C’Mon man! Like my old man used to say. You think if it’s not a Hinkley or a Hatteras it’s a piece of crap. I’d look at him and say Well?
Disclaimer I’m not responsible for MEME grammar
Speaking of Hinckley, way back in the day when they only built sailboats, and I was just starting out in the business, I owned a 1969 Morgan 38 that was designed to the CCA rule, the same as Hinckley.
At a boat show I asked their salesman the honest question of “my boat looks exactly like your boat minus the chrome dorades. It has the same engine, same brand mast and rigging, same brand sails, same sinks, head, steering wheel, etc., why does your boat cost $200k more?” The guy gave me a answer that totally changed my whole perception about status, and quality. His response was “kid, we don’t build a better boat, we just build a product for those who want to spend a lot of money.”
Years later when blisters started appearing on boat bottoms, the absolute biggest blisters I had ever seen was on the bottom of a big Hinckley Sou’wester. They were literally the size of trash can lids. “Oh look, he’s going to be really happy now, as he’s fixin to spend a lot more money”.
This ties in with my previous comment about “selling” new Tollycrafts. I didn’t start making real money selling boats til I tied (not as an employee but I could advertise the boats at the price the owner was willing to sell them, not at the price what the manufacturer told HIM to advertise) in with the Bayliner dealer in Miami. They didn’t have good reputations, but the pilothouse series sold like hot cakes. No sales pitch needed, as 99% of the buyers were previous customers entirely happy with the product. That’s where I discovered that some people who could afford anything on the planet, would buy “ a tool that got the job done no matter the name on the label” some purely because it’s name did not make them stand out as being famouss or wealthy, and they could come and go without notice, or worry of their children being kidnapped, especially Presidents or Prime Ministers of foreign countries. Even Adolph Coors, and former astronauts, and current Senators at the time. At first I didn’t understand why people who arrived in their own private jets, were buying them.
Carry on.
PS.I wasn’t a rich kid, and no relatives had ever owned a boat, so my learning curve was STEEP and long.