New Sweet Melissa!

[jlightonjr]

Congrats, she is AWESOME!

 

[MicroKap]

Absolutely beautiful. May the new Sweet Melissa bring you all the joy in the world. If you're ever up in NJ, we've got a great place for you to tie up.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Sounds to me like Trident shot themselves in the foot when they allowed a customer to dictate how they built his boat. No offense to you or your boat Byron, but I would have to question the credibility of a company who would make structural changes based on the whim of an uneducated customer. Sounds like they were more into dollars than sense.

Looks like they would have insisted on an architect signing off on the changes. If nothing else, they should have had the customer sign a release of liability. Even with that, they would most likely have lost in court as they were the professionals in this dispute. Sort of like telling your doctor how to do brain surgery on your kid.

That's easy to say when your not involved. I've been in that situation were your half way through a build and the owner gets a brain storm that either won't work or is to late in construction to do. The owner simply refuses to continue to fund the project. So the builder is looking at fighting it in court. Which means he's going to tell 100 or so people not to come to work tomorrow. Then tells the owner of the next boat in line he'll be refunding his deposit because the space he was supossed to have to build his boat is no longer available. So he'll start one lawsuite get ready to defend against another from the next boat and probably go out of bussiness before any of this is litigated. Or he'll try to work something out with the owner. Which would you choose?

Brian

 

[ron6785]

She's a real beaut!!! congradulations and know you will enjoy her have FUN!!!

 

[Sparky1]

That's easy to say when your not involved. I've been in that situation were your half way through a build and the owner gets a brain storm that either won't work or is to late in construction to do. The owner simply refuses to continue to fund the project. So the builder is looking at fighting it in court. Which means he's going to tell 100 or so people not to come to work tomorrow. Then tells the owner of the next boat in line he'll be refunding his deposit because the space he was supossed to have to build his boat is no longer available. So he'll start one lawsuite get ready to defend against another from the next boat and probably go out of bussiness before any of this is litigated. Or he'll try to work something out with the owner. Which would you choose?

Brian

I'm obviously not in the boat building business, but I would choose to have a binding contract and require the client have enough money in the project at the beginning as to cover myself in the event he didn't see it through to the end. What happens if a client up and dies on you before a custom boat is completed?

 

[Brian Degulis]

I'm obviously not in the boat building business, but I would choose to have a binding contract and require the client have enough money in the project at the beginning as to cover myself in the event he didn't see it through to the end. What happens if a client up and dies on you before a custom boat is completed?

Well good luck trying to find a client who's willing to give you 7 mill before anything is built. Large boats are always done on progressive payments. The builder gets an agreed amount at specific points of completion. Should the owner die or become incapacitated should be covered in the contract. If a bank is financing it then it's no problem because the bank will release the money if the contract terms are met. Another route is an escrow acount with an attorney controlling it. But often there is no bank involved and the escrow acount isn't done becuase the money is offshore and hidden then the problem I described above is always a risk.

I don't know exactly what happened with that boat and Trident. All I'm saying is that it's not as simple as you make it sound and questioning the builders credibilty when all we know is that a contract went bad is just not fair.

Brian

Brian

 

[Sparky1]

Brian, I drew my conclusions based on the information Byron provided. If there was more (or less) to it than that, then who knows?

Obviously nobody is going to front the entire purchase price, but if I'm a builder who sees a client is making unsound/unsafe decisions on a boat that I'm going to be stuck with, I'm going to have myself covered in the event I get stuck with the thing. Again, I'm making these observations as someone who has no experience in building or buying a custom boat, but it just seems like common business sense to me.

 

[Brian Degulis]

Brian, I drew my conclusions based on the information Byron provided. If there was more (or less) to it than that, then who knows?

Obviously nobody is going to front the entire purchase price, but if I'm a builder who sees a client is making unsound/unsafe decisions on a boat that I'm going to be stuck with, I'm going to have myself covered in the event I get stuck with the thing. Again, I'm making these observations as someone who has no experience in building or buying a custom boat, but it just seems like common business sense to me.

