Alpha Craft

[JawsOrca]

Sorry to hear that Andy.. Family should and must come first...

With respect I'm just curious.. why have things appeared to have got hard(er) in last few years? surely there was a day where owning and running a yard was profitable and a good way of life otherwise the broads hirefleets would have dried up a long time ago? I thought stayathome holidays (I'm not using that american version) where on the up? Is there a means for the hire fleets to start talking up and trying to get some help.. the broads and norfolk will be a very different place if all hire yards vanish. 

[JanetAnne]

Agreed Alan

[BroadScot]

37 minutes ago, JawsOrca said:

the broads and norfolk will be a very different place if all hire yards vanish. 

And us Mods would be without a job to do on here. Ok ok, don't all cheer at once!

Iain

[JawsOrca]

 

7 minutes ago, BroadScot said:

And us Mods would be without a job to do on here. Ok ok, don't all cheer at once!

Iain

 Grace.. I think it's this smiley..

[BroadScot]

1 minute ago, JawsOrca said:

 

 Grace.. I think it's this smiley..

Ooh yes hmmm, we do have feelings you know ! 

Iain

[johnb]

Following various discussions regarding the best place to purchase boating items, and many skilled people working for the minimum wage, I posted a thread entitled "The Real Cost of Boating". I felt some posters misunderstood my point (my fault). I felt that our boating was being subsidised, if not by the "big boys" but the smaller yards and workers having to accept lower wages in order to continue a work they enjoyed and keep the boating industry going. (Not forgetting keeping the mods in work!). Alan mentioned how different the Broads would be without the hire boats. I think this would quickly lead to the Broads with very few boats at all. 

[Oddfellow]

55 minutes ago, JawsOrca said:

Sorry to hear that Andy.. Family should and must come first...

With respect I'm just curious.. why have things appeared to have got hard(er) in last few years? surely there was a day where owning and running a yard was profitable and a good way of life otherwise the broads hirefleets would have dried up a long time ago? I thought stayathome holidays (I'm not using that american version) where on the up? Is there a means for the hire fleets to start talking up and trying to get some help.. the broads and norfolk will be a very different place if all hire yards vanish. 

There are good years and bad. A bad year can have a real knock-on for successive seasons. When we moved to Thorpe, that first year was dire. The weather meant that the phones simply stopped ringing and booking barely started before May. That year made the next one a struggle too; we had no money to invest. Last year was better and we were able to build pod and this year, the weather is stunning and bookings are buoyant. But other problems have beset us this year which is causing us to reflect on future seasons. 

The days of making any real money out of this industry are long gone unless you have a fleet the size of NBD, Barnes and so on plus sizeable capital readily available to invest. 

We living through the demise of Swancraft, Alpha, Royalls soon. We lost George Smiths last year too. Another that I that I thought would give up last season remains but for how long, I can only speculate (privately).

Some people forget, Freedom is only in its eighth season; started as a result of a simple, low-cost investment opportunity with a friend who became a business partner and, within a year, became a competitor and persona-non-grata (we're on speaking terms now). During that time, we have expanded from one cruiser to 15 at the fleet's height. We have nine now, two day boats and pod. We have never used a separate booking agency; when you book, you do so though a web site that I wrote and did 99.9% of the photography for, call a number that is routed though to my house which is answered by Nicola, my wife. This is very much a family business. We have a dedicated team of people at the yard who work hard to make things right.

We have been trying to build a reputation for doing quality work to private boats and have had our best year so far; I firmly believe that the long-term viability of the business lies more with private boat work than in hire. 

But, let me be clear on one thing; there is nobody out there truly helping. Banks aren't interested in funding small businesses and whilst money is available, it is horrendously expensive to borrow and, quite simply, profits are so low that investment has to be very carefully considered. The Broads Authority is not an organisation that has any ability or remit to support small businesses; even when those businesses support the tourism sector - even the Sustainable Development Fund is no longer running (not that we ever applied for funding). However, I cannot do the BA down here; it has helped out in a couple of occasions that would have been difficult if the rules had not been flexed a little.

I feel that there is only one ultimate destiny for a small hire yard on the Broads and that is closure of the hire business. Freedom has bucked a trend for eight seasons; I don't know whether that's just a case of luck or tenacity. It certainly would not have survived if it had to spend money web development but our web site is now tired and so am I. I have the bones of a fully responsive site running locally on my development systems, but it remains a long way from being released and I really need to spend some late nights coding rather than falling asleep in front of the TV. 

 

[JawsOrca]

I have liked that as an acknowledgement Andy and thanks for the openness of the reply.. hard words to swallow.. and a big shame. (Although I suspect the demise of the fleets has been a long gradual one). 

Good luck with things. 

My advise on the website is to just keep it simple. Go with a framework like bootstrap or a cms like wordpress it will get you up and going quickly given you more time at home or on the business.  Both are easy enough to learn. .although if you are like me who like to hand code it's hard to give in and use these but many professionals do it. 

