. Big void right now, for quality fiberglass boat, in a small shop setting. Carolina Skiff has the market cornered on cheap mass production of shallow draft boats.

Just flip a coin as to all the rest. A local dealer will dictate what you see in a certain area. It really ain't the particular boat. There ain't two cents difference between the ride, and performance of anything shallow draft under 20. Accessories sells nowadays. Junk is profit. To bed.

 

This is the void I'd like to fill for the single diesel lobster style that I think would be a much better performer given our conditions. None around here, I presume because we're nowhere near where these boats are built and haven't been exposed to them much. Don't know the prevailing conditions in the outer banks, but the few times I've been by on a Navy destroyer we had large wide spaced swell (around Hatteras). Not bad running on that in any boat. We generally have a 2-5 foot southerly swell with 1-3 foot southeasterly wind chop making for a steep, closely spaced washing machine that brings almost every boat to their knees.
Anyway, just figgered I'd cut my teeth on small boats first, as seems to be the general consensus on these forums, and it makes sense to me.

 

Corpus, have you considered aluminum? You could have the boats computer cut and just weld the pieces together like a big jigsaw puzzle. the biggest hurdle is settling on a design and convincing people that there is nothing wrong with a well built aluminum boat. I believe your tooling costs will be lower. Just a thought!

 

I will post some links to the smaller style boats that sell like mad up here in Alaska. Both are inboards with a Volvo Dual prop outdrive. I see these things everywhere up here along with those Sea dorys. The wheather gets ugly quick up here but most owners stay out when the cattle boats (charter sightseeing) are heading for the dock. They might be worth a look!
For the record we have millions of alum jet boats for the river Salmon fishers and hunters up here. They are the market up here!
most guys plan on eating an impeller or two every season but they jump logs and sand bars with them too! I would look at jets for smaller inboards anyday!
Good luck 8Knots
http://www.ospreyboats.com/
http://www.seasportboats.com/

 

Oyster, is this to say that the market for the mid range no longer exists? I see fairly brisk sales of used vessels in this size range, but aside from Shamrock, Luhrs, custom/Carolina builders and the occasional Topaz, no one builds these anymore. There used to be lots of 'em. All the aforementioned boats are express types too. Folks don't want small flybridges anymore? I can't understand why, you get so much more room with the bridge, and better visibility. I dunno, maybe my wires are crossed?

 

The mid-range market is for larger boats with lots of stuff in them. The trend is for more beam and freeboard. You are looking for a niche, so market trends may not be important. After all, three or four custom boats a year can keep you in business.

 

There was not one reason why the mid range became obsolete with the production builders. But one particular reason, that I saw was the avaliabilty of used larger boats, for the dollar being spent with the toys on them. Women played a large roll in boating in the mid nineties. A lot of new money flowed into the business supporting larger demand for speed and acccomidations. Labor forces in the larger building facilities, have dwindled down. End of the year P&L numbers became more important and the smaller hulls were not paying for themselves. CEOs had to make a choice, for overall dollars, or overall hulls.

Marinas began to convert the old style piers to accomodate large boats, and the dockages began to reflect it.

Many people could save 300,000 dollars on a used 2 year old Viking or Hatteras. New engines with more horspower, for the weight came to be, allowing upgardes on older hulls, purchased at 10 cent on the dollar, allowing for more boat for the buck.
Houses were built up around the water on newly developed properties. The need for staterooms was gone, then. This brought about the express boat, or day cruiser, with speed, lots of speed. Hulls need to be lighter, therefore causing hulls to be built of cored materials and composites. The nitch market for custom came into play, with indivudual one offs. The smaller builder could afford to take up where the bigger ones left off.

In percentage , you can build a 30 foot boat while you can build a 25 foot hull, and do more with it from a consumer strandpoint of it.. There is nothing wrong with the under 20 foot market, to start, but as I said before you have to offer what someone else hasn't and it had better be sold for the first two years, if you make it pay for itself. Custom tricking is time consumming in small hulls, for the return. It has been tried too many times. it will requiire a long sacrifice on your part. BUt if you like playing craps, go for it. I did and I know the numbers.