Steel, Aluminum, wood w glass/epoxy and glass/ epoxy price

[pctongfcbcdalla]

I am brand new in boat building. Just purchased a wood with glass/ epoxy kits. My intention is using this kits to build a 14' skiff to test and improve my ability on boat building.

My next step is to build a 25'-27' sail/power boat enough to sleep of 3-4 crews.

I have several questions, someone who has experience may help me:
1. What is the material cost to build in steel, aluminum, plywood with glass/epoxy and mode with glass/epoxy? which one is most cost effective and still good on market demand?
2. What would be a market demand on the 14' skiff from kits of plywood with glass/epoxy? If I build 14' skiff with actual size of plywood kit transfer to aluminium, how is the market demand for the aluminium skiff? If I build some aluminium skiff, would I make a profit to support my next project to build the large sail/power boat?
3. What would be the maximum size to be trailerable? What are the models that good to be trailerable? What is the weight of the trailerable model?

 

[ladnercoatings]

Waterproof Deck Coatings

Bituminous trowel applied thick film coatings are very popular and reliable products, used widely in much of Europe for external waterproofing of basement areas. The products are applied by trowel in 2 thick, waterproofing and crack bridging layers. The products originated in and are still mainly produced in Germany.

Thanks

 

[PAR]

I'm not sure what ladnercoatings is talking about, though I suspect it's just some spam that's leaked through. Bituminous coatings are a joke and can't be taken seriously, except in special applications.

There's no real answer to your question about a cost effective method in market demand. Each building method has good and bad things to consider about them. Currently the industry is dominated with 'glass products, butt his dominance is also size dependent, with metals taking on a bigger share in larger sizes.

Market demand for a 14' sheathed plywood skiff would be quite low, likely less than a couple of percent of the pleasure boat market in this size range. Aluminum would increase the market to maybe as much as 10% I have no idea of your building or marketing skills, so wouldn't want to speculate about your ability to generate enough revenue for your next project.

I know of a 40' yacht that is trailer able and there are larger, though from a practical stand point, once you get near 28', finding a launch ramp that can handle a rig this long becomes difficult.

Obviously you need to perform some market research. Statistical data is available from a few sources. Practical experience counts for a lot, particularly in this depressed market. Bringing new models to the market under a new manufacture will be exceedingly difficult, to say the least. What's your business experience?

 

[ladnercoatings]

Re:-

Yes Buddy.

This is not spam. There Are many different type of epoxy, like floor coatings, aluminum. so i explain about waterproof coatings industries.

Thanks.

 

[PAR]

Not for nothing, but there are several coatings experts here, including myself and joining a discussion forum, with as bland, off topic and generic a first post as yours, just to be followed with even less information is questionable at best. This thread is about industry, market and building strategies, so where do either of your contributions fit into this discussion?

 

[pctongfcbcdalla]

Market demand

What is the best sale in the boat market? It seems boat is not hot item by itself.

I have no experience in market place.

 

[michael pierzga]

What is the best sale in the boat market? It seems boat is not hot item by itself.

I have no experience in market place.

The world is flooded with boats.

The coveted boats are well built and are designed to perfectly compliment intended use.

What is your intended use ? A cleverly detailed duck hunting skiff ?

A super quite flats fishing boat ?

the perfect yacht tender ?

These type boats are valued by thier users

 

[pctongfcbcdalla]

Boat market

It seems boat is not a high demand merchandise.
I was intended to build small boats to support my project to build a large 28 ft sail/power boat. While building for others, I may improve my skill and save some money to my next project.
It seems my idea is not feasible because there is not much demand on boat. My dream boat is one that I can stay on board indefinitely. Since I am about retire, I might travel with boat on trailer to different places for pleasure or travel along the coast of the US. Once finished the US coast, I would like to explore the possibilities to travel by boat along the coast to south American.

 

[PAR]

Boating and yacht ownership is a discretionary spending activity and not one performed by the "average guy". The average guy doesn't own a boat. Unless the boat is quite small, the average guy needs to get a second mortgage to buy one. There's nothing cheap about boats, even small ones. Lastly, in a depressed market, discretionary fund expenditures are the very first thing to dry up and the last thing to recover. Currently and as a result of the economic climate the last few years, there's a glut of boats in the market, both new and used, which isn't the wisest location to place yourself in a new entry situation.

