New Bill Yeargin Interview

[NautiqueJeff]

Check out the latest interview with Correct Craft President / CEO Bill Yeargin at the link below!

Bill Yeargin Interview

[MattieK27]

Disappointed, but not surprised

The older models people sometimes ask me about bringing back were designed and manufactured in a different era. The construction methods resulted in a different production flow which gave more opportunity for inconsistency in the quality. Don’t get me wrong, they were great boats, but we believe our product development process and manufacturing techniques build a much better boat today.

Well theres the "excuse" folks. Sad. I wonder if the construction methods were so different and quality was so inconsistent because of it, would CC consider selling the molds? A boat made with those practices clearly wouldnt challege the current CC poduct...

Touting this supposed increase in quality over boats from a decade ago doesnt sit well with me; and his answer certainly doesnt make me more likely to drop 85k on a new 210.

Jeff, thanks for asking a question I submitted. At least we have an answer now...

[swc5150]

I was not surprised either, and I'm not sure how '09 was a different era? (ie:196) I'll take his word for it, as I know very little about boat manufacturing techniques. Thanks for getting and posting the interview Jeff.

[j2nh]

Well theres the "excuse" folks. Sad. I wonder if the construction methods were so different and quality was so inconsistent because of it, would CC consider selling the molds? A boat made with those practices clearly wouldnt challege the current CC poduct...

Touting this supposed increase in quality over boats from a decade ago doesnt sit well with me; and his answer certainly doesnt make me more likely to drop 85k on a new 210.

Jeff, thanks for asking a question I submitted. At least we have an answer now...

Good question MattieK27 and thanks for posting the interview Jeff.

I do know that for liability reasons CC will not sell the molds. They need to keep them to fight off any litigation that might arise from an accident involving one of their boats, at least that is what I was told when I visited the factory. Welcome to life in the USA.

I was impressed with the assembly line and in process quality techniques CC is using in the new plant. Not sure that that translates into an 08 being better built than an 11 but quality control is a continuous process, just as it should be. Materials evolve, but in terms of the fiberglass hull I don't think a lot has changed since the new VOC regulations from a few years back.

[DanielC]

My understanding is that the first Mastercraft Ski boat was made in a Correct Craft hull mold, that was sold.

[MattieK27]

I was not surprised either, and I'm not sure how '09 was a different era? (ie:196) I'll take his word for it, as I know very little about boat manufacturing techniques. Thanks for getting and posting the interview Jeff.

Lets put it this way, as an engineer who works closely with other boat manufacturers on projects, Bill's statement left me shaking my head. Dont forget CC made the switch from wood to fiberglass stringers in the matter of one year, across their entire lineup.

I do know that for liability reasons CC will not sell the molds. They need to keep them to fight off any litigation that might arise from an accident involving one of their boats, at least that is what I was told when I visited the factory. Welcome to life in the USA.

Odd, considering most other boat builders just junk their old molds when they introduce a new model.

[TRBenj]

My understanding is that the first Mastercraft Ski boat was made in a Correct Craft hull mold, that was sold.

That is not the story I heard.

Historical Fact!
The first MasterCrafts were actually patterned and widened off of of a early 60's Correct Craft.
I have heard the story a few times from Art Cozier who was Rob Shirley's partner down in Boyten beach florida in the sixty's. Art came back from a weekend at a tournament and found the motor of their Ski School boat hanging out of a tree and the boat cut clean in half down the middle. Rob then widened it and made a couple of other small changes, put the boat back together and ran it. Then latter pulled a mold off of it and the rest is MasterCraft History. If any have a chance to see a early MasterCraft one can see the similarities in both the hull and deck to the Correct Craft Ski Nautique.

[teamseal]

Bills interview

One of these day's the pictures Art has will be scaned and produced up on the internet for all to see!

As for selling a hull mold to a competing company??? Get real!
Nautiques as was Correct Craft have many goals in their battle plan and one of them is to not go backwards especially in devolpment of new products. I thought Bills answers were candid and thought provoking, The interview has got people talking on two web sites.
As for the stringer statement of going from wood one year and composite the next is true however their have been composite stringers in test Nautiques as far back as 1989 before they were standard across the board in 93, The Stringer program ran four years and boats ran at Sea World, and many other test beds in those years. All of those boats were run very hard ,documented and then either cut up and or used for further devolpment or just disected. Nautiques has and alway's will be a leader in technology and advancement in the inboard end of the boating world.

[MattieK27]

One of these day's the pictures Art has will be scaned and produced up on the internet for all to see!

