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COMPLETE RANGE OF HORNS FOR YACHTS OF ALL SIZES Kohlenberg Brothers Company 1702 Twelfth Street Two Rivers, Wisconsin 54241 Circle 276 on Reader Service Card Telephone (414) 7934507 Telefax (414) 793-1346 QUALITY PRODUCTS FOR MARINE SERVICE SINCE 1895 will rebound to be even stronger than before. For example, Infinity Yachts, Inc., had a "fair to average year" by the admission of Infinity's general man- ager, Phillip Chrysler. However, based on the first week of January 1993, things are looking good, as the company doubled the business it did that week than in the entire year prior, Mr. Chrysler said. Infinity has been contracted to build an 85-foot yacht, to be deliv- ered in December 1993, named Purely Pleasure. The boat is to be equipped with four 1,100 hp, 12V92 DDEC engines driving four Rolla propellers. DDEC will also supply engine controls, and boat electrical power will be sup- plied by two Onan generators. Elec- tronic equipment will include Icom radios, Raytheon radar and lor an, an Azimuth compass and Benmar autopilot. A relatively new yard, Puglia Shipbuilding, Inc., had a very good year, said Neil Turney, general manager. In business just two years, the company delivered the Samantha Lin, a 150-foot motoryacht with a steel hull and aluminum superstructure, in Sep- tember, 1992 to a U.S. customer. The Caterpillar-powered vessel fea- tures Lips propellers, American bowthrusters, Northern Lights gen- erator engines and generators, Furuno SSB radios and radar, and C. Plath compass and autopilot. According to Mr. Turney, in Puglia's segment of the business—vessels over 100 feet—the luxury tax has not been as hurtful because "it is nothing more than an inconvenience to foreign-flag the vessel and beat the luxury tax." Another builder which had a suc- cessful 1992 and is looking at a hefty orderbook for '93 is Broward Ma- rine. In 1992 the yard built six alumi- num megayachts, ranging in size from 100 to 105 feet. One particular vessel, the Daybreak, was just de- livered in January 1993 and fea- tures Detroit Diesel engines driving ZF reduction gears and a Michigan propeller. Electronics equipment onboard includes Furuno radars, a Danforth compass, Stephens radios and Robertson autopilot. Other yacht builders also predict a brighter '93, and one factor driving this are the changes seen in yacht customers and customers' wants, according to Trinity's Mr. Smith. "I think you are seeing people in the market for yachts now are more financially stable, gone is the con- spicuous consumption of the 1980's," said Mr. Smith. He also sees more customers us- ing the luxury vessels as floating offices, a situation brought about largely by the tremendous increase in capability of communications equipment now on board. "Owners want the best communication equip- ment available and this is driving the market," Mr. Smith said. Mr. Kelsey of Palmer Johnson backs that belief, saying "there are state of the art electronics and com- munications equipment on every new boat; they (the equipment) keep improving and the price keeps going down." Another factor to brighten the coffers of yacht builders is the very conception of what a megayacht should be. "Ten or 15 years ago, people would go and buy a commercial boat and turn it into a yacht," said Mr. Rust of Westport Shipyard. "Everyone's expectations of cost and quality have risen to a large degree." "There are forever higher quality standards on interiors," said Mr. Kelsey. "Large yachts are works of art." Also making the outlook better for yacht builders is the innovation of such companies as Falcon Mari- time Ventures. Falcon is a marine technology company which has come up with an innovative method of constructing aluminum hulls, a technique the company claims can save from 30 to 75 percent of the weight and save more than 50 percent in labor costs, said Anthony Barrois, senior tech- nical representative. Falcon then licenses the technique to builders. Mr. Barrois, who has called on several major yacht build- ers around the world presenting his company's product, says of1993: "We walk through the doors of many major yacht buildings and I see 1993 as a growth year in the megayacht business." February, 1993
