FWT
Guru
- Joined
- Dec 10, 2020
- Messages
- 1,591
- Vessel Name
- Resilient
- Vessel Make
- Helmsman Trawlers 38E
We are seriously contemplating a similar move from RT to Helmsman. We love the 29 but want something with more displacement. In my searches, the Helmsman is about 30% less expensive than other similar sized trawlers. The Helmsman 43 vs. RT43 is a perfect example. Same goes for American Tug, Nordhavn, etc. Can someone explain this?
Cheers
Scott
Mine is on order so have not been through the whole process as others have.
(Note: Scott sent me the first photos this morning of my hull and deck out of the molds. What a welcome sight.)
I agree completely with what has been said. I'll add a few more things.
Its a case of how this business is run from top to bottom, beginning to end. Its just a well run business.
Yes, labor overseas is cheaper than in the US. By a lot. That's a big part of it. But having watched a lot of things unfold I would say it goes well past that.
That labor has to be skilled. And it is. Otherwise time and money spent making things right, or deliver a bad product, and they deliver quality.
I agree with the observation about the clean and organized shop. That speaks to the yard in China being well run. I don't want to get into running down the Ranger / Cutwater boats but the pics I have seen of work in process make me cringe. Maybe those were just bad exceptions to an overall good, but its what I have seen. Somewhere I saw something quite a while back on American, and I don't have any bad recollections of that, and don't think I've seen anything on the Nordic shop. But the Helmsman yard is as pristine as any. There are pics of the Nordhavn yard in Turkey building the N41, and the two are comparable.
But let's take this further.
Helmsman runs lean. Scott spearheads sales conversations. He takes the lead on commissioning when the boat arrives off the ship. He takes you through all of the many choices to be made with the orders. He has help, but there is no bloated organization of departments and staff that has to be fed, and management layers to manage them. This isn't the kind of business where the owner sits back in his paneled office or checks in once in a while from a constant personal vacation schedule. When I met Scott, as I approached he was down on one knee on a dock sorting out a piece of gear he was about to install.
Understand that when you are asking questions, you are talking to someone who has grease under the nails, so to speak. Knowledge borne from that, coupled with the more academic / theoretical background too.
I'd add in another thing, but American and Nordic should or could say this too. You would not be ordering hull #1. So they have had the years of building them that leads to efficiency. They know raw material supplies, and know how to size construction crews that are needed for each step.
Its just a well run business. Characterize it and hang more details, but that part of what it comes down to, beyond the less expensive overseas labor.
Now, consider that Helmsman's are semi-custom, each a little different than the next as YOU make YOUR choices, including on some key layout things. Lean and mean is the way to go so that there isn't a lot of communication kludged up from department to department.
It works.
So on another level, what does it matter just WHY? Judge the quality, the boat, the price and just smile as you order one.
My two cents.