Sailboat Production Declines for 7th Year in a Row

Except for Hobie USA product... We are up... again.

So what does that say for the rest of the industry? Yikes.

The Infusion debuted last year.

Its old hat now.

Those Adventure Islands must be flying out the door. Maybe the guy who said they were the future of sailing was right. <img src=

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The Island is a kayak... not included in the numbers.

Matt,

When you say the Hobie USA #'s are up, are you referring to both glass and plasitc cats, or just plastic cats? Id be curious to know how the sales are of each group are doing. Im reaching here, but maybe that might reflect on the racing vs resort/pleasure sailing scene. (I know Rick is going to get get mad at me for lumping the Waves into the pleasure sailing group, but I have to think from a majority stanpoint thats true.)

Either way that doesnt sound good for catsailing.

I didn't see it in the article but did powerboat production go down? I would think this is the case for most receational products with gas continually increasing in cost and growing concerns over the environment, I would think sailboats might become more popular. I know that I have read about bicycling becoming more popular.

Other than the Wave, Bravo, and Getaway, what Hobie USA products still in production fit into the catagory as described in the article?

>>Either way that doesnt sound good for catsailing.

The largest beach cat mfr in the world has an increase in boat sales while the rest of the industry has a decline and that's bad for cat sailing? Granted, most people on this board would hope that it's the glass boat sales that increased (it almost certainly is not). But, if the rotomolded boat sales can sustain the company and allow them to produce/import/support the glass boats how can that be bad? Besides the fact that the rotomolded entry-level boats are likely to lead some of these sailors to eventually buying high-performance boats.

sm

And for the F16 builders !

Granted we are tiny in comparison to Hobie USA but hey we're up from last year never the less !

Wouter

We build the Hobie 16 here in Oceanside as well. That is included in the numbers.

There is no doubt that recreation is leading the increases.

No doubt that this has pushed sales to us in the past. I believe we are seeing this again and it will get

better

!

We have the right product at the right time.

I did not think the H-16 was still built by Hobie USA. My bad.

Not knocking you, but both polyester and epoxy are based on oil. Glass and other fibers are energy intensive to produce. How is the rotomoulding process compared to fiberboats? Oil based raw materials? More or less energy demanding?

Sailing is viewed as a clean pasttime, but perhaps we better go back to lapstrake boats and cotton sails <img src=

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Let's go back to wooden boats, like the older A cats or Wouter's boat! They sure can take a beating.

How many people want beach cats?
How many places are there to keep them or launch them?
How long is the life of a second hand boat?
How much is a second hand one to a new one?
How many people have 15K for a new one?

Self evident result. The industry had to hit a high and then hit a slope.

A perfectly good 25" trailer sailer in this country, ready to go is 5K.
A brand new one would be????

Its not the production but rather the use of the products that is less oil demanding for people. They can sail all day without burning gas.

I understand that, but I was wondering about which process left the least

print

on the environment. Traditional glass or rotomoulding? I dont have an agenda, just a thing it would be interesting to know about.

I am no expert on that. Would relate to the production of the materials as well as the production of the finished parts.

I think the rotomolded boats probably make a smaller impact, simply because they might be recyclable?????? Maybe.

hmmmmm.....perhaps a biodegradable boat. Then you guys can smoke it when the hulls get delam. All kidding aside, I was reading in an automotive magazine about these two guys who were trying to get a patent on a biodegradable jeep body. I can't find an online article, but seem to recall that they had planned on using industrial hemp fibers in place of glass.

Biocomposites...
Check out this bale!

Here's an article in Composites World on replacing glass with plants.

http://www.compositesworld.com/ct/issues/2006/February/1183

I might plant some trees to build my next A but this old girl was still fun last weekend <img src=

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Good idea Timbo I'll plant some trees for my next A but this old wooden girl pictured was still great fun 2 weeks ago regards

Actually, I don't think that cross-linked polyethylene plastic is recyclable.

Aha! So maybe I was not too crazy when I suggested basket-weaving as a sailboat construction technique. <img src=

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There's a Dutch company that specializes in products made up of composites and sustainable fibers.
They even built a cat out of flax material: http://www.npsp.nl/pageSub.asp?Chapter=3&IDPage=37

I'm thinking I could even make a boat out of bread dough and coat it with epoxy. <img src=

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Or maybe papier mache coated with epoxy. What could be better? Recycle your newspapers by turning them into boats.

I'm actually serious!

Back on topic. The fact that sailboat production is declining does not necessarily mean, though, that sailing itself is declining; right? It might just mean that more people are buying used boats instead of new boats. And we might be just maintaining the status quo as far as the people who are actually sailing or racing. That is a harder thing to gauge.

The reality is in our area there are very few sailors I know of that have transitioned from roto-molded boats to glass ones and have become active in our sailing fleet. So yes, I dont see an increase in roto-molded boat sales as necessarily an indication of good things to come.

I hope Im wrong though, and that with more time, and maybe higher gas prices, we'll see more people get involved at the fleet level. It just hasn't happened yet.