Trawler Lifestyle | PassageMaker Magazine & Events

Okay, so you’ve done the yacht thing, you’ve had your brightwork, beautiful teak interiors, cramped engine rooms, dainty little staterooms for the two of you and your guests, and now you’re ready for a change. A different sort of cruising motorboat, one with character, one with real, honest-to-goodness ruggedness. The heck with blue blazers and fancy buttons. “Look, Dockboy, this ship ain’t gonna be stopped by no little dock cleat. I said put my dockline round that piling, NOW, or I’m taking out this fuel dock!”

To be successful in the business of building boats, it is vital to have an integrated marriage of craftsmanship (the skill to create boats that offer value and satisfy customer demand), business management skill (to balance growth with conservative responsibility), and marketing prowess (to understand what people want in a new boat and getting them interested in your boat). When boat builders fail, it is sometimes because they lack at least one of these key ingredients. The failure can also result from economic conditions that drive the industry forward and backward (not to mention idiotic political agendas such as the luxury tax.)