 

[Oddfellow]

The availability, pricing and reservation system is our own design and code all written in-house. Shoehorning it into any CMS would take way more time to learn than I have. Bootstrap is a joy to use, however. I generally manage one major page/function a day; when I have a day to work on it. 

Yes, the demise has been long and gradual. More than 20 yards on Oulton Broad in the sixties and the last one closed 4/5 years ago (sorry, I don't count the day boats) from Nicolas Everitt Park. However, it is only in the last few years that this "trend" has begun to ramp up again. There was a lull for a while, then Woods Dyke closed, Freedom started shortly after followed by Ferry, then Freedom split from DRL and both yards worked for a time. We've lost Aston, DRL, Topcraft, Swancraft, Le Boat and Alpha within six/seven years. That's around 70-80 hire boats (OK, Swancraft went to Richardsons and Herbert Woods bought the Connoisseurs, but not the others). 

We mustn't forget Little Ships though. Adam is a dedicated worker resurrecting beautiful classic timber cruisers for a new lease of life as hire boats. I know too that there are plans elsewhere for a similar fleet. It's not all doom and gloom; niche may be the way to go. 

 

[dnks34]

5 hours ago, JawsOrca said:

I suspect the staff there are self employed, hopefully someone will know the chap. I do know Mark at MBA (whos a member on here) does fibreglassing.. worth Pm'ing him too.

Thanks for that lead Jaws much appreciated.

Im sorry to read through your comments on this thread Andy (freedom). I hope you do manage to find the strength to keep going as to loose another yard won't be a good thing for the broads but I totally understand your feelings if it's not worth all the time and effort that must go into it.  If you were a bus firm or haulage company you would be having subsidies chucked at you left right and centre, there should be some sort of funding available to sustain industry on the broads and it is very short sighted in the long run. 

After the year Alphacraft had last year with the mishaps I'm not suprised he has thrown in the towel, if things like that happen regurlarly it must make even the most committed yard owner question himself. 

I suppose at the end of the day the smaller yards struggle to compete with the ever improving fleets of the super-yards we will be left with, it is certainly a shame. 

 

 

[Oddfellow]

Mark Appel is a good GRP worker. He does a lot of work with us. We can do GRP work too! :-))

 

[JanetAnne]

Would it be really bad to suggest that perhaps those on here that hire look very closely at the smaller yards when booking their next holiday?

And, those of us lucky enough to own our boats need to support Andy and his fellow 'independents' before we lose the choice!

It's the old saying...  use it or lose it!

[marshman]

It does seem that they are trying to sell the land plus premises,, including  the boats, in one lot. - I noticed it is in the local Estate Agents window for £1.5m which given Andy's comments seems a bit rich, unless you are rich and have the cash doing nothing at all. That puts your interest payments at probably an unsustainable level even if you can borrow and thats only the beginning. I also note that Andy's neighbour got nowhere near that and remains unsold as well..

Sadly. like many things. investment comes at a cost, which is likely to remain out of reach of smaller investors.- its not just the boating scene which is impacted but many small businesses.

[JennyMorgan]

I have.no doubts whatsoever that within five years there will be very few small hire yards left on The Broads. A few might and hopefully will take to servicing and storing private boats but even that can be a less than secure lifestyle. I agree wholeheartedly with 'JanetAnne' that we should support the smaller yards but when I look at some of the hire boats from such yards I despair. The other day, no names, a boat from a small yard was on Oulton Broad, looking more like it was at the end of the season rather than the beginning. Weed on the bottom, scrappy water line, scruffy paintwork, I wouldn't wish to hire from that yard and if that is how they send their boats out at the beginning of the season then I certainly wouldn't want them working on any boat of mine. There is no easy answer, I really would like to see the smaller yards flourish but some clearly don't, won't or can't help themselves. 

[Maxwellian]

We use Maffetts, this year they have reduced their boats back down to the two wooden ones. Both are lovely boats with lots of character. We hire Swallow if we can. Suits all of our needs. We also hired for an additional week at Freedom last year at short notice and Swallow was out. Service was excellent, fuel economy on Sweet Freedom was fantastic and we got under the Potter Heigham bridge. Recommend both yards if they have boats that suit your needs. 

[Oddfellow]

One key problem is resources. We were doing well at the start of the year, plenty of private work and bookings going surprisingly well early on too. Then our engineer's dad passed away suddenly and he took three weeks out. Shortly after that, Nicola (my wife) was taken seriously ill with life threatening issues and I took a month out and now her father (not local) is also extremely unwell. These major events in all our lives have played a key part in delaying work within a small business when, suddenly, things were beginning to go rather well. 

It's made my wife and I revisit what we're doing and, indeed, how our business has massively affected our family life; there is a lot to be said for walking out at 5pm and not having the fear of the phone ringing and dragging one of us away from dinner. 

