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I had the opportunity to take the CC factory tour last week, and I can say that it's worth the hour or so to view the plant and learn more about how CC puts their boats together. The plant sits in the middle of NOWHERE east of Orlando off the FL528, and when you enter the grounds, you pass one of the lakes that they built, the "tournament lake." Our guide told us that when they started digging the lakes, they found that the dirt/clay mix was perfect for fill, so they kept going, and the lakes ended up about 30 feet deep.
While I was there, they were having dealer training sessions, mainly concentrating on sales strategies, and how to combat against CC's two biggest rivals, MC and Mailbu. They had an example from each company, X15 for MC, and the 23LSV from 'Bu. The dealers were taking turns role playing, and it was interesting to get the dealer's viewpoint(s) of their customer base.
Before the tour, I met someone from PCM (yes I know his name, not throwing him in it!) who stated that CC has been presented with the 8.1L Crusader, and it's available today to CC, but it would come from the "blue" engine family. He said CC were still evaluating it, and that they had some packaging concerns with their current boats...
On the tour of boats, CC had all of their models on display including the new 210, and the 236. The 210 looks very much like the 220 with some mods to the interior, but a very well proportioned boat, it appears physically much bigger than the old 210, freeboard, beam, etc...of course it is, but on the trailer it's very noticeable.
Ok, the tour begins from the offices and heads out to the production floor, and our guide took us past the final assembly area to the fiberglass plant. He showed us the molds, some of which are new with a higher spec of gelcoat which yields a much harder and smoother surface for the finish of the hull, as that mold surface mirrors the surface of your boat. He said that CC is moving to refinishing all of their molds with this new process, but he said it's a very time consuming step, as evidenced by the techs in there sanding with 1000(!) grit wet sandpaper on blocks! He estimated about 2 weeks full time to get the molds ready for production.
We didn't get to see the hull glassing process, we started with hulls that were receiving their stringer systems, and other structural components. The stringers come as a subcomponent already glassed, and the production folks glass them into the finished hull with a combination of chopper guns, and hand rolling. It's at this point that the "liner" boats depart a little in their preparation from the "old fashioned" style of CC.
I'm not teasing, but I'm tired, and I'll get more of this done, and some pics (not great quality, from my PDA), no pics allowed inside the plant, up here in the next day or so....
Jack
While I was there, they were having dealer training sessions, mainly concentrating on sales strategies, and how to combat against CC's two biggest rivals, MC and Mailbu. They had an example from each company, X15 for MC, and the 23LSV from 'Bu. The dealers were taking turns role playing, and it was interesting to get the dealer's viewpoint(s) of their customer base.
Before the tour, I met someone from PCM (yes I know his name, not throwing him in it!) who stated that CC has been presented with the 8.1L Crusader, and it's available today to CC, but it would come from the "blue" engine family. He said CC were still evaluating it, and that they had some packaging concerns with their current boats...
On the tour of boats, CC had all of their models on display including the new 210, and the 236. The 210 looks very much like the 220 with some mods to the interior, but a very well proportioned boat, it appears physically much bigger than the old 210, freeboard, beam, etc...of course it is, but on the trailer it's very noticeable.
Ok, the tour begins from the offices and heads out to the production floor, and our guide took us past the final assembly area to the fiberglass plant. He showed us the molds, some of which are new with a higher spec of gelcoat which yields a much harder and smoother surface for the finish of the hull, as that mold surface mirrors the surface of your boat. He said that CC is moving to refinishing all of their molds with this new process, but he said it's a very time consuming step, as evidenced by the techs in there sanding with 1000(!) grit wet sandpaper on blocks! He estimated about 2 weeks full time to get the molds ready for production.
We didn't get to see the hull glassing process, we started with hulls that were receiving their stringer systems, and other structural components. The stringers come as a subcomponent already glassed, and the production folks glass them into the finished hull with a combination of chopper guns, and hand rolling. It's at this point that the "liner" boats depart a little in their preparation from the "old fashioned" style of CC.
I'm not teasing, but I'm tired, and I'll get more of this done, and some pics (not great quality, from my PDA), no pics allowed inside the plant, up here in the next day or so....
Jack
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