[bolger] Re: as 29 cloned/Lundy on Hens and MICRO
I get to attend many boat boat shows around florida (I have a friend who
owns an inflatable boat/Liferaft dealership), including the Sail Expo show.
As with all things fiberglass, nothing ever goes away; someone picked up the
hen molds and is at least producing the Mud Hen and Peep Hen again.
If you've never been to one of the Sail Expo shows (Atlantic City, Oakland,
St. Petersburg) it almost worth it to see how bad off the production
sailboat industry is (and remember, these are the GOOD times folks!).
You've got your Beneteau, Catalina and Hunter. Of course, the most popular
boats are always the Island Packets, but sailors have been know to faint
dead away when they actually post the show prices. A word to Chuck M-focus
on Powerboats-its where the money is!
On shore there will be quite a few "sport" boats. These are your ultimate
20s J80s, melges and others. Again the prices will make you faint. And if
you drop your beer, it rolls right out the back. Gross margin on the
average sailboat must approach 80%, before the pay the advertising bill.
Imagine amortizing an annual ad budget of $500,000 across an annual
production run of 50 boats....
Enough pontificating; Its just sad is all that the industry considers the
biggest advance in sailboats over the last 10 years the railmounted cockpit
seat. Wow!
Robert & Amy Lundy
St. Petersburg, fla.
robert@...
amy@...
owns an inflatable boat/Liferaft dealership), including the Sail Expo show.
As with all things fiberglass, nothing ever goes away; someone picked up the
hen molds and is at least producing the Mud Hen and Peep Hen again.
If you've never been to one of the Sail Expo shows (Atlantic City, Oakland,
St. Petersburg) it almost worth it to see how bad off the production
sailboat industry is (and remember, these are the GOOD times folks!).
You've got your Beneteau, Catalina and Hunter. Of course, the most popular
boats are always the Island Packets, but sailors have been know to faint
dead away when they actually post the show prices. A word to Chuck M-focus
on Powerboats-its where the money is!
On shore there will be quite a few "sport" boats. These are your ultimate
20s J80s, melges and others. Again the prices will make you faint. And if
you drop your beer, it rolls right out the back. Gross margin on the
average sailboat must approach 80%, before the pay the advertising bill.
Imagine amortizing an annual ad budget of $500,000 across an annual
production run of 50 boats....
Enough pontificating; Its just sad is all that the industry considers the
biggest advance in sailboats over the last 10 years the railmounted cockpit
seat. Wow!
Robert & Amy Lundy
St. Petersburg, fla.
robert@...
amy@...
> -----Original Message-----
> From: PCB [mailto:pcb@...]
> Sent: January 11, 2000 7:04 PM
> To:bolger@egroups.com
> Subject: [bolger] Re: as 29 cloned/Lundy on Hens and MICRO
>
>
>
>
> We've thought so for years. Reuben Trane wanted to make a
> plastic MICRO, and
> seemed to have arrived at one of the worst 'copies' of the spirit
> of MICRO. We
> think she just won't go 'for sour apples'.
>
> Incidentally, Reuben Trane later commissioned us to do the SUMMER
> HEN - our
> #476. They built a mold-plug - very heavy even without ballast.
> Then they
> rigged it!! They actually tried to sail it - found her not to
> sail too well
> without ballast!!?? We never got any report as what exactly lead to not
> building her, but the company soon thereafter went belly-up. Was a cute
> advertising pitch in SMALL BOAT JOURNAL with Mon. Poulet...
>
>
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>
We've thought so for years. Reuben Trane wanted to make a plastic MICRO, and
seemed to have arrived at one of the worst 'copies' of the spirit of MICRO. We
think she just won't go 'for sour apples'.
Incidentally, Reuben Trane later commissioned us to do the SUMMER HEN - our
#476. They built a mold-plug - very heavy even without ballast. Then they
rigged it!! They actually tried to sail it - found her not to sail too well
without ballast!!?? We never got any report as what exactly lead to not
building her, but the company soon thereafter went belly-up. Was a cute
advertising pitch in SMALL BOAT JOURNAL with Mon. Poulet...
seemed to have arrived at one of the worst 'copies' of the spirit of MICRO. We
think she just won't go 'for sour apples'.
Incidentally, Reuben Trane later commissioned us to do the SUMMER HEN - our
#476. They built a mold-plug - very heavy even without ballast. Then they
rigged it!! They actually tried to sail it - found her not to sail too well
without ballast!!?? We never got any report as what exactly lead to not
building her, but the company soon thereafter went belly-up. Was a cute
advertising pitch in SMALL BOAT JOURNAL with Mon. Poulet...