What is the status of new sailboat dealers these days? Are times really tough on them? Is the slow economy the main factor, or just the slow decline of sailing in general? Or are things now stable and OK?

I would supect all of the above in talking to a few dealers of different stripes (power and sail). In the beachcat racing vein, I suspect profit margins are pretty discouraging.

Its a complicated question..with lots of issues such as the decline of cat sailing.. s
and specifically what kind of boats? Cats?

I had looked into this a few years back as part of my exit plan from the 9 to 5 grind. My model was to mimic APS on a smaller scale with an emphasis on catamarans, dinghies, sail & kite boards. After doing the homework/research and crunching the numbers I would have to become more of an emporium to all water sports not just sailing to make it work, and I would be doing more than a 9 to 5 with all the other associated things needed to get the business going. Plus getting the franchise for products like Vanguard – Laser and some other key manufactures wasn’t going to happen. Let’s face it; you can’t make it on catamarans and the associated gear alone. As for the Kayak business this has become commoditized, so expect slim margins there. I was able to buy kayaks on-line delivered for less than what one manufacture was quoting for my opening order. What is up with that?

My second tact was to look at buying an existing business; which I did, but after reviewing the books etc, I came to the conclusion my money would be better spent elsewhere. The asking price and the cash flow just didn’t see eye to eye. We had made an offer based on tangible assets, but…… the business has since disappeared.

On the other hand, one of my mentors on this project owns a boat dealership that sells Malibu and Chaparral “lake boats” and all the other water ski goodies that go with them. I was actually going to rent some space from him to get this project off the ground. His business was hurting from 2009 until this year, and now it has really picked up. He is going to look to get out of in a couple of years… Tired of the ups and downs.. They are full service shop and they fix what the sell, but finding good dependable technicians and other employees, to work on the boats etc.., has also become a challenge, and like cars, these boats don’t break often – which is a good thing.

In the end to me it was not worth taking a big chunk of my life savings and opening a new shop or buying an existing operation in a market that experiences the radical ends with the ebbs and flows of the economy. Now the exit plan is real estate, and flight instruction, two of my other passions.

We've got one boat dealer here on Maui. They rep for Hobie, Ocean Kayaks, and a bunch of power boat manufacturers. The only indication that they sell Hobies is their brochure rack.

I called the owner five weeks ago to price a Wave. The first call wasn't returned. I got him on the second call. He said he'd call back with a price.

After not hearing anything for a week I called Dean Froome (won 1st Hobie 16' World Championship in Hawaii in 1976, the 1977 Hobie World Championship in the Canary Islands and the 1978 Hobie 18' World Championship) on Oahu. He wants to sell boats. As we were both going to be off our respective islands for a few weeks I'll reconnect this week and lay down some filthy lucre.

If you start a sailing business, make sure you sell kayaks and SUPs too. Then you take that profit and use it to sell catamarans.

If you have a retail location, make sure you have a very understanding wife...or no wife at all.

Owning any kind of business sucks butt. Then again so does working for some schmuck. The rewards can be greater running a company, but its probably a wash when you figure out the hours. I started at 7:30 this morning, was done a bit before 9:00 this evening and that's pretty common. Employees are horrid, wretched creatures. Want to see someone's IQ plummet 35 points? Give em' a paycheck.

The worries, the stress and the time is something I debate daily if they are worth the low pay. Good move Ventucky.

But, I also screw around a lot.....

Why can't I just win a big powerball?

For any business to survive, you first need customers. As the price of Toys goes up, and average incomes go down, there are fewer and fewer customers who can afford to come out and play. People still want to get out on the water, but how many can afford a $10,000 to $20,000 "toy" to do it? That's why the stand up paddle boards and plastic kayaks are selling so well. They are the cheapest way to spend a day on the water, and zero learning curve, trailer or set up time required.

You may want to take a closer look at the Flight Instruction gig before you throw your eggs in that basket. My local FBO has just about gone out of business with fewer and fewer student pilot starts, over the past 5 years, he's had to let two out of three instructors go.

The price of insurance and Av Gas is killing that whole light plane industry ($5.85/gallon for 100LL). Not too many kid's Dad's can afford $170/hr. for flying lessons. I know I can't!

I'm instructing my kid in a borrowed Cherokee now, but it's still about $60/hr. just for the gas, and most days we are the only airplane in the pattern, at what used to be a semi busy instructional airport. The guys I fly with at work tell me there is no way they can afford to give their kids lessons either.

