Island Packet Closing doors

[Zeb]

Hake Yachts acquires Island Packet and Blue Jacket Yachts

Island Packet and Blue Jacket Yachts acquired by Hake Marine | Seaward Yachts

- Zeb

[Anna Sail]

The sad thing is I know of vendors that are NOT being paid by IP, haven't been paid for more than a year. Since Hake Marine acquired only the assets, one wonders who is going to pay the debts. The only "winner" in a bankruptcy is the person/company that caused the trouble in the first place. The vendors are left wiser, but still short.

[SVNeko]

Originally Posted by Anna Sail

The sad thing is I know of vendors that are NOT being paid by IP, haven't been paid for more than a year. Since Hake Marine acquired only the assets, one wonders who is going to pay the debts. The only "winner" in a bankruptcy is the person/company that caused the trouble in the first place. The vendors are left wiser, but still short.

Typically, the liabilities that go along with the business would be assumed when the assets are purchased. If not, the company that sold the assets would have the proceeds of the sale to satisfy liabilities. There are laws that prevent creditors from being screwed in these situations, even going as far as unwinding the sale if they get intentionally screwed. Asset sales right before a bankruptcy filing would likely get unwound also. So, the IP creditors should be OK.

[Black Diamond]

I wish them well. They built a solid boat and many good people were employed there. Unfortunately over the years the design's got stranger (30 degree angle berth's and SP Cruiser like boats) and the manufacturing process did not improve to drive costs and volume the way you need to in this industry. As such other manufacturers could offer "good enough" quality and a much more comfortable boat for several hundred thousand dollars less than IP.

I wouldn't sail around the world in a Jeanneau, but the cost of an IP485 was a almost a half million dollars more than a Jeanneau 57 or a about the same as a Hanse 575. The Jeanneau and Hanse offered more options and layouts for the interior and exterior, where Bob Johnson was still selling the same fold down table he designed 30 years ago on a boat with 17' of beam.

Darwin's law. Adapt or become extinct.

[DDabs]

Darwin has high standards if people won't even sail around the world on a 57' Jeanneau these days...

[Southern Star]

I suspect that IP survived as long as it did precisely because they refused to follow trends in design/construction: they ended up almost exclusively occupying a small, niche market for those who preferred solidly built, shoal draft, full keel cruising boats and who were prepared to pay a certain premium for the same. The problem, of course, is that with the strength of the USD, that premium became too large for most prospective purchasers to justify in relation to the more current designs out of Europe.

In early 2011 the USD was trading at about .67 Euro, whereas over the last 12 months it has been around .90 (currently .89 approx., with a high of .95 at various points in 2015). That is an increase of over 33% which is reflected in production costs in comparison to a boat that is manufactured in Europe. While we have no way of knowing at what precise price point IP would have had sufficient demand for their products to survive, a 33% relative increase over the last 5 years was obviously too much.

Brad

[Eder]

That fold down table is perfect....why screw it up?

[Polux]

Originally Posted by Anna Sail

The sad thing is I know of vendors that are NOT being paid by IP, haven't been paid for more than a year. Since Hake Marine acquired only the assets, one wonders who is going to pay the debts. The only "winner" in a bankruptcy is the person/company that caused the trouble in the first place. The vendors are left wiser, but still short.

I hope that Hake marine is smart enough not to let IP bring them down, I mean the Seaward line. Seaward has some nice sailboats on the expensive side of the market but it is a very small company, having been the IP a much bigger one.

As someone said, IP was on a very small niche market that become so small that could not maintain the company structure and It is not a viable company like it was.

I don't believe Hake marine has the resources to modernize IP with new designs and new development projects and that is very risky for a small company.

Probably they are just going to offer the old models by command and I hope they have the good sense to scale down all the operation to an almost custom level, since they are going to sell very few IP or Bluejacket, otherwise they risk a new bankruptcy this time involving Hake marine too.

Swedestar has done the same with Najad, I mean a small company buying a bigger one. They still offer the old Najad but for what I can tell with very little success and in the meantime the Swedestar yachts changed the name to Najad.

Maybe the Seaward become also the new Island Packet. The name is a much better known one, like Swedestar and Najad.

[Cheechako]

I don't know... seems to me IP is a lot more prolific than Hake.

[Island Time O25]

With the combined capacities of both Hake and IP it seems natural that they will make a move for expanded refit/restoration/maintenance business for old IPs. There may not be great margins in that but at least they would keep their work crews and suppliers busy during the slow restructuring times. And if Hinckley can do it why not Hake/IP?

With all the complaints about typical boatyards gouging/not doing proper jobs and with a large number of older models reaching that "do or die" age of 20-25 years old, one would think that there should be a steady stream of old customers/new owners of old models who would be happy to have the original IP people do the work, provided they are not charging over the top for their refit services.

Of course based on the pricing of the new IP models I doubt that they would be able to price such refit services within reach of even the wealthier IP owners. But heck, it's worth a try and still beats shutting down their doors completely.

[a64pilot]

IP was running a refit line for the last couple of years.
That was why I toured the plant last Summer.


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[canyonbat]

Scary time for the business I think. Hard to convince a boat buyer to place a considerable deposit on a made to order boat with the company in transition. Also pretty risky to be producing high end spec boats, especially with the boat show season behind them. Hopefully there is someone in the mix with deep pockets and long term vision, as I have lusted for an IP produced Seaward 32 RK!

[Eder]

I was at the IP factory 3 years ago...they spent at least 2 hours with my wife & I answering any and all questions and walked us thru their manufacturing process etc...no surliness at all.

[scuba0_1]

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[scuba0_1]

Originally Posted by Eder

That fold down table is perfect....why screw it up?

You should ask the company that just went out of business they probably have an answer now unfortunately it's too late

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