{"id":60103,"date":"2023-04-24T13:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-04-24T17:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/?p=60103"},"modified":"2023-05-08T11:04:28","modified_gmt":"2023-05-08T15:04:28","slug":"tell-tales-ideation","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/yachts\/tell-tales-ideation\/","title":{"rendered":"The Challenge of Designing New Boats"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n\n\t\t\t
\n\t\t\t\t\t\"Steve <\/div>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\n
\n “At this point, builders have mopped fiberglass into every shape imaginable, but is anything sticking?”<\/span>\n Steve Haefele<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\t <\/figcaption>\n <\/section>\n\t\t\n\n\n\n\n

\u201cSee any lasting trends in yacht design, Coyle?\u201d an industry pal asked me recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s hard to tell,\u201d I said. I had high hopes that the \u201cdream it, and we will build it\u201d period of concept-yacht creations would flush out something that would stick to the wall, but looking different is beginning to look the same, I suggested, adding, \u201cIt\u2019s the Dolly effect,\u201d a reference to the cloned sheep from two decades ago.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, I wrote about my challenge in finding Hinckley Yachts at the Fort Lauderdale boat show (\u201cClone Craft,\u201d October 2002). As I descended the ramp, the builder\u2019s iconic Picnic Boat was surrounded by a flock of look-alikes. It was as though the Picnic Boat had been cloned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A yacht serving as a platform for an afternoon picnic was not new. Frank Huckins had promoted the idea in advertising and built boats suited for the purpose in the 1930s. Back in the day, Hinckley had done so as well, declawing lobster boats for wealthy yachtsmen who \u201csummu\u2019d\u201d in coastal Maine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the market for high-end sailboats lost its wind in the 1990s, Hinckley repackaged its pedigree in a 36-foot high-tech, water-jet jewel box. It deserved better than an express-yacht or sport-boat handle, ergo, Picnic Boat. It was a brilliant move, and by 2002, \u201cyawt\u2019g\u201d in New England style was a hit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A flock of boaters were driven to Hinckley\u2019s creation by its looks and its proposed utility. The lobster-boat lineage was evident in the boat\u2019s sheer sweep and tumblehome, and it looked right in Maine. Trimmed in finely crafted teak and flag-blue or jade-green topsides with cove-stripe accents, the Picnic Boat looked right anywhere. Builders from just about everywhere followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Read More from Jay Coyle:<\/strong> Tell Tales<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

When designers began noodling what I respectfully refer to as concept yachts, I had the opportunity to tour one of the first. It had a pug nose and towering chocolate-brown topsides peppered with picture windows. The craft looked more like a George Jetson-brownstone mashup than a boat. Even the boatbuilder admitted it looked a bit odd. He explained that customers wanted different. It turned out he was right, and plenty of designers have been grazing this pasture ever since.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At this point, builders have mopped fiberglass into every shape imaginable, but is anything sticking? It seems customers still want different. Or do they? Imagination is great, but what if we tried looking back to the future for a missed opportunity? I\u2019m not talking full-on Marty McFly, but perhaps we could recalibrate the flux capacitor so we might at least recall what seemed to be the new-new thing last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hinckley invented the Picnic Boat just as Hatteras Yachts invented the convertible decades before, by installing a bulkhead between a salon and a cockpit. It wasn\u2019t a new idea, but the convertible brand proposed a new way of taking advantage of the design\u2019s utility. An offshore fishboat could also be an offshore cruiser. The proof of concept? Dream and build the right thing, and customers and competitors will follow. Baaa.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A shepherd\u2019s guide to concept-yacht design.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60104,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"BS_author_type":"BS_author_is_guest","BS_guest_author_name":"Jay Coyle","BS_guest_author_url":"","hydra_display_date":"","hydra_display_updated":false,"_yoast_wpseo_primary_category":"163","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Creating new designs in the yachting industry is important, but, eventually, customers and competitors alike will follow trends that work.","_yoast_wpseo_title":"","_yoast_wpseo_meta-robots-noindex":"","arc_story_id":"","arc_website_url":"","custom_permalink":"","arc_subtype":"","arc_exclude_from_feeds":false,"sponsored":false,"sponsored_label":"Sponsored Content","sponsored_display_label":false,"sponsored_image":false,"post_right_rail":true,"post_right_rail_ad_1":true,"post_right_rail_ad_2":true,"post_right_rail_ad_3":false,"post_right_rail_ad_4":false,"post_right_rail_recirc":true,"fixed_anchor_ad":true,"post_top_ad":true,"post_off_ramp":true,"post_taboola":false,"labels":true,"apple_news_api_created_at":"","apple_news_api_id":"","apple_news_api_modified_at":"","apple_news_api_revision":"","apple_news_api_share_url":"","apple_news_coverimage":0,"apple_news_coverimage_caption":"","apple_news_is_hidden":false,"apple_news_is_paid":false,"apple_news_is_preview":false,"apple_news_is_sponsored":false,"apple_news_maturity_rating":"","apple_news_metadata":"\"\"","apple_news_pullquote":"","apple_news_pullquote_position":"","apple_news_slug":"","apple_news_sections":"\"\"","apple_news_suppress_video_url":false,"apple_news_use_image_component":false,"footnotes":"","sponsored_url":"","social_share":true,"ad_targeting":"","ad_settings_ads_on_this_page":true,"ad_settings_automatic_ad_injection_into_the_content":true},"categories":[163],"tags":[2068,569,171,164],"acf":[],"apple_news_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60103"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/60104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.yachtingmagazine.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}