Check out http://www.JetCareers.com for more insight from instructors around the country. Not too many instructors are many making ends meet on $10/hr.

BTW, my 19yr. old son gets $11/hr. to sit by the swimming pool as a lifeguard!

My wife only gets $10/hr. to substitute teach 3rd grade! She's got a 4 year degree and a Teaching Certification!

I told her she should have been a lifeguard! She said they don't make red swimsuits in her size...

Okay, I'm not the sharpest tool in the shed, but even I know that comment will haunt you for a long time to come..... This will morph over time into a comment YOU made to HER and you're going to get slaughtered for it unless you had the world's most romantic counter to her comment.... good luck with that...

Hey, SHE said it!

I'm smart enough to NEVER say it!

Or spend a few years of evenings in your garage and build your toy like a real man. But not too many do that in todays "throw away after use" society.

And about three years of your day to day living expenses (mortgage, Utitlites, food, etc) in reserve.. Many small businiess fail becase the owners are taking the money out to survive in place of putting it back into to it.

As for the CFI I hear ya! We're having the same downturn in our area and we have some big money around us, Ojai, Santa Barbara, Malibu, and of course Ventucky.. We're problally doing a little better than most with GA, but not as robust as years past. This is someting I am looking at for my retirement to keep me busy which I hope is in a couple of years; don't know how much longer I want to be a road warrior, or if the indusrtry is going to support this avenue much longer.




I was a regional sales manager at one time with 10 direct reports.. the problem was I had little to no say in the hiring process. Have I got stories.

The instant gratification of the internet and passion for Facebook has pretty much killed most other 'hobbys'.

40 years ago, all the kids did something -outside- the house, or in the garage, because there was nothing to do inside. No Cable, no Intenet, etc.

My older brother built muscle cars/racing motors, starting when he was 16. As a teenager, I hiked in the mountains, raced Motocross (and had to rebuild the motor), sailed, skiing, (both kinds) played hocky, ran track, football, and fixed up a broken down old woden sailboat, oh, and I had a job bussing tables at a restaurant too. Oh, and I took flying lessons I paid for with the job money.

Most of the high school kids I see today (my two youngest are 16+19,so I get to see too many of them) couldn't find their way out of a pizz soaked paper bag and have no ambition. They have zero inclination to get off Facebook and go outdoors and get dirty, or get a job, ever.

I'm very impressed with the few junior cat racers I've met at Tradewinds, but they are the exception in their generation, not the rule.

Now I'm starting to sound like my Dad! I must be an "OLD Fart"!

YOU KIDS TURN THAT CRAP DOWN!!

(my Dad's response to my Black Sabbath records!)

What was the t-shirt I saw years ago...F.A.R.T. Fathers Against Radical Teenagers

so, do all teenagers think they'll be the next Mark Zuckerberg (or whomever that Facebook guy is)? And do they know his stock tanked (I think)?

With US unemployment still reasonably high, I would suspect most teens would give up the job hunt and stay at home. BUT one day soon this will (likely) end, and then will they be motivated to go outside and do something? Or do they think they'll incinerate in sunshine like a vampire?

Here you go Jay: http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/05/30/the-teen-jobs-problem-its-worse-than-it-looks

Uh, I did it again.. Unvoluntary thread hijack.

Socrates (not the soccer player but the other one) said something about youth:

“Our youth now love luxury. They have bad manners, contempt for authority; they show disrespect for their elders and love chatter in place of exercise; they no longer rise when elders enter the room; they contradict their parents, chatter before company; gobble up their food and tyrannize their teachers.”


Soooo.. Give the youth responsibility and they will pull through. Take away all responsibility and influence, and it goes to ....


But I dont see no youth building cats around here..

You know, it's funny, but when I was a kid, the old farts didn't know anything.

Now that I'm an Old Fart, these damn Kids Today don't know anything!

It's exactly the same thing in the ****;

The Co-pilots think the Captains are idiots, and the Capt.s think the same of the Co-pilots!

;^)


Speaking of Idiots, anyone see that Packers/Seahawks game last night? In case you missed it, here are the 'low-lights':

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AzPBcCF9yKc&sns=em

so even I can be a referee now? sweet...

sometimes... i get this mental picture of 2 serfs, building piles of muck, complaining about politics ....