Well of course there's more to it than that that's obvious isn't it? Building large custom boats is not manufacturing it's contruction. And like all contruction wether it's a bridge or a building or a boat the risks are high and can never be completly eliminated. The reward is high also which is why people elect to to do it. But some very good builders that took the normal precautions still go down and it's just the nature of the bussiness.

Brian

 

[saltshaker]

Randy,
I think the problem here is that the client made demands of Trident without concern of how they were met. He most likely took the approach of "I'm the client and it's my money. Your the builder you figure out how to get me what I want."

My in-laws are builders and a few years ago built a house that the buyer designed with his architect. During construction the buyer insisted on moving and eliminating some walls and opened up the family room to the kitchen and through the second floor. Plans didn't call for this and they advised against it. In order to do it right they would have to rebuild the back wall of the house. Owner insisted they do it without rebuilding the rear wall. Guess what after a year in the house he sued my in-laws because the rear wall would flex a bit when the rear doors to the deck were opened and closed. He lost because they documented everything and the owner signed off on the change order but it cost them quite a bit in time and legal fees.

 

[saltshaker]

amazing boat! Good luck and keep the pictures coming. Trident made top notch boats and it sounds like they made great choices in machinery for your new baby.

 

[Passages]

they documented everything and the owner signed off on the change order but it cost them quite a bit in time and legal fees.

And therein lies the problem. Even if you win, you lose.

 

[ThirdHatt]

THANKS guys! It really means alot to hear the kind words and support from each and every one of you. We're all here because of our love of boats, and although Hatteras is our favorite brand, that does nto prevent us from appreciating other quality boats.

Here are a few pics from the haulout:

 

[ThirdHatt]

Bow shot

 

[ThirdHatt]

Port Side

 

[yachtsmanbill]

Really like that anchor chute... beats them toy PULPA's LOL ws

 

[fissioneng]

Great looking forefoot! (sort of Hargrave-ish) What does the hull look like at the stern?

 

[Freeebird]

Crusing that sucker at 25 knots has to be a rush, but I can't even begin to image the fuel you'd burn. You're not going to become a dock queen now, are you?

 

[Pascal]

there is something about Fexas designs ins't it? he was able to add a little bit of "something" without going over the top with stupid appendages and extra curves like you see on Mutts and other med boats. very clean yet distinctive.

stunning boat. keep the pics coming!

what do you cruise her at, 19 to 20kts? i'll take a guess that at that speed the Cats are probably running around 70/75% load and 90GPH?

 

[ThirdHatt]

Actually the fuel burn is quite respectable for this size boat. Fexas hulls have always been known for being incredibly efficient and therefore take less horsepower to run a given speed than other planing hull designs.

Also, remember that these are low-hp industrial engines that were marinized by Pantropic Power (Florida Caterpillar). The 3412's in Hatteras (and others) of the 1990's were rated at 1350 or 1400hp per engine yet the engines in my boat are rated at only 1000hp. The owner was offered 1200, 1350 or 1400hp versions but was quite happy with the performance of the boat, the fuel burn and the extended life expectancy of the engines while rated at the conservative 1000hp so he kept them there. On the pins wide open she can just touch 100gph total, but at cruise they are only burning about 60gph.

What I really like is that where I spend most of my cruising time at hull speed (10-10.5kts), the mains are only burning 18gph (9gph each), which I confirmed on the flowscans on seatrial. The 1200rpm Northern Lights 30kw gensets (John Deere 4-cyl) are rated at 2.0gpm at full load, but in reality will burn between 1.0-1.5gph so my total fuel burn at hull speed is only ~20gph!

 

[Pascal]

what speed do you get on 60gph? about 18kts? if so that's impressive as that's about what we burn on the smaller johnson 70 (3412E @ 1400hp, 2002 vintage) and not that much more than 53 or 58 hatt.

same burn at 10kts... 18gph total.

at 1000hp those 3412 are going to last a long time!