Florida Vacation/Ft. Myers and Nor-tech
 

Ok...first and foremost.....the Nor-tech factory is tops and Terry Sobo (their Marketing Manager) is a great representative of a very classy company. I went over there for the afternoon and got a very impressive and all-inclusive tour of their facility.

First pic I believe is their 36' Supercat. What impressed me the most is that they leave their boats in the mold to cure completely for 2 months! I was shocked as the tour I had of the Cig factory told me that they are only in the mold for a few days. Nor-tech makes about 20 or so 36' Supercats and only another 20-25 total others.

More glasswork going on:

And this was pretty cool too.....getting ready to make a mold for their new 75' high speed yacht. Looks like a TON of work to make a new boat/mold but will be well worth it......see the prototype 75' in a later picture on this thread...OOOOF! Notice the stepped hull...was surprising to have steps in a 75 footer!

another of the prototype for their new 75' mold:

A 50' V-bottom. Were planning on twin staggered Torque V12s but not sure what they are going to do now with Torque out of business.

The inside of the glasswork on the 50' V. Notice the stringer on the side of the boat....it goes end to end! Was told that they have never had a hull come back or be damaged because of structural integrity problems or delamination or anything like that since they have been making boats. The boat is as strong on the side as it is on it's bottom....I was impressed!

Interior all done in-house....this is part of the interior for a 36' Supercat! Talk about a NICE upholstery shop....this was indeed another impressive part of the tour.

As we walked through their shop there were numerous blower-motors sitting around....I laughed when Terry mentioned that there were over 20 of them right now in their shop.

One of Nor-Techs blower motors....looks very NICE! I believe this is their 1000 HP version:

Can you tell I was impressed? Ok...check out this wiring "loom". It's a piece of PVC glassed into the side of the boat. Of course also notice the wiring....it's similar to romex (sp?) wiring....there is a thick outer insulator, then each wire also has it's own "normal" insulation! They use real carbon fiber for most of their dash panels too!

MORE POWER! Yes that's right folks...I believe there was an article in one of the powerboating magazines about this boat....4-Sterlings paired to #6 dry sumps in a 50' cat....they are hoping for 200MPH! Now that's some serious hardware!

Another of Xtreme Xhibit. Notice another blower motor scattered on the floor....they were all over!!!!

The original prototype for their 75' motor yacht. Should be another work of art!

A view of Fort Myers Beach from our room. I just love that place!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!:cool: :cool: :cool:

another shot from our room:

Wow Dave!
Thanks for the compliments and great shots. It was a pleasure having you and meeting your family. You're always welcome at Nor-Tech.
That goes for anyone that would like to stop by.
Terry

It is absolutely AMAZING how SPOTLESS that place is! That says a trmendous amount about a company! I sure hope to visit there someday.

I had asked a few builders that I know about the leaving the boat in the mold for a long time. The answers that I got were interesting. Most said it made zero difference, and explained to me why some manufacturers do so (this included a guy that does leave them in the mold for a average of one - one and a half months.

Anyhow their shop is just plain amazingly clean for a builder and that no doubt says a lot about their attitude towards thier boats and customers. :D:D

Jon

Dave1972

Thanks for the Pics, everytime I go up there to check out the progress of my new 36 I take my camera but never seem to get any good shots.

This company really seems to have there act together. I has been a pleasure to work with them while having the new boat built.

Did you visit the new engine shop? Holly crap!!! That place is spotless.

time in mold
 

you do the math if they leave there 36 in the mold for two mouthes that means they could only build 6 boats ayear unless they have more than one mold so 20 boats a year wuold need at least 3 molds i dont think they have that many molds they tell you what you want you want to hear i heard the same story when i bought my boat good luck with the new 36

Torque is out of business???

JIMKID,

Shoot the message and not the messenger. If you don't believe the information I provided, perhaps it was inaccurate. It's also possible that they have 3 sets of molds. I don't honestly know....and to be truthful, I don't really care. If you are concerned, contact Terry Sobo....his screen-name on OSO is "Salesmanship". Again, not trying to advertise, prove or disprove...thought it would be nice to post pictures of a very impressive facility and some beautiful boats. I live in Wisconsin and we don't have too many high performance shops around here...let alone any boat manufacturing facilities. We've got CMI in Menasha and the obvious Merc in Fond du Lac.....that's about all we've got in Wisconsin (at least to my limited knowledge).

FYI...not trying to be bitter or rude....just stating what I remembered from the tour. I honestly don't think that I was being told "what I want to hear". And if I was...I believed it, so it worked. So call me an idiot I suppose?:rolleyes:

mpally,

I don't know the specifics but I have heard that they are no longer in business. They offered quite a product but their market was VERY tiny in my opinion. Would have been nice to see them make it as their motors were very impressive.

Dave the pics look awesome, thanks for sharing them. I was impressed by the amount of boats being built at the plant, and will be in that area in about 2-3 weeks, I think a plant tour is in call. I will post some of my pics as well, thanks again, Jeff Jassby:D

I believe Torque's assests were purchased by a company (in California?) that builds V-Twin bike motors. There was a post on here a while back about the deal; from what I remember, the financial's on the buyer didn't look all that great, either.

IMO, the problem with Torque is that the potential market was just way to small to support the necessary R&D and manufacturing costs. If you think about, the only thing that an all-aluminum V-12 is good for is a high performance boat, and then only a fairly large and pricey one. I don't think you would have seen Torques in, say, a Baja or a Powerquest (or even a Formula), you'd only see them from the custom builders, and even then only in single digit numbers. IIRC, the motors were something like $125K a pop - even if they sold 10 a year, 1.25 million doesn't go too far these days - it probably cost them close to that just to do the manufacturing. Add in service/warranty, marketing (boat shows ain't free), R&D, etc, and I don't the volume was there. Not to mention the cut-throat competition in the big horsepower arena - Chief, Zul, Hawk, Pfaff, Sterling, Keith Eckeirt, etc etc etc - the list goes on. And there's lots of guys that can spin a wrench on big-block Chevy, soemthing to consider when you're at a Poker Run a 1000 miles from the engine builder.

That being said, they are beautiful motors, and it would have been nice to see them make it. Who knows, if the hi-po boat market turns around, they may make a comeback.

Just to clarify.... The V-Bottoms are usually in the mold 1 to 2 months. Most of the stringers are laid while in the mold. The 50 cat is usually in for 3 months as all of the stringers, bulkheads and tanks are installed prior to pulling. The 36 cat is in for 2 weeks. So everyone was right, just had to straighten out the details.
Thanks,
Terry