[PUP] Let's design the perfect passagemaker

[Ken Williams]

Scott:

Thank you for raising such a fun topic! That said, I agree with John
Marshall's comment, which was that it isn't clear that it is an achievable
goal, or a practical exercise.

By definition, the perfect passagemaker would be "one that meets the goals
of the purchaser, at the lowest possible price." Every purchaser has a
different set of goals, and a different budget. One person's perfect boat
may not be right for everyone. Spouses are like that...

For instance, I can envision:

- The buyer with $200,000 to spend who wants something comfortable to live
in, but with enough seaworthiness for short ocean passages on nice days
- The buyer with $1 million to spend, who wants to coastal cruise, but wants
to do so in the most comfortable style possible
- The world cruiser, with $300,000 to spend, who is a seasoned veteran
mechanic, and could care less about creature comforts, if the trade-off is
seaworthiness

I can continue the above list for a very long time, and most of us will know
someone who fits into the category, and a boat manufacturer that makes that
boat.

So.. the bottom line is that "the perfect passagemaker" is impossible to
define, unless budget, and who the target audience is, plays a part.

I don't want to spoil the fun of coming up with "the perfect passagemaker"
.. because it would be a fun debate. However, I think we need to put some
parameters on it, so that we know it when we define it.

So... [Warning to readers: Be forewarned. Long boring argument follows]

I'll throw out the first suggestion for "parameters".

Let's start by defining the "demographics" of the person that this "perfect
boat" is being designed for.

One possibility would be that we focus on "the standard retiring couple." In
other words, let's pretend we're designing a boat for the typical customer
who is in the market for a trawler.  

I've never sold boats, and have no idea what the average customer might look
like, but will hazard a guess:

- Age 60
- Husband and Wife
- Just retired. Dreamed of living on a boat
- Lots of boating experience, but not really. (day cruises on smaller
planning hulled boats)
- Likes to tinker. Willing to do many small repairs themselves
- Needs to sell home, or downsize to buy their trawler. It's a material part
of their life. Not just an idle purchase.
- Roughly $600,000 to spend on a boat
- Annual budget for living, maintenance, everything boat related, under
$50,000

One we define our target market, we need to think about the specific design
goals. Here's a short list of the kinds of things I think people look for in
a trawler (passagemaker):

- Safety 
- Range 
- Fuel Efficiency 
- Ease of maintenance 
- Reliability
- Cost of maintenance
- Comfort
- Speed

I'm a numerical guy (the polite way of saying numbers-geek), who tends to
say a lot: "That which cannot be quantitatively measured cannot be
improved."

So, were I the one deciding what the best boat for this target market is,
I'd bog the whole process down in defining metrics and applying weights to
them. Here's what I mean... Let's take the list of "features" above, and try
to assign a grade to each of them, and then give each of these features a
comparative "weight". By weight, I mean, for example: does our theoretical
average couple care twice as much about comfort as safety? Or, do they rank
them about the same? Without knowing our target market, we can't say how
important the different factors are.

Thus, below is the same list as above, but with some "suggested weights". I
just pulled these numbers out of my .. (nevermind), so don't take them too
seriously. There are lots of ways to do this, but for this exercise, I'm
suggesting we take 100 points, and spread them around, according to what
percentage of the buy decision is based on this feature.

- Safety (20%)
- Range (5%)
- Fuel Efficiency (20%)
- Ease of maintenance (5%)
- Cost of maintenance (15%)
- Reliability (10%)
- Comfort (20%)
- Speed (5%)

>From the list above, we can take any boat design, and if we have correctly
modeled our target audience, say definitively, if not accurately, whether or
not it is indeed "the perfect boat."

In summary: I'm suggesting that it is impossible to define "the perfect
boat" unless you start by saying "Who is the target customer, and what are
they seeking?". Unfortunately, as we discuss the boat, tradeoffs will have
to be made for budget. For instance, the decision of twin engines. I would
argue that we are going to be limiting ourselves, for price reasons to a 47
foot boat, and that twin engines just don't fit in a boat that size. Or, to
the extent they do, we won't have left money in the budget for some other
things we'd like to do.

-Ken Williams
www.kensblog.com
Sans Souci, Nordhavn 68

PS Or .. perhaps we set the budget closer to $2 million .. which gives us
something which is a lot more fun to design, but has infinitely fewer
potential customers. There is no right answer to this question.. my only
point is that we need to decide what the rules are before we play the
game...

PSPS Yes. I realize that this email summarizes why I am rarely invited to
parties.