 

[pctongfcbcdalla]

Thanks about the information

It seems I will need to look other way to finance my dream, if the dream still may fly. I am not sure any more.

I did some research on the cost of living on board. My impression was the cost may be limited by personal spending habit. But anyway, it seems the cost is high.

 

[PAR]

Don't give up, but information and familiarity are the keys, not the drawbacks. Yes, living abroad can be costly, even for the personally frugal. Lower cost marinas will be farther from popular access points and will have less facilities of lower quality. Living frugally isn't hard, but access to shopping and reliable utilities are often glitches. As far as financing your dream, well this is an open market. Most step up from smaller to larger yacht as they gain experience. It would be rare to jump right into a live aboard lifestyle without prior experience and yacht ownership to hone skill on.

 

[michael pierzga]

It seems I will need to look other way to finance my dream, if the dream still may fly. I am not sure any more.

I did some research on the cost of living on board. My impression was the cost may be limited by personal spending habit. But anyway, it seems the cost is high.

Dockage, registration, insurance, maintenance are substantian. ten percent of the value of the boat per year is the often used guess.

The only live aboard guys that I know who do it cheap and keep their boats in proper condition, work at a shipyard.

 

[El_Guero]

FCBC,

Tell everyone hello for me!

OK, you can possibly sell into a 'market,' but you would need to understand your market. That would not be so easy.

You would need cool features no one else has.

For example, a Bass Boat with large built in coolers with about 8 inches of foam insulation, and still big enough to drop in a Yeti cooler, or large marine Coleman cooler. And possibly with an electric cooling heating plate installed in the bottom of it.

With a 'live well' for bait, and a 'live well' for fish caught to bring back to the house.

There is a lot of room for 'profit in the market.' But, you have to make something that the plastic and aluminum builders are not already building.

Go to the Bass Boat Shops in Garland, or Grapevine. Look at what features their fishing kayaks have, and their 'bass boats' have.

If you can combine the built in coffee cup holders (beer holders) with the fishing rod holders, with a live well and cooler with two to 4 men capability,

You can sell them for good money.

But, you would need to take your boat on the water, and show what it can do.

Wayne

 

[PAR]

I think rather then building a new product (a boat), you'd be much better off refurbishing used ones and reselling them. This sounds simple, but it's not. It will take a considerable amount of experience to determine which used boats are good candidates for this treatment.

I've been doing this for a while with a fellow in New Orleans. In his area, there are lots of fisherman and causal boaters, but a shortage of reasonably priced boats. In my area there's an abundance of used boats, so . . . We find a prospective boat, toss what we need at it, buff up the gel coat, tune the engine and I ship it out to him, where he quickly sells it. Sounds simple right, well it does require you take a bath on a few every now and then, but generally, if you are careful about targeting your market (we focus on center consoles, below 20') and can identify prospects that need a minimum of fuss getting them back into service, you can do well. You're not going to get rich, but you will gain experience with systems, the market and make money.

I know a guy in St. Pete that does the same thing, but focuses on a few very popular trailer sailors. He finds them under trees with a tattered tarp covering what remains and can usually steal them, at a fraction of their value. New sails, repairs, upgrades, etc. and they get sold.

This isn't the only way to generate dream boat funds, but is a well established method. Another is to work on a larger scale and buy a significant, but dated cruiser. It'll need new hardware, sails, electronics upgrades, etc. You do this as you can, then sell it. With the sale, you "step up" to the next class, eventually getting to the size, type and style you want.

 

[pctongfcbcdalla]

Good suggestion

It sounds very good idea. In Dallas area there are many used boat at low price. I think I will start looking for a good target. You said identify a prospects, that might be a job take a lot of experience. Where do you find prospects? In Dallas area, there are only casual boaters. I don't know how to start.

I saw some ads on Craigslist. Some people put out ads to repair boats. Will this be a good start?