Building for a living??

[Randyonr3]

Something to think about. Due to the lack of traditional full keel cruisers, and in some cases, the need. You may consider buying an old boat in a popular.design , stripping it to the barehull,upgrade reinforcements and.build a new interior, one of the main issues with the older boats is the drab interior. Build a new design in an older hull.

[salticrak]

There might be an opening for someone to ''pimp my yacht'' series, i wonder though if gold chains and fast talking would be a prerequisite ?

[dpddj]

I have been an engineer/fabricator in the marine industry for way too many years. Want to know how to walk away with a million dollars building boats? Start with three million.

[delmarrey]

The quick answer is; "the market is not up to it at this time". Most of the builders today are struggling to survive.

[rabbi]

I don't think it makes sense. The margin is too small to justify the risk (money, health, family).

You'd have to live for say 2-3 years off your savings while at the same time spending lots of money on boat stuff. After that you will have to sell the boat which might take a few months.
If you are no as good as you think you are no one will buy at your price and you just waisted a fortune.

Doesn't sound like fun to me.

[boatsmith]

Aw come on now. I think it's the best job in the world. easy? No, not at all.

[tropicalescape]

Back in the early 80s I lived and worked at the Oregon Inlet fishing center and they had about six or eight of the old time fishing captains still fishing and in the off season they would sale the boat from the previous season and build a new one that winter in there back yards! These were very nice wooden charter fishing boats in the Hatteras style aprox 35 -45 ft . long..These old guys ,people like Capt.Omie Tillot,Capt. Buddy Canaday,Capt Midgett,etc were schooled in the old world boat building skills that seem to have faded away, at least around here along the NC coast...There was a time when a person could make a living by building one off boats and fishing a season with it to boot..I belive Capt.Tillot told me he would sale a boat for $40,000.00 after a season and back then it cost $600.00 for 6 people to go out on a boat and the old timers were all booked years in advance...Dont know if it can still be done now or not but it sure would be a shame if that tradition has gone away...

[Redreuben]

If you can deliver European quality at a Chinese price, go for it !

[boatsmith]

American Quality with an American price is a great value!!

[tamicatana]

Isn't there a saying, something to the effect of: 'to make a small fortune in the marine industry, one must first begin with a large fortune...'

[downunder]

Fusion and Schonning would make money but I doubt the builder would. Depends if you want to be sailing/building.

Here is one done in Thailand and highly specked been for sale for 12 months now. Started dropping in price now.

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...aud-88730.html

http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...2-a-93104.html

[Cheechako]

Most small builders go broke. Hard to compete with the big names and their shortcuts and resulting lower prices. People have a way of convincing themselves a Hunter or Bene is as good as a Swan.... :>) Many of the boatbuilders i've seen go broke over the years were building too good a boats....
However, if you have good skill, you can make good money just working on other peoples boats!

[Fusion40Mojo]

My Fusion 40 is for sale: http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ojo-97674.html