Advice to those aspiring to professional boat designing/building

[paul_stewart]

I think the funniest one I can recall is this one. I was in my shop working on a boat for a customer. This was when my shop was sharing a building with a sailboat dealer. Guy was up front at the dealership looking at a boat, then wandered back to my shop. Looked over what I was doing, asked me why I was building the boat. I told him it was being custom built for someone.  So he asks-"Why doesn't he have a factory make one for him?

??? ??

Like, in a factory they have a big bird that just craps them out???

Charlie,

Stop it, you're killing me ... that's a good one!  ;D  Bet you have lots of other good ones from your experiences. 

I was wondering....  what advice would you, and your professional boat building/designing peers,  give to a young person who wants to do boat building/designing; say,  a college student currently studying engineering, or a high school student leaning in that direction. 

Is it a challenge to find customers who (a) appreciate the fact that there are no big birds craping out custom boats at a factory,  and ( will actually commission a boat build/design?  Does most of business come from contacts at boat shows?  Any advice on getting started?  Things you wish you had known when you started? 

Any comments appreciated!

--Paul

[Charlie Jones]

Graham could answer the desginer part far better than I. I'm no designer, although I understand enough to know when a boat is gonna be good or not.

As a builder I can't recall ever making a nickel as the result of a show. I do have an award hanging on my shop wall from one in Sturgeon Bay, Wisc where one of my boats won "Best in Show". Still didn't get a single lead from that.

I got into boat work back in the late 60s restoring boats for my own use. Then built a 35 foot cold molded trimaran, lived aboard and cruised that for roughly 3 years, stopping at boatyards along the way to pick up jobs and earn a few bucks. My trimaran was my resume. Prospective clients would ask about my experience and I'd show them the boat.

Then a long hiatus when I was living away from the water. I spent about 20 years doing furniture repair, custom building and refinishing. Ran a full scale furniture repair and refinishing shop with Laura for quite a while. Only boat work we did was on our own boats, and on a few boats we redid interiors in during the years Laura and I worked the shop together.

I got into building professionally through the web. Through an online chat actually. Someone was (I thought) joking about having a boat built, so as a joke in kind I worked up an estimate and emailed it to him. Ten days later I found a check in my mailbox!!!! So I built the boat, then 3 more for that same guy. Then the Princess and several more that Graham sent my way. So I sorta "morphed" into boatbuilding as a profession, gradually doing more boats and less furniture.

I've actually gotten more work from referrals from Graham, or from people who have seen posted pictures of my work on various sites, than from any other place.

I've currently got 4 projects ongoing. One as a referral from Graham, one from an acquaintance on the web, one for someone at my marina where we keep our own boat, which is the best kept and best looking boat there by the way. We keep getting told that anyway. And one for a neighbor down the street- a 34 foot trimaran needing repair after an "experience" with a pier during Hurricane Rita- it's a cold molded Cross tri, and I have experience in both the Cross and the cold molding

I'll tell you this- don't go into boat building as a profession expecting to get rich. You can make a decent living and the satisfaction level is extremely high when you see your work out sailing. Particularly when you chance on a picture of one of yours in a magazine somewhere ;D And that goes a LONG way. Money isn't every thing. But, and I'm sure Ray will agree, it's hot hard work. Beats the hell outta sitting at a desk though ;D ;D

[Greg Luckett]

Gee, Charlie.  Sitting at a desk at work isn't that bad.  Its the sudden stop when hitting the floor while napping that hurts. ;D

[Greg Luckett]

Good Grief, and I thought living in Michigan was too cold!

Ray, we have a nuke plant to the north of us and one to the south and there is even a big pipe full of natural gas.  I never set the Tstat below about 65 or the perimeter areas will have pipes start freezing.  Under the big feather bed spreads we do not need/want the wate bottles.  Medicinal brandy is nice and very welcome though.

[Greg Luckett]

ABYC (American Boat & Yacht Council) sponsors Westlawn, which I believe is pretty good training using a non-traditional method.  SUNY Maritime College is also working with Westlawn using a more traditional approach.

Try these links:

http://www.abycinc.org/news/pr012507.cfm

http://www.sunymaritime.edu/Academics/Continuing%20Education/distancelearning_westlawn.aspx

http://www.westlawn.edu/student_center/marine_books_reviews.asp

[Ken_Potts]

  As a non-profeesional I would recommend finding a pretty boat, say maybe a Rhodes ketch or something, and sailing around the world to build some street cred.  It wouldn't hurt to win a bunch of races on a stupid-fast catamaran either...  ;D

  Then maybe concentrate on school.  I bet aerospace engineering translates pretty well to boat design.

[Frank Hagan]

Here in Maine the work out in the garage is welcomed to get the blood flowing and work up some heat on those cold winter days...

With cost of fuel oil,  about 55 degrees is all we spring for in the house,  and that only during the day,  at night we turn the thermostat down to 40 and bring a few 3 liter soda bottles filled with hot water heated up on the wood stove to bed.  Along with a dog and a cat to keep from getting too cold.

Yikes!  You'll have to sell a few boats extra this year just for the fuel oil price hike.  What did your "lock in" price come in at? 

As far as a career in boat building, with my ability to keep a project on track and work it to its conclusion, I would have a better chance of making "$50,000 a day on Ebay" or "Using Other People's Money to buy Real Estate" (anyone else get those emails?)  But someone who can devote time to it and remain focused is probably better off working like the pros here do; I don't know of many big shops churning out wooden boats any more.  The few I've heard about are up in areas where people, as opposed to moose, really shouldn't live! 

[Ken_Potts]

  Hey Paul,

  You're probably aware of these guys (we might have even talked about them before).  They're off 751 not far from 64.  They're building boats in a barn that's visible from 751.  At least one of them is an NC State grad (Mechanical Engineering) and they seem to be making a go of it.  It might be worth dropping in sometime to chat.

http://www.newsobserver.com/business/story/971014.html

[Frank Hagan]

Ray, outdoor reset and the predictive controls do work; we routinely saw good results in installations where they were installed. It sounds like you are doing the right things, but its going to be a tough year for the northeast this year.