Customized Boats
I usually refer to the difference between custom boats and factory produced boats as the difference between a suit picked up from Macy’s, or a custom tailored suit stitched over a couple of sittings in a top New York tailor shop.
Quite simply, with custom tailoring, you are bound to get a better fit.
The same way, a custom boat is invariably better suited to your needs than a store bought boat. If you pick up any of the boating magazines that have flourished recently, you’ll find that there are more than a handful of companies advertising their boats. While these are all good companies making good boats, fact remains that a man’s boat is as specific to him as his clothing. Every serious sailor requires a boat for a specific purpose – do you want to take it fishing on the lake on weekends? Do you want to sail across the Pacific? Do you want to cruise in the Mediterranean?
Uniqueness
There are hundreds and thousands of boat owners in the world, many with similar boats bought from the same company.
A custom boat, on the other hand, is completely unique. You may call it vanity, but a custom boat does give you the chance to stand out from the crowd.
Material
Most factory produced boats are made of synthetic materials. To mass produce boats, factories use molds. Synthetic materials such as fiber glass are ideal for this purpose.
Custom boats, on the other hand, can be made of any requested material, including that richest of all materials – wood. Wood is highly mouldable, non toxic, sturdy, and can be easily crafted by a skilled boatmaker. Wood gives off a sense of history and elegance that synthetic materials lack. And for a wooden boat, you’ll usually have to go to a custom boat maker.
Price
The usual perception is that custom boats tend to be more expensive than factory produced ones.
However, it does not always have to be that way. In the process of transportation, distribution, dealer commissions, etc., factory produced boats are usually bumped up several fractions in terms of price from their original cost. A custom boatmaker, on the other hand, can craft a similar boat using locally available material at a much reduced cost, simply because he doesn’t have to pay for transportation, distribution, or commissions. A locally produced boat built by an efficient builder and picked up by the owner may prove to be a better value than a factory produced one.
So the next time you go boat shopping, do look into the possibility of buying a custom boat. It won’t cost the earth, and it will land you with a far better boat tailored to your needs.