I disagree completely with Glen and Larry. All of the boats that I was
looking at were $500 to $1M boats, and they weren't scrimping on
anything. My experience with higher end boat builders is that they
don't do that as their backend comissioning and support costs would be
greatly higher than the upfront costs of a better system. I've watched
builders drop supplies like a hot potato if they haev consistant quality
and/or support issues.

-- Geoff

P.S. As far as quality goes, I'd say that Yamaha builds a very high
quality product that you can get serviced (and parts) in just about any
part of the world. That definately isn't true with other manufactures.


(Larry W4CSC) wrote in
:

Same reasons you go to a small boat show and everyone's outboard is
Yamaha, lately. OEM/Dealer promos, etc. It's ALWAYS about the MONEY,
not the quality.



On Mon, 15 Sep 2003 07:13:42 -0400, Glenn Ashmore
wrote:



Geoffrey W. Schultz wrote:
snip
As far as your recommendation not to install RayMarine on boats
larger than 30 feet, I'd say that current boat builders don't agree
with you. I just spent a day wandering around the Newport Boat Show
and was looking at new boats in the 45 to 62 foot range and I was
amazed at the percentage of them that had RayMarine autopilots on
them, including boats not made in the US. I'll admit that this
wasn't a scientific study, but I did look closely at the electronics
which were outfitted.


Without commenting on quality, I believe there are 3 primary reasons
you saw so many Raymarine systems. Deep discounts to OEM builders,
Name recognition and a perception of world wide support.

When you are cranking out 10 to 100 boats a year costs govern every
decision. As long as there is wide brand recognition the low dollar
wins and when your boats are going to be dispersed all over the world
having at least some level of support everywhere is important.

Also having a full line of products from one vendor helps reduce
administrative costs. When you get into more custom boats that are
not so cost driven you see a much wider variety of systems.

--
Glenn Ashmore

I'm building a 45' cutter in strip/composite. Watch my progress (or
lack there of) at: http://www.rutuonline.com
Shameless Commercial Division: http://www.spade-anchor-us.com



Larry W4CSC

3600 planes with transponders are burning 8-10 million
gallons of kerosene per hour over the USA. R-12 car air
conditioners are responsible for the ozone hole, right?