Production Boats vs Custom Boats

[seaturkey]

Can anyone shed any light on the "real" differences between custom boats and production boats? Are there really any significant differences in build quality or is it more just the level of customization that affects the pricing?

[belizesailor]

Custom boats have custom problems and custom price tags. Production boats have presumably worked these kinks out during design and development, at their expense not yours, ...or at least on earlier builds than yours.

[MarkJ]

The real difference is that I would jump instantly from my Beneteau 39 footer for a $2 Million Oyster.

Can you please give me the $1,900,000 price difference?


Mark

[Stumble]

Frankly it really depends on which custom vs which production boat. Oysters are production boats though like most production boats in this class there is a substantial amount of customization available.

In my eyes a custom boat generally needs to start with a very definate SOR, then a review of what else is out there that might meet those requirements. Depending on what that SOR looks like their may be something on the market that can be modified or not, but it is all driven by requirements. Only once you know that there isn't a boat on the market that fits what you want is it worth going to a designer to talk about a custom boat.

As an example, if your SOR is for the worlds fastest offshore race boat you wind up with something like the Carceek 40. If you want the worlds fastest offshore sailboat then you get something like Hydropter. If you want the best long distance cruiser... Well there are a lot of possibilities but something like Beowulf.

[FSMike]

Originally Posted by Stumble

----
In my eyes a custom boat generally needs to start with a very definate SOR, ----

I guess I can't have a custom boat because I don't know what SOR stands for.

[HansSolo]

Statement Of Requirements?

[Stumble]

Sorry, yes. SOR is the Statement of Requirements detailing what the boat should be designed to do, and what priority they have. So the SOR for a racer would vastly different than the SOR for a cruiser.

[robert sailor]

I think you are going to have to wait for someone to comment that has actually had a custom boat built or you could drop a note to Evans as I think he and his wife had Hawk custom built.

[Kenomac]

Try heading way down south on a production coastal cruiser where Boat Assist and help are a little more than a phone call away.

Some will insist there's no difference and that all boats are the same.... but, which boat would you rather be on?

[BandB]

Actually there is a third category, semi-custom.

Custom allows you to design exactly what you want and the assumption is that no production boat is that. Now it can also be a builder that is only custom. You'll see more custom in aluminum and steel as there's no mold involved and not a huge cost difference. In fiberglass, a custom costs considerably more than production because no boats to spread the costs of the mold and tooling. Custom might do something that production boats don't, but, depending on the builder, could have issues too.

Semi Custom typically has a production hull so the cost benefit of that but allows you to customize the interior to meet your own desires. Some allow everything to be customized and some very little.

Production has advantages in proven design, cost, and time to build. However, your ideal boat may not exist as a production boat.

[seaturkey]

Specifically the mission would be coastal cruising... I'm not planning to do any oceanic stuff outside of maybe taking the boat as far as Bermuda or down to the Caribbean and back from then northeast. The choice comes down to a something along the lines of a 2008 jeanneau 45DS or a(n) 2006 Tartan 43. Both boats typically are above or close to 300k although the tartan is closer to the 400 side than it is the 300 side...

When walking through the boats I can't help but notice the tartan seems to have a more "sturdy" finish to it... Was curious if there was anything more to it than just my perception of it being built more "solidly" than the jeanneau?

Never going to take the boat blue water or anywhere cold... I'll leave the cold weather cruising to Princess and Carnival.. Strictly warm water coastal.

[downunder]

There is custom and there is custom.

1. The ultimate custom is to go to a naval architect to draw you up a completely new hull fitted out to your requirements.

2. Many builders use a standard proven hull design and custom fitout the internals/fittings to your requirements. There will be varying degrees of change to the fitout also and this includes items such as tankage and motor choice..

Production boats come from the assembly line with minimal variations generally only add on's like electronics, electric winches, watermaker, solar panels although in many cases these items can and are often added after delivery by the owner.

Cheers

[seaturkey]

And for what it's worth Kenomac, I love the oyster but it's just too much boat for our limited purpose.

[BandB]

Originally Posted by seaturkey

Specifically the mission would be coastal cruising... I'm not planning to do any oceanic stuff outside of maybe taking the boat as far as Bermuda or down to the Caribbean and back from then northeast. The choice comes down to a something along the lines of a 2008 jeanneau 45DS or a(n) 2006 Tartan 43. Both boats typically are above or close to 300k although the tartan is closer to the 400 side than it is the 300 side...

When walking through the boats I can't help but notice the tartan seems to have a more "sturdy" finish to it... Was curious if there was anything more to it than just my perception of it being built more "solidly" than the jeanneau?

Never going to take the boat blue water or anywhere cold... I'll leave the cold weather cruising to Princess and Carnival.. Strictly warm water coastal.

Really custom vs. production only matters when being built. After that you're simply comparing two boats. Now one may be more solidly built as it's brand is built that way or it was designed that way. But there are also poorly built custom boats.

In evaluating them, however, you have an issue. You can talk to many who have had the exact same production yacht and get a feel. However, you've confused me. You are comparing two production yachts. Tartan is not a custom builder unless there's something unique about the one you're looking at. There may be more customization on the Tartan interior but they are not a custom builder.

[robert sailor]

You would want to do your homework of course but I don't consider the Tartan and Jeaneau as equals. My personal belief is that Tartans are put together better and are made of better materials.
Tartans are epoxy hulls, Jeaneau is polyester
Tartans are carbon fibre masts, Jeaneau is aluminum
Tartans are stick built and Jeaneau is full pans and liners

To me these are not comparable boats on the build quality side of the scale.