The Reveal: AutoWake and WakeTouch!

[IDBoating]

Thanks for clarification. I assumed you needed one n either side for sensing lift.

Nope. If you know the angle(s) of the hull then you only need a single Z-axis reference. The data will converge only at one location in 3-space.

If you DON'T know the angle(s), then yes - you'd need multiple draft sensors to know everything about the hull.

Are you getting close to having a buyer ? Would love to see this in a production boat !

All we can say openly at this point is... Whom do you suppose has been asking about the cost of draft sensors?

[Duncan]

Anything you can share?

[IDBoating]

We do have information, but can't share anything yet. We must respect confidentiality. I will say that we've learned a lot of things about the boat manufacturing industry that have surprised us a bit - nothing earth-shattering, just different from the other industries that our team has experience with. It's all good, and we're making progress. We'll share more when we can... thanks for checking back!

[SBM1234]

I will say that we've learned a lot of things about the boat manufacturing industry that have surprised us a bit

Very interesting as I've often wondered just how engineering focused the sport boat industry is. For example, what is the criteria for the electronics used in these boats? Are they shooting for 99.9% uptime or do they just expect their vendors to provide the best solution for them? Do they have the experts on staff to evaluate the technical merits of the various packages out there or are they just going with the lowest cost and/or perceived best value solution?

What are your thoughts on this? Are they more or less shooting from the hip and letting the financial guys make the decisions or are they focused on providing the best performance possible with the technology available?

[IDBoating]

Very interesting as I've often wondered just how engineering focused the sport boat industry is. What are your thoughts on this? Are they more or less shooting from the hip and letting the financial guys make the decisions or are they focused on providing the best performance possible with the technology available?

Those are very good questions. Please understand, we have to be careful to not violate confidentialities. We've met with a lot of people in the past few weeks and they've shared quite a bit of information. The following is a rough and brief generalization from my (Richard's) personal point of view only, and not representative of any specific company or brand.

I'd say the thread that all boat companies share is that they are very good at manufacturing two things: Fiberglass and upholstery. In most (but not all) cases boat builders buy everything else and bolt it onto their fiberglass. There are a few exceptions: Certain companies do some in-house metal fabrication, some make their own fat sacs (that one surprised me), some make their own trailers or towers, some make their own wiring harnesses, etc. Lots of things are semi-custom to a given boat brand too, even when they come from a common supplier (think Murphy and Medallion, who between them supply helms to all of the inboard makers yet provide a unique system to each one).

Boat makers are also very good at designing hulls and laying out interiors. The former is a delicate balance of engineering and appearance; the latter is more purely an aesthetics thing and it doesn't take long to find examples both good and bad . Some of the companies have skilled engineering folks who base their hull designs on years of hands-on experience, whereas others have formal marine architects on staff with the educational background that goes along with the title. There's no one "right" way to do it, and both approaches have yielded some amazing products and some obvious duds in the last few years. There are some amazingly smart people working at these boat companies and it's always fun to meet with them.

As to your engineering vs. bean counter question: It's clear that financials play a role but in general we've found that the Engineering Departments drive product development. Most significantly, I was surprised that Sales and Marketing tends to defer to Engineering when it comes to product definition. That's definitely not how it works in the high tech world of my background! In high tech, S&M is always pestering Engineering for specific features (usually copied or derived from what the competition is beating them with) and Engineering is always cast in the role of the Bad Guy for pointing out the realities of time/schedule/quality. In this industry, in most cases, that's flipped around. When we've initially approached S&M they have referred us to Engineering because "we don't have much involvement in new product definition". Because of what we've developed S&M gets involved pretty quickly, but Engineering is our first stop.

One detail you have to keep in mind. Inboard boats are a VERY low volume business. Many of the middle-tier brands ship an average of 1000 boats per year (that's an average, some more, some less). The current largest volume manufacturer will ship ~4000 boats total this year. As someone pointed out to me in the last few days, that's fewer units per year than Ferrari, which is known the world over as an ultra-exclusive low-volume brand! Now, spread that volume across 4, 6, 8 different models and a middle-tier brand might only make a couple hundred of a certain model in an entire year. Such low volumes dramatically impact how you manage everything in the company. You don't get any economies of scale, you don't get volume discounts, you don't get the QC experience that comes from shipping thousands of units per week... this is truly a semi-custom industry. It's remarkable that consumers see as few errors as they do.

Yes, you're spending six figures and that would buy you an awesome car with valet-level service, but the car company is shipping WAY more product and has the revenue and experience flowing through the doors to support valet-level service. Boat companies are almost literally hand-crafting each boat to unique specs, not cranking out thousands per week. The boat business shouldn't be compared to the car business; a better comparison would be home construction. While a big neighborhood development might have lots of similar homes, in reality every one is a standalone entity, mostly hand assembled by craftsmen, with the owner's specific little tweaks and tunes (colors, accessories, etc.) making every one JUST a bit different.

Some boat owners expect to be treated like they've bought a high-end BMW or Mercedes Benz. The price tags may be similar, but the industry and businesses and products aren't. Boats are like custom houses. The contractor isn't going to provide you with a "loaner house" while they fix things, and neither is a boat manufacturer or dealer. It's just not that kind of industry.

