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Don’t be
sucked in by her good looks…
I’ve been amused over
the last few months by several cruising boats that, I suspect,
ultimately sacrificed their functionality to mass market their good
looks. Here are the examples. The first was a 70’ish foot boat that did
not have the headroom in the main salon that I would expect in a
48-footer. The second was a 55-foot boat that necessitated crawling into
the engine room on all fours. This is particularly significant because
of my own five foot two inch (vertically challenged) frame. The third,
and my favorite, was a helicopter shot of a sleek Euro styled motor
yacht which looked great: unless you noticed that those folks on the
upper deck were sitting with their butts on deck and their knees at
their chins to look normal behind the "sleek" flybridge.
Now, nobody likes pretty boats more than I do. What must
be realized, however, is that looks are just one piece of the puzzle. I
suspect each of the boats above was locked into a "look" that then
became more important than how the boat really worked. Think how silly
it is. Who among us would buy a house with six-foot ceilings or doll
house windows because it made the house look bigger? Unfortunately,
however, decisions like that get made in the boating world. Selling the
product becomes the goal, and not true functionality.
My technique is simple. Draw the prettiest boat you can,
but never forget the things the boat is expected to do. Over the long
haul, few owners will remain entranced by their boat if they bang their
head every time they go below decks or scrape their knees each time they
crawl into the engine room. Good design is more than simply good
looks. It is the combination of well thought out details that enhance
its function as you cruise year after year.
But that’s just my opinion. |
