Custom Yachts At Stock Boat Prices?

Can a custom yacht be built for the price of a stock boat?

Maybe. A very definite maybe....

How can that be? It sounds too good to be true.

But is it?...

Yes, if you're considering a quality cruising boat of, say, 35 to 40' and up. In fact, the larger the boat the more likely it will be possible.

Yes, if you're willing to search out the yards with good shop rates, most of which are located out of the high rent districts, in areas with more reasonable labor rates.

Yes, if you can wait, while the builder finishes the jobs he has on hand and can then take on doing your boat. While the better builders do from time to time have slow periods, most are likely to have a healthy backlog.

And, yes, if you can find a designer who is clever enough to design a boat that is simple in its construction and concept, yet provides the features you want along with the seaworthiness necessary for how she'll be used.

Everyone "knows" that the production line boats are built more efficiently and, thus, they cost less - right?…

Think about the economics of the situation. Even though the stock boat builder may be more efficient, in the sense of using less man-hours to build the boat, he has other costs the custom builder does not face.

The production builder must amortize the cost of the tooling, molds, and patterns over each boat he builds; must carry on an expensive advertising and large promotional campaign (ad space does cost money, as do brochures and salesmen); and often must pay a dealer a sizable commission for selling the boat to you. Each person at each level of this business is indeed in business for himself and is, quite reasonably, looking to make a living at doing it.

Thus, the custom builder will save you the costs of the share (or amortization) of the tooling, and ad campaign costs, and the large sales markups (often 25 percent). All these savings can be put into the extra labor it will take to do the one-off boat's lofting and templating, and the interior detailing that you specifically want in your custom boat.

What types of construction are suited to producing reasonably priced custom yachts? The most economical are those using large sheet stock (like plywood, steel, aluminum, or even sheets of fiberglass) and having a hull form developed for these large sheets to bend on easily. A hull of this type can be very handsome. With proper design, the chines become a part of the sculpture of the hull, giving positive accent to her form. Also there can be a topside chine, which can provide a reinforcement point for a guardrail.

Paul Miller, who for years had his boat shop on Vancouver Island, has built some of our designs and proven they can be built for the same price as a stock boat - or for even less than similar sized stock boats when building in plywood and epoxy. His experience building several of these certainly confirms it.

Custom building also gives the owner a chance to become involved in the selection of almost everything that goes into the boat, from the materials for the hull to the hardware. The owner can also save some costs by doing the materials ordering and purchasing through the builder's accounts, if the builder is agreeable. This saves the builder's time, and this cost savings can be passed along to the owner. The owner can also save by acting as the go-fer, going for the supplies and hardware that the builder needs picked up. This gives the owner the chance to look at the things before they're installed on the boat; to be sure it is what he wanted.

One of the most persuasive advocates of this concept is John Guzzwell. His conviction is not lightly founded. He's been making a living as a professional boatbuilder for over a score of years, and the quality of his work is recognized worldwide.

When John Guzzwell finished building the first Benford 37' Pilothouse Cutter Corcovado over a decade ago, a review of the accounting revealed that she had indeed been created at the same price as a similar stock boat of the same size and type. In the process, a boat with several superior features had been created. She had a larger rig than the stock boat and sailed quite well, with some of the credit due to the use of the Hundested variable pitch prop that feathered under sail. She was a little lighter than the stock boat, with noticeably greater apparent stability. She also had better visibility from inside and a layout custom tailored to the owners needs and desires.

Not every builder is capable of turning in this sort of performance. The builder must be located in a lower overhead area, have ready access to the supplies needed, and have good mental organizational skills in addition to being efficient in the use of his time. Each part of the job must be done in the proper sequence. Supplies must be ordered in advance so that they're on hand and there is no waiting for them to arrive. Thus, the builder won't have to work around an unfinished part of the job, and lose some time coming back to finish it when the missing part arrives.

This sort of efficiency leads to keeping the building hours in line. Most builders work on a fee of so many dollars per hour. There is very little published information on how long it takes to build a boat. A decade ago, in an issue of Cruising World magazine, the Lin and Larry Pardey quoted some figures for building times. They noted that the consensus of the builders that they talked to took one hour to build two to two and a half pounds of displacement. Thus, a 20,000-pound boat would take 8,000 to 10,000 hours to build.

The Pardeys' figure for hours is probably quite valid for the more elaborate forms of construction, or for operations without a lot of power tools and equipment. Also, a proper building in which to build the boats can save a lot of time fighting the elements.

In talking with several builders in the Pacific Northwest, I found that they could normally build four to five pounds of displacement in one hour. This may have something to do with this being one of the few areas that still has a good deal of custom building activity.

For amateur builders, I would think that even more time should be allowed than the Pardeys indicate, unless the boat is of a simple construction and/or the builder is experienced in the work. Whichever sort of boat is being built, it's worth doing right the first time, though. The middle of a cruise is no time to find that the materials or workmanship aren't up to the job....

What does the future hold?

The advent of computerized cutting of materials (aluminum, steel or plywood) has opened the possibilities further to make the supplying of kits and low volume production an affordable reality. True, the front-end costs of getting the design and layout for cutting of pieces costs quite a bit more than the traditional design work, but the overall costs for the project can be reduced.

The finest of the classic custom wooden yacht builders produced perhaps two to two-and-a-half pounds of boat, when the labor of building it is compared with the finished displacement.

Contrast this with a boat like our freighter yachts series of designs. A builder can turn out a serviceable and practical cruising boat of this type producing eight to fifteen pounds of boat per man-hour.

Why the difference?

A big part of the answer is due to two factors. One is the difference in design that allows the use of sheet materials to build large portions of the boat. This means that the man-hours for this work are reduced.

The second is that a large amount of the outfitting can be purchased ready-made so that the builder no longer has to custom build all the furniture and cabinetry in the boat, nor the things like the refrigeration system, as the designs use a lot of household type equipment. We've found the household appliances and other equipment to work well and most give long service at reasonable costs.

What types of boat make sense to consider custom building?

If the typical weekender type of cruiser suits you, and you don't want a boat that has more storage room, then by all means buy the stock boat.

However, if you want more storage room, fewer berths, more open space for living aboard, and more space to work on the boat and its systems, then take a hard look at creating your own yacht. The resulting boat can bring you much more pleasure and joy of ownership from the effort and thought that went into its creation.

So find the designer whose work you like and get a conversation going on how you might yet get just the right boat to make your coming years afloat a real joy. You'll get a lot more out of it. Plus, something this much fun will be an incentive to find ways to spend more time doing it - which will result in you doing even more cruising. Or is this too subversive a suggestion?


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