Businesses change, close, sell, etc for many different reasons and there are equally many different reasons for a few paint scuffs too. I know some of my fleet is overdue some cosmetic work but we have done a surprising amount inside many over the last year (Sweet has new finishes to cockpit and internal panels, Song has been refreshed with new varnish and paint inside and I am currently refinishing the veneered ships table with plenty of oil and a nice new coat of wax; Fine's saloon bulkheads were re-lined and we're re-varnishing in Absolute as we speak. New canopies are being made for Sweet and Spirit which has also had new finishes applied around the saloon seating). As soon as our shed is clear of private boats (and our Siesta rebuild which we might get around to finishing sometime and also our tug boat which remains in bits), we will be taking Rambling in to manufacture a new roof and a repaint. But with a team of only four, these jobs take time and we are unlikely to catch up on the two months (and rising) haemorrhaged due to family problems. 

 

 

 

 

[Wonderwall]

16 minutes ago, FreedomBoatingHols said:

One key problem is resources. We were doing well at the start of the year, plenty of private work and bookings going surprisingly well early on too. Then our engineer's dad passed away suddenly and he took three weeks out. Shortly after that, Nicola (my wife) was taken seriously ill with life threatening issues and I took a month out and now her father (not local) is also extremely unwell. These major events in all our lives have played a key part in delaying work within a small business when, suddenly, things were beginning to go rather well. 

It's made my wife and I revisit what we're doing and, indeed, how our business has massively affected our family life; there is a lot to be said for walking out at 5pm and not having the fear of the phone ringing and dragging one of us away from dinner. 

Businesses change, close, sell, etc for many different reasons and there are equally many different reasons for a few paint scuffs too. I know some of my fleet is overdue some cosmetic work but we have done a surprising amount inside many over the last year (Sweet has new finishes to cockpit and internal panels, Song has been refreshed with new varnish and paint inside and I am currently refinishing the veneered ships table with plenty of oil and a nice new coat of wax; Fine's saloon bulkheads were re-lined and we're re-varnishing in Absolute as we speak. New canopies are being made for Sweet and Spirit which has also had new finishes applied around the saloon seating). As soon as our shed is clear of private boats (and our Siesta rebuild which we might get around to finishing sometime and also our tug boat which remains in bits), we will be taking Rambling in to manufacture a new roof and a repaint. But with a team of only four, these jobs take time and we are unlikely to catch up on the two months (and rising) haemorrhaged due to family problems. 

 

 

 

 

You've not had easy time of it. I can feel your pain.

I hope you have a really good season. If hard work alone was to guarantee it you would be fine. It's sounds a struggle, not that I thought it would be anything else.  You sound from your last few posts as if  you are falling out of love with your business. I hope it's only temporary.

Good luck.

[quo vadis]

Easy easy Andy catch the monkey

[Chelsea14Ian]

I do also wish you your family and the best all the best ian

[kfurbank]

I can thoroughly recommend a book by Robin Godber called A Broad Experience, all about his time owning and running Alexander Cruisers. A small well run, well turned out fleet, from Brundall. Reading the book it made you wonder why he carried on for the 8 years he did. He obviously had a love of boats, but unfortunately whilst you need customers to survive, you also need the "right" customers.

Having read the book gives me a good insight into the battles that Alphacraft and Andy (Freedom) face on a daily basis. Here's hoping that the season goes well for you Andy, and your customers are kind to you.

[kfurbank]

Jonzo,

I picked it up in Norfolk Marine, but I'm sure I've also seen it in Lathams at the magazine section, just beyond the tills.

It was published in 2010 by Hamilton Publications. The full title is "A Broad Experience Diary of a Norfolk Broads hire fleet at the turn of the century. 1999-2006. ISBN 978-0-903094-25-2

Don't read if you are thinking about going into the business.

[kfurbank]

Just checked and both Seamark Nunn and Norfolk Marine have it listed as available in their on line stores.

[JennyMorgan]

Re Robin and Alexander Cruisers, a personal friend so I can attest to his relief when it was all over! Robin was well qualified to run the business, both professionally and personally yet it was sometimes a daunting slog. I think that he was glad that he did it but whether he would do it again, well, I'll have to ask him but I think I know the answer! Re Keith's comment about the 'right' customers, how true! 

In my days as a charter boat skipper and sailing coach we always managed to attract the 'right' sort of customer but then we had a targeted client base, people with particular interests and ones that we catered for. Most Broads hire yards appear to grab any customer that they can rather than concentrate on particular interest groups. Maybe forming a particular niche market is one way forward. 

[Happy]

18 minutes ago, Jonzo said:

I wasn't aware of that book... Any idea where it can be got? Amazon have it as unavailable (which usually means the publisher won't deal with them)

Hi Jonzo.  On 2nd June 2011 there was a discussion about this on the NBN Forum!!

[JennyMorgan]

I really do feel for Andy. We have recently lost my mum-in-law to dementia after a three year struggle. My wife & I are both retired otherwise I honestly don't know how we would have coped. Any major illness can have a profound impact on the surrounding family. To have a hire yard on top of those problems, well, Andy deserves a medal.