As for selling a hull mold to a competing company??? Get real!
Nautiques as was Correct Craft have many goals in their battle plan and one of them is to not go backwards especially in devolpment of new products. I thought Bills answers were candid and thought provoking, The interview has got people talking on two web sites.
As for the stringer statement of going from wood one year and composite the next is true however their have been composite stringers in test Nautiques as far back as 1989 before they were standard across the board in 93, The Stringer program ran four years and boats ran at Sea World, and many other test beds in those years. All of those boats were run very hard ,documented and then either cut up and or used for further devolpment or just disected. Nautiques has and alway's will be a leader in technology and advancement in the inboard end of the boating world.

I heard it was 1991 when they started with composite stringers in a test setting, the funny part is when you contact Nautiques about those boats they deny any boats had composite stringers before 1993. (even though the brochures from 1993 discuss how they had been testing the new stringers in select boats for approx. 2 years http://www.correctcraftfan.com/refer...ex.asp?page=05)

I love Nautiques, but if they were and will always be a leader in technology they would have had wood free boats a number of years before 1993, and they would have protected the wood stringers in the 2001 series much better than they did...

My point about the stringers was less about the design process and more about manufacturing. They switched over to a different manufacturing process with little effort; building an old 210 next to the new one would not be that big of a departure in process.

If the design of these old boats lended themselves to such inferior quality to the new boats, why not sell them? I didnt find anything thought provoking about his answers, they seemed in line with generalized corp speak and marketing "futures" more than anything.

(Dont take this as a shot on Bill, as a CEO he did what he was supposed to with those questions)

[SkiTower]

building an old 210 next to the new one would not be that big of a departure in process.

If the design of these old boats lended themselves to such inferior quality to the new boats, why not sell them?

I see two answers to your questions:

First: the less parts you have on an assembly line the better it is. Therefore, having an old 210 running down the line would require a lot of extra parts on the line taking up space they don't have today. Also, it's a different boat with a different assembly process for the techs to learn.

Second: I'm sure competitors would love to get their hands on the old molds to do some reverse engineering and see how CC does things. They may be old but they are still intellectual property.

That's not to say still building the old stuff doesn't make sense. But it isn't quite that easy. They could probably make a killing off a budget line. Maybe call it something other than Nautique.

[swc5150]

With a finite amount of manufacturing space, I can see that it makes sense to produce the current lineup. I accept that dedicated closed bow boats don't make financial sense for a company to produce. I can only imagine what type of boat they could build, if they took all they've learned from the 200 to create a CB 3 event masterpiece.

[teamseal]

With a finite amount of manufacturing space, I can see that it makes sense to produce the current lineup. I accept that dedicated closed bow boats don't make financial sense for a company to produce. I can only imagine what type of boat they could build, if they took all they've learned from the 200 to create a CB 3 event masterpiece.

They already did! Closed bow Ski-200 with a 6-liter!!!

[teamseal]

With a finite amount of manufacturing space, I can see that it makes sense to produce the current lineup. I accept that dedicated closed bow boats don't make financial sense for a company to produce. I can only imagine what type of boat they could build, if they took all they've learned from the 200 to create a CB 3 event masterpiece.

Or how about these !!

[MattieK27]

I see two answers to your questions:

First: the less parts you have on an assembly line the better it is. Therefore, having an old 210 running down the line would require a lot of extra parts on the line taking up space they don't have today. Also, it's a different boat with a different assembly process for the techs to learn.

Second: I'm sure competitors would love to get their hands on the old molds to do some reverse engineering and see how CC does things. They may be old but they are still intellectual property.

That's not to say still building the old stuff doesn't make sense. But it isn't quite that easy. They could probably make a killing off a budget line. Maybe call it something other than Nautique.

Nautique eliminated a number of boats in recent years, they have the space on the line. The assembly processes are already documented, and I would venture to guess many of the people on the line were there when the old 210 was being built. My original point was dont kid yourself into thinking the production process between the old and new 210 is amazingly different.

Second, a competitor would learn nothing from a mold they couldnt learn from studying the hull of a completed boat.

I assure you, while not as simple as tying your shoe, adding an old boat to the line is a lot simplier than CC would like you to believe. (unless the factory is at full capacity on their production schedules right now, and I am fairly certain they are not) This is more marketing driven than anything; they dont want a low cost "old design" boat to be associated with their current big-bucks lineup.

[swc5150]

Or how about these !![ATTACH=CONFIG]11096[/ATTACH][ATTACH=CONFIG]11097[/ATTACH]

Now that's one adorable driver:-) Pretty boat too!