Somehow my point got lost....let me try again.

I'm not defending why they SHOULD bring a boat with the defects to the show, I'm simply giving reason's why some boats might show up that "aren't quite right".

If the boat is delayed and there is no time for a paint repair, what options does a company have?

Either be a no show; or take a risk and go ahead with it anyway. After forking out thousands of dollars for the booth, they aren't about to forfeit it.


On the other hand..........If you *PURCHASE* a boat and you notice the paint job is not to your satisfaction, 9 times out of 10 the builder will correct it --- as long as you give him time to get it right.

K-
Obviously you've had a great deal of experience with fine instruments like Steinway to include Yamaha in with the likes.........

Pardon me, jafo, but I was refering to an earlier poster who compared the quality of other musical instruments like drum sets.

Well, I just know the heartbreak of working your tail off to produce the perfect "boat show boat", only to have some custom fabricated part out of a 'top notch' west coast shop not send it until 3 weeks after your deadline.

And then when you do finally get it, you discover it is 1/4 " too long.

Or find out you got a bad batch of gel coat from the supplier. And the entire boat has to be scrapped and started over completely.

So then you and your workers have to work through a holiday weekend ~ including Christmas day ~ 48 hours straight, no sleep, trying to get the boat finished by the show deadline.

Not fun. :(

I don't know the folks at OL at all, but reading the beatings they are getting here, kind of made me remember those old days....very tough days..... So I thought it would be beneficial for people to see a side of custom boat manufacturing that they probably never even thought about.



I think everybody agrees that all boats *should* be perfect if they are going into a show.

But sometimes, sadly, that is just not possible.

BK, your point was well taken. Like in my business, Its Mardi-Gras week, I paid 7k for a balcony, couldnt use it this weekend, cause my guys didn't finish a house like I promised my customer, so we worked Sat, Sun, will be working Mon, and Fat Tuesday to give him what he paid for, cause my name is on that home, and it will be as perfect as humanly possible. The bottom line is... some builders get it done, on time, whether they are factory or custom built. NO EXCUSES!!! Its a show, bring your best examples, dont tell me when it goes back to the factory and comes out for the second time that it will be a 10, THATS BULL****, and Iv'e seen alot of that, Blah, Blah, Blah.. This show was like last years, a disappointment in boats not being finished, runs in paint jobs, runs in clear coat, crazing, and a lack of concern on some salesmens part, not taking the customer seriously. This industry will never change for the better, its not a hobby, even though some builders treat it as such. The good thing is some are trying really hard and what I was happy to see was how some co. improved over last year, they were Hustler, Cigarette, and MTI.

Well, do they have a lot of customers who are unhappy?


That is, by far, the best way to tell if a company is building crap boats or not.

Our company would typically sell two boats for every one that was built -- because the owners would have such praise that they'd give the boat high marks to others who stopped to look.

But every once in a while, we'd be forced to go to a show with a boat that could have used another week of fine tuning....but the deadline hit before it could be finished.


If I was buying a $500,000 boat, I'd be contacting customers who bought one to see how they liked it.

This kind of info is what makes popular message boards like Offshore only such a valuable source.

BK what Boat co. did you use to own. Jeff

[QUOTE]Originally posted by BK
[B]Well, I just know the heartbreak of working your tail off to produce the perfect "boat show boat", only to have some custom fabricated part out of a 'top notch' west coast shop not send it until 3 weeks after your deadline.

And then when you do finally get it, you discover it is 1/4 " too long.

Or find out you got a bad batch of gel coat from the supplier. And the entire boat has to be scrapped and started over completely.

So then you and your workers have to work through a holiday weekend ~ including Christmas day ~ 48 hours straight, no sleep, trying to get the boat finished by the show deadline.

Not fun. :(

No excuse. I work for a lage corporation in the IT dept. If I have a problem with one of my projects or one of the systems I am responsible for goes down, I have to work 24 hrs a day, seven days a week until it's fixed. If I turn it over and it's not 100%, guess what ? I have to continue fixing it even if I have to start all over.
Dude, this is not a 30k boat. If their people cannot get it done like many of the other manufacturers can, then they probably have the wrong people. Case closed.
That's how management I work with sees it and I think they are right.

I know.. I know what you are going to say... It's a large corporation, compare to the production boats. Sure but we started out small. Quality and value my brother and sky is the limit... :)

Thank you Troutly. When I mentioned that at the
N.Y.C. boat show that the O.L.'s there had ripples
in the deck & the Richie Rich paint was not that
great, I got my a$$ handed to me by the O.L.
guys. Amazing how when other people are now
bringing the same thing to light, that they are all
defensive. If the O.L's were perfect,and the Fountains
Were looking $hitty,they would be smearing Reggie
all over the board. Hey,nobodys product is perfect,
but for 750k,it better be damn close.

Yes, even faster if given 1/4 the dollars and I am willing to put money on it.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by frequentflyer

Quote:

---

No excuse. I work for a lage corporation in the IT dept. If I have a problem with one of my projects or one of the systems I am responsible for goes down, I have to work 24 hrs a day, seven days a week until it's fixed.

---

Who says they didn't work 24/7? I will wager a bet that they indeed did work extremely hard right up until the day of the show.

But even here you are admitting that any corporation with fantastic, dedicated staff can still run into problems now and then.



This is true for any company.
However, you don't get that chance to "continue to fix" or "start all over" if you are dealing with a very strict deadline, like a boat show.