Sorry for the ramble. There's SO much more, but I hope that answers some of the questions that we often ask on this site. I personally have gained a huge amount of respect for boat manufacturers, and that's saying something because I came into this already respecting them. It's a difficult industry, one that's not going to mint any Bill Gates fortunes, and the people in it are there because they love what they do and have a passion for it. Those aren't just words, that's not just a fancy phrase, I really mean it. It's exceedingly cool to meet with such smart people and work together around a table to dream up awesome new features for the products they love. We are seriously looking forward to pairing up with one of them and putting our modest talents behind their product lines. It's going to be a very exciting next couple of years!

[robert theisen]

Thanks for the update. It was very informative.

[Z1Fan]

I think if you spend 6 figures, you should be treated with respect, I am not saying bmw or MB style, but with respect and never under estimate that the buyer may have some mechanical and technical knowledge as well, that's the problem I had with my dealer and that's why I don't own a tige anymore

[Timmy!]

Making their own wiring harnesses and ballast bags...Tige does that. Not sure which other's do that as well. I think that's a cost saving measure.

[Dandy]

Making their own wiring harnesses and ballast bags...Tige does that. Not sure which other's do that as well. I think that's a cost saving measure.

Tige's attempt at creating a wire harness is poor at best. Our boat had the wires basically all strung loose from point A to point B. We had 10-12 AWG crimp connectors on 16 AWG wire that was bent over to "work" in the crimp connector....I could hardly believe it when I saw it. This was one thing that really made me question the quality of the product. Tige should invest in a standard harness for each boat that can be laid in and have connection points for the various options. Get away from all the butt connectors and us quality plugs. I think this "cost saving" attempt I causing them more problems and warranty issues long term.
Hopefully they have changed their sacs over to an industry standard thread/connection to provide more flexibility to clients.
Rant over.

[Z1Fan]

Tige's attempt at creating a wire harness is poor at best. Our boat had the wires basically all strung loose from point A to point B. We had 10-12 AWG crimp connectors on 16 AWG wire that was bent over to "work" in the crimp connector....I could hardly believe it when I saw it. This was one thing that really made me question the quality of the product. Tige should invest in a standard harness for each boat that can be laid in and have connection points for the various options. Get away from all the butt connectors and us quality plugs. I think this "cost saving" attempt I causing them more problems and warranty issues long term.
Hopefully they have changed their sacs over to an industry standard thread/connection to provide more flexibility to clients.
Rant over.

I am in 100% agreement, and even worse is the placement of breakers in odd spots all over the boat, including one where the rear cup holder has to be removed and your hand stuck thru said hole to reset it, which is nuts considering the amount of power present there!!

[SBM1234]

It's going to be a very exciting next couple of years!

Thank you for the reply! It's good to know that S&M doesn't drive the product development for these manufacturers. I enjoyed your perspective on where the expertise lies with these companies - fiberglass and interior. I would suspect that they see the inevitable requirement to integrate more user friendly electrical control systems into their boats. As much as we may want to fight the notion, boats will inevitably follow what is already happening in the automobile industry in regards to integrating control systems with smart phones and tablets. Seems like you guys have just nailed the upcoming niche and I wish you all the best! Can't wait to hear more!!!

[SBM1234]

I am in 100% agreement, and even worse is the placement of breakers in odd spots all over the boat, including one where the rear cup holder has to be removed and your hand stuck thru said hole to reset it, which is nuts considering the amount of power present there!!

I choose to look at it a bit differently. Tige has decided to challenge itself with the implementation of the 3 year warranty and 3 year free maintenance plan. If anything, this ties their profitability to the quality of the build because warranty work now equals profit loss. So I see this as a profound statement saying they will be building a quality product and will make amends for lapses in build or design quality. Others in the industry have taken note and are starting to follow this trend as well.

[IDBoating]

I enjoyed your perspective on where the expertise lies with these companies - fiberglass and interior.

Oh, they have expertise in all areas. What I meant to convey was that those are the things that ALL of them do in-house. Just because you farm out work to subcontractors doesn't mean you don't have expertise in that area. It just means you've chosen to outsource that as opposed to bring it in-house.

boats will inevitably follow what is already happening in the automobile industry

There's a quote we've been using when meeting with various companies. It's from an executive at Ford Corporation, and it's from an interview I read a while back. Paraphrased, he said "Ford used to be a car company. Today Ford is a software company that happens to build cars." I agree that boats are at the start of a strong push toward greater technological integration. One of the company executives we've met with called our efforts "an industry disruption" (he meant it in a very positive way). AutoWake is just the first step in a long list of technical possibilities that we've imagined, and that some of these companies have imagined once they catch the vision. That's what I meant by it being exciting to be around a table with smart people who love this industry. When their eyes light up at the realization of what is now possible, it's VERY cool.

And Yes, we are delighted to be a part of that. We are looking forward to helping one of the companies fully leverage this movement. The other companies, well, they'll just have to try and keep up!

[Timmy!]

I think you should put "Industry Disrupter" in your signature/avatar.

[mnpracing]

I choose to look at it a bit differently. Tige has decided to challenge itself with the implementation of the 3 year warranty and 3 year free maintenance plan. If anything, this ties their profitability to the quality of the build because warranty work now equals profit loss. So I see this as a profound statement saying they will be building a quality product and will make amends for lapses in build or design quality. Others in the industry have taken note and are starting to follow this trend as well.

generally agree, but price just goes up....nothing is free. Forecast profit margins aren't affected by this long term.