In boat building business, it's size that matters

updated 11:08 a.m. ET July 18, 2006

MANITOWOC, Wis. - David Ross slips off his loafers and climbs aboard the giant boat floating on the Manitowoc River.

Shoes can scuff the deep red onyx flooring on the Mirgab V, a 144-foot yacht built by his company, Burger Boat, for a family from Kuwait. All workers must remove their shoes — those making final tweaks on a glass elevator, or ensuring the lighted treads on a three-story bronze stairway stay bright, and others hooking up DVD and stereo systems to a projection screen.

In the next two weeks the yacht, with its 8,100-square feet of living space, is expected to depart for the Mediterranean. The culmination of two years of building, the yacht marks a turning point for Burger Boat — it’s the biggest yacht ever built by the company. And the projects only get bigger from here, said Ross, the company’s president.

Boat builders around the country are making larger boats and moving into the yacht category, which is anything exceeding 28 feet, said Thom Dammrich, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association, the trade group for the recreational boating industry.

Burger Boat
For Burger Boat, the average boat size has stretched to 147 feet from 104 feet in 2003. Business is booming at the 143-year-old company’s shipyard in Manitowoc, about an hour north of Milwaukee. There are seven yachts in various stages of construction — a process that can take two or more years — and four other projects are in the works, he said. The boats will sell for $15 million to $50 million when they’re complete.

Customers who already own boats want larger ones, and often they want to stick with the same brand, so companies at all size points are lengthening their boats, Dammrich said.

“It’s what the customer is demanding, so you’ve got to do it,” he said.

People often start with smaller boats then move up to larger ones as they become more involved in the activity, said Dusty McCoy, chairman and CEO of Brunswick Corp., the world’s largest manufacturer of pleasure boats and marine engines, based in Lake Forest, Ill.

“There is a phenomenon in boating where people do come into boating in smaller sizes, really enjoy it as a recreational activity and things get larger,” McCoy said. “They begin to understand the family possibilities, the entertainment possibilities, the enjoyment possibilities and they begin to buy larger boats.”

Ralph Horn and his wife Pat owned a 65-foot boat for two years but decided to go bigger two years ago after they realized how much time they spent on water.

Horn, 65, had retired early after a career in the banking industry and the couple couldn’t decide where to spend their retirement.

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