You outsource to the lowest bidder (or country) then don't be surprised when it don't work right.

Sure you could save a bundle by having boats built in India or China, but any guesses as to quality control?

Ask Boeing about their All F'd Up 787 program. They are trying to build them out of carbon fiber, but have sourced all the componants out to the lowest bidders, all over the world to save money. Any surprise nothing fits or works right? And the plane is more than a year late for deliveries.

Today's first 787 test flight was postponed indefinately, and rumors are the new "light" carbon airplane is about 25,000lbs. over weight and the parts made in one country don't fit the parts made in another.

But Boeing -saved- a lot of money by outsourcing the work to other countries...and now they are losing sales to Airbus, who is having their own promblems.

So how much money did they really save vs. how much they are losing to cancelled orders?

They tried to go cheap and now things are AFU.

Who knew such a relationship existed?


OK, back to the original question (or the thread-creep question) How much "should" a 20' racing cat cost?

Here's how I look at it; how much cheaper is the F16 Viper vs. the F18 Capricorn? They are both built by the same builder, using many of the same parts, so how much more would it cost to stretch a Cap. to 20 feet? I'm thinking they could use most of the same parts again (same beams, daggers, rudders, slightly taller mast but of the same section, etc.) and the cost should be about the same difference as the Viper vs. Cap, only in the "More" direction, right?

If the F16 Viper is say, $2,000 less than the F18 Cap, than a F20 Cap should be about $2,000 more than the F18 Cap, right? (I have no idea if that is the actual price differential, just a shot in the dark, but you get the point I'm sure.)

Here's the real problem you will run into (as a builder) however:

How many customers are going to buy a new 20, vs. a cheaper 18 vs. an even cheaper 16?

Any "new" people are most likely going to go cheap, and get the 16, and maybe, some day, work their way up, or not. I think that's why Hobie sells more kayaks than all their sailboats put together, there are just too few customers for the more expensive 20 footers, vs. the smaller, cheaper boats.

Hey, here's an idea for Hobie (no charge Matt) How about you build a rotomolded kayak that can be connected to another identical rotomolded kayak, and turned into a sailing cat?!

I know about the Adventure Island trimaran kayak. My neighbor bought one and he loves it. In light air he "pedals" it through the tacks. But I was thinking more along the lines of a more powered up cat-kayak with more sail area, maybe a real tramp and a couple cross beams that could slide into the two hulls sort of like the Wave's beams do. Maybe put up some stays to hold the mast up, more of a conventional looking cat but you can take it apart to do the kayak thing if you need to.

The dealer who sold my neighbor the Adventure Island kayak said his number one sales are the new "Fishing Kayaks" for use on all those small Bass lakes that do not allow motors of any type down here in Central Florida. Put two of those together with a sail and look out! Kind of like that video of the two windsurfer boards joined into a cat.