to buy a boat company or not?

[Outback Jack]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Great to see everything is working out for you. I really miss the days as a manufacturer of fiberglass items . We even had the mold for the Bricklin car. I was hoping to build one some day. I use to like the end product . A few of our customers use to get us to build prototype products. I use to enjoy seeing the final product.

Good luck with your venture

Jack

 

[ricohman]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Make sure you post some pics of the business when you get up and running. I'm sure there are lots of us that would love to see how boats are built in a factory setting.
Good luck!

 

[RogersJetboat454]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Wake board boats are very popular in TX. In this economy there is no way I would get involved in a business that runs on entertainment $$$$. Toyota tried to break into the US ski/wake boat business a few years ago. They built a fantastic boat that still has a large cult following. Even with the $$$ Toyota had behind them they decided to get out of the business. Granted they had an issue with a mold but they had the money to remedy that (and they did). That should tell you something.

http://www.epicmarine.com/history.html

FYI....
Toyota is back in the marine business building sport fishing/pleasure boats;
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/...from=&to=en&a=http://www.toyota.co.jp/marine/

I agree with consensus here. You are considering a venture in a tight economy that has caused several manufacturers with decades of experienced to fold. If things were in an upswing, I would say go for it. But then again if that were true, the original owners probably wouldn't be selling in the first place.

 

[Pmccraney]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Good luck, and please do keep us updated on your progress. Does this company have a web-site?

.... And I was thinking as you first promotional item, that post #25 on this thread should win a free boat (oh wait, that's me, how lucky)...

 

[Utahboatnut]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Just out of curiousity sake what type/mfg of engines/drives are the boats going to have? It sure seems in that market people are quite brand specific.

 

[DustinJean]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Now that's an awesome opportunity I wish you the best of luck and hopefully it all works out as planned, So keep us posted.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Great to see everything is working out for you. I really miss the days as a manufacturer of fiberglass items . We even had the mold for the Bricklin car. I was hoping to build one some day. I use to like the end product . A few of our customers use to get us to build prototype products. I use to enjoy seeing the final product.

Good luck with your venture

Jack

Haha yeah that is one of the perks isn't it. Im looking forward to being able to do something different for a change. its still a couple of months away before kick off. Once the money people have their say.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

I sincerely wish you good luck on this venture my brutha! I too would love not workin for the man... If you don't take risks, ya don't get nothin'.......

sorry I missed your post mate, and thanks for the well wishes

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Make sure you post some pics of the business when you get up and running. I'm sure there are lots of us that would love to see how boats are built in a factory setting.
Good luck!

Yeah I was actually planning that.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

FYI....
Toyota is back in the marine business building sport fishing/pleasure boats;
http://www.microsofttranslator.com/...from=&to=en&a=http://www.toyota.co.jp/marine/

I agree with consensus here. You are considering a venture in a tight economy that has caused several manufacturers with decades of experienced to fold. If things were in an upswing, I would say go for it. But then again if that were true, the original owners probably wouldn't be selling in the first place.

The american and australian economy are different, although somewhat similar. We just don't have the amount of different manufacturers that you do. We really won't have a problem selling the minimum number of boats a year that we would need to here.
Exporting to the usa and canada would be something we are seriously going to look into as we will be seriously price competitive.
There are many factors why the owner here is selling, and none are related to the current economy, which is a bonus for us.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Good luck, and please do keep us updated on your progress. Does this company have a web-site?

.... And I was thinking as you first promotional item, that post #25 on this thread should win a free boat (oh wait, that's me, how lucky)...

Hmmm that could be a bonus, free boat to whoever posts a certain amount of posts, shall we say first to get to 400000?
....................................................................
wait does that mean bondo gets one?
lols I doubt we could afford to give away a free boat, but That would certainly generate some interest in the brand I think.

 

[GT1000000]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

A most excellent opportunity and I sincerely hope the best of good fortunes for you and your company.

I am glad to hear that at least somewhere in the world there are still money making endeavors.

I too, would really enjoy seeing the manufacturing process when you get started.

Thank you for sharing.

Best of Luck and Godspeed,
GT1M

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Just out of curiousity sake what type/mfg of engines/drives are the boats going to have? It sure seems in that market people are quite brand specific.

Good question.

We are starting with PCM as our main supplier.
We are looking at mercruiser too but with what PCM is offering its looking like thats the way to go.
Personally I would prefer PCM to mercruiser for watersports, although I do love the mercruiser in my wellcraft

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Now that's an awesome opportunity I wish you the best of luck and hopefully it all works out as planned, So keep us posted.

Thanks heaps for the well wishes. I will keep all informed as it progresses. All the research is done, its just down to the money people now, so another week or so to go before anything is definite................. but its passed everything else so all is looking good.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Good luck, and please do keep us updated on your progress. Does this company have a web-site?

.

The website will be started as soon as the money people give us the go ahead. The logo and names have been registered so it has all started

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

A most excellent opportunity and I sincerely hope the best of good fortunes for you and your company.

I am glad to hear that at least somewhere in the world there are still money making endeavors.

I too, would really enjoy seeing the manufacturing process when you get started.

Thank you for sharing.

Best of Luck and Godspeed,
GT1M

Thank you very much for your kind words. It is all appreciated.
I will definitely document the build process on a few different models if we get the final go ahead, It is awesome to watch, and It will give me a great opportunity to answer as many questions as possible and give everyone a great insight to how we will be making them. It is very much a hands on build, Although some companys such as Tige' are building them in a very similar way, although on a much larger scale.

 

[Last Mohican]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Good luck with the future of this. I hope it goes well for you. Isn't PCM using the GM LSX platform. Excellent choice IMO.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

Good luck with the future of this. I hope it goes well for you. Isn't PCM using the GM LSX platform. Excellent choice IMO.

thanks mate. yeah i believe they are. we were looking at indmar also, but it is not price effective for us to use them at this time.
I loved the PCM in my dads old ski boat, strong as an ox that motor.

So far so good, we have intrest from around 6 dealers so far with more coming so its looking really good at this point.

 

[Scott Danforth]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

I would push the emotional attachment of boating hobby aside and focus on the business and books. if the company has been profitable, has a strong customer base, and excellent employees, then your making a sound business decisision.

 

[evolution1985]

Re: to buy a boat company or not?

I would push the emotional attachment of boating hobby aside and focus on the business and books. if the company has been profitable, has a strong customer base, and excellent employees, then your making a sound business decisision.

Allot of it we are going to be starting from scratch, as the current owner has recently slowed allot of his production down due to health reasons. We are in a very luck position that in no way is any of this because of business reasons. His main reason for selling as I stated earlier is that he can't continue production with his health the way it is. The business plan and financial side has been looked at time and time again and it all adds up which is great news. So now really once everything Is sorted out we should be ready to rock and roll so to speak.