Education

You!

Chapter 1

 

You.

 

Let’s not start with us – our boats, our ideas, our designs, our materials – us. Let’s start with you.

 

You don’t really care a whit about us.  You care about you. Right?

 

Whether you’re an offshore fisherman, charter captain, fire fighter, law enforcement officer or simply a pleasure boater you have needs, wishes and desires.

 

What might some of these needs/desires be?

 

1)     Ride.  You don’t want to get “beat-up” on the water.  Unlike a car or truck or plane a boat rides on and over an extremely variable surface.  When you venture out on the ocean for any distance for any time you want a good riding boat.

2)     Stability.  When a boat is stopped or drifting or at anchor you don’t want it to “wallow” or be “tender”.  You’d like for the boat to be as stable and secure as possible.  In following online web forum discussions the threads about ride dominate the chatter.  Stability - nope.  Fuel efficiency - a bit.  Fishability - some.  But ride is the dominant discussion point.

3)     Safety.  This should probably be number one on your list but it sometimes slips down the list of priorities.  The ocean is a much less forgiving environment than onshore.  You encounter large waves, high winds, odd currents, fog, ledges, traffic and more.  You encounter all of this while stuck on a relatively small craft, sometimes hours from medical help and all while standing on top of a large potential bomb (fuel tank).  You don’t want to be injured, sink, break, burn or drown.

4)     Speed.  If you’re going offshore fishing or to an emergency response call you value speed.  Both high cruise speeds and high top speeds mean that you’re more effective.  If fishing you’ll spend less time getting to the grounds, more time fishing and less time getting home.  If you are a government mariner speed may well mean saved lives, saved property or apprehended bad guys.

5)     Efficiency.  While you desire speed you are also cognizant of high fuel prices and today’s environmental sensitivity.  You’d like to use the absolute least amount of fuel while still accomplishing your waterborne goals.

6)     Durability.  Your boat is your tool and a broken tool is expensive, time consuming, aggravating and sometimes even dangerous.  If your car breaks you call a tow truck while standing on the shoulder - inconvenient and annoying but unless you're on a snow covered rural road in the Rockies it isn’t dangerous or all that annoying.  Having your family or crew aboard a boat 10 miles offshore with a boat that is taking on water is a whole other situation.

7)     Longevity.  You’re paying a lot of money for a boat and it should last.  You wouldn’t put up with a car that would last only 100,000 miles and your boat should be the same.  Quality lasts.

8)     Maintenance.  You’re busy.  You work, you have family, you have a home, cars, possibly a business.  There are enough demands on your time without spending innumerable hours maintaining the boat.     

9)     Pride.  You want to be proud of your boat. Your friends, co-workers, supervisors, competitors, family, shorefront workers will all “check out” your boat and although the boat doesn’t make the mariner it is a good indicator.

 

Now some of these are “competing” interests and some are not.  If you want extreme speed then fuel efficiency is going to suffer.  Some can be achieved complimentarily – You can have a safe, fast and durable boat all in one package.

 

Only you really know you.

 

In the next chapters we’ll describe our boats, technology and how we tackle the above.  If our efforts and your needs intersect, we may well be the boat for you…