ibinews.com International Boat Industry | AUGUST–SEPTEMBER 2019 71
and that was really the compelling reason
for doing the transaction. Because you
get to a point in your life where it’s not
only about making money. You want to
do the right thing by the people that have
worked so hard with you to build the
company. Boat building is a team sport.How involved is Winnebago in the
day-to-day operation of Chris-Craft?
I think they’ve determined where they
can add value to the business. They’ve
helped us with our production, they’ve
helped us with our capacity planning.
We’re building a new facility on our
property, and they’ve helped with that
design. They’ve brought another level of
professionalism to the table. We could
have done these jobs, but we couldn’t
have done them as professionally nor in
the same timeframe. Having Winnebago
as a parent company allowed us to stay
focused on what we do best, which is
designing and building boats.You mentioned a facility expansion. Can
you tell us a bit more about that?
We have site plan approval to build
80,000ft^2 of manufacturing space in the
back yard of our property. We already
have planning permission from our
county, and we’re now just in the design
and planning phase. We’re probably going
to break ground in January. The existing
plant, including movable tents in the
back yard, is about 200,000ft^2 so it’s a big
jump. Construction should take around
eight months, and we’re targeting having
the expansion up and running for August
or September of 2020. As that unfolds,
we’ll need to add another 100 to 120
employees over the next couple of years.
We build four product lines and each
of line has open spaces, so we’re going to
be able to fill gaps in the lines with new
models that we don’t presently offer.
Having the backing of Winnebago means
we’re going to be able to do that faster
than we otherwise could have, so that’s
obviously a big positive. We need the
manufacturing space if we’re going to
meet our future growth targets.Are Chris-Craft’s current sales being driven
by domestic or international markets?
Tariffs have significantly impacted our
international sales, as they have for everyUS boatbuilder. Canada dropped its 10%
tariff on US boats in May, but that timing
wasn’t especially helpful for this year
since it was already so far into the boating
season by then. Europe has historically
been a big part of our business and that
has been negatively impacted by the 25%
tariff in place there. We’re still making
sales in Europe on the strength of the
product design and quality, but obviously
at a reduced level. Fortunately the rest
of the world, and particularly the US
domestic market, have picked up the
slack so we’re still growing nicely.Is that strong domestic business being
driven by the new outboard-powered
models?
The US and Canada are countries that
have long traditions of fresh-water
boating. The fresh-water boaters still
prefer sterndrive power, where the
salt-water boaters have largely preferred
outboards. There’s a little bit of crossover
but by and large, fresh-water markets
are mostly sterndrive, and the salt-water
market has gone primarily outboard.Does that split also hold true for Chris-
Craft’s export sales?
Not at all, our international buyers
mainly want sterndrives. My sense is that
outboard power is viewed differently in
global markets. In many places they’re
most commonly seen on RIBs. Few other
countries have a tradition of outboard-
powered fibreglass center consoles the
way we do in the US, so the association
between outboards and other styles of
boats may not be so well-established
outside of North America.That would certainly be the case for the
yacht tender market that Chris-Craft has
been so successful in.
That’s a fun part of our business because
unlike making a traditional retail sale
through a dealer, there’s almost always
some amount of additional engineering
required in a tender, incorporating
elements like special lifting rings, fold-
down windshields, or things like special
steps, hand rails or boarding rails. We
recently sold a 30-footer as a tender for
a customer’s 300ft superyacht, which
included provisions so it could be lifted
from and lowered to the water from adeck crane. Watching that boat get
launched from the yacht was one of the
coolest things I’ve ever seen in my life.
The yacht captain set a marble on the
tender’s deck, and as this 11,000-pound
boat got cantilevered out over the water,
the marble didn’t even move. It was just
an amazing thing to watch.It sounds like you’re still having a lot of
fun at this.
I’m still enjoying every moment. I’m in
the office at seven and I can’t imagine
not being here. There’s honestly no
place I’d rather be.
There’s still a lot of 50-, 60-, even
70- and 80-year old Chris-Craft boats
out there on the water. With that kind
of heritage, you really feel a sense of
responsibility to the brand. We take
that sense of stewardship very seriously
and we want to leave our mark, so that
80 years from now the boats that we're
building today are equally cherished and
lovingly maintained.
We live in a particularly dynamic
time and from a product standpoint,
I’m fairly obsessed with how consumer
tastes and shopping habits are evolving.
We’re seeing people spending more and
more hours on our website, shopping.
Not that long ago, even 10 years ago, they
spent the day at the boat show talking to
manufacturers, talking to sales people,
talking to the engine companies, talking
to the electronics companies, talking to
the navigation companies and putting
it all together in their minds. Today,
while they still come to shows, we’re
seeing a lot more engagement on our
website. That’s how today’s consumers
want to learn and to do things – on their
schedule, and on their time.
Last year I bought a new truck, and I
did all of my homework online. I called
the dealer, he gave me a price, and I
bought the truck. And I did almost all of
that when I wanted to do it, which was
in the evenings after everyone was in
bed. So, this is the world we’re living in
today. We are all striving to better serve
the customer’s needs, whether that’s
in the form of innovative designs and
appealing new models, or adding value
by making it easy for the customer to
find the information they need to buytheir boat. (^)