There has been a lot of speculation over the years of what Westport's next moves might be. Something in the 140-150 range has been predicted by some. Others have predicted something larger than the 164'. Here's a published clue. Daryl Wakefield, President of Wakefield, said the following in an October interview. “We have two 164s on the line right now, and we are going to have to go bigger … we’re excited about it. It requires additional infrastructure to do it, it’s a big commitment, but we have a number of clients now who have stayed with us and been loyal customers and now they’re back at that ‘what do you have now’.” Westport did recently purchase an additional 24 acres in Port Angeles and major redevelopment is taking place in the Port as well.
I hope for their sake that they are going to build a complete new design with new engineering to suit the new size not just a stretched smaller one if the increase in size is more than a few feet.
Personally I think it is a mistake for Westport. Anything above 164' is a truly custom build and people want a custom boat/design. I think they should focus in re-defining their niche. Honestly, their 112' has been one of their most popular builds and needs a complete refresh including hull design. They keep going bigger and bigger, but they're forget who they're selling these bigger and bigger boats to, mainly previous owners of 112's. The 112' isn't selling as much because nobody wants a 112' motoryacht, it isn't selling because their 112 needs to be updated.
J said: "Anything above 164' is a truly custom build and people want custom boat/design" Amels is at 100% capacity with their Limited Editions line of production vessels LOA 180 ft. through 272 ft. Same hull designs , Same engineering platforms. Choose your interior, A huge success for them.
First, a caveat. I'm an unabashed fan of Westport and do not profess to be objective. Now, I'm not commenting on whether the larger boats will be semi-custom or production as typical Westport, but as a matter of philosophy, there are a lot of people who are very happy with a production hull and structure and their own selection/design interior, especially when accompanied by both a price benefit and a time benefit. The drive for something larger has come from existing Westport owners who are very pleased with the methods. I could definitely see something like the Amels 188 fitting in the WP line. I personally feel moving away from their current semi-custom model would be a mistake. As to the 112, it's still selling well, but I agree that it's time for it to be upgraded much as the 130 was done a few years ago. With the other activity taking place I'm afraid that won't happen anytime soon. We can just hope.
I think you are going to see some interesting things coming from Westport in the upcoming years, not just bigger than the 164' but I believe something else in the line up. I just hope that they get some better input on new models before they go ahead, unlike the current 40M, which improved somewhat on the 130' but also ruined some things as well. The new ownership is very excited about yacht building and has very deep pockets.
I feel confident there is enough of both passion and money. That's certainly been what got WP to where they are with Edson. They very much needed him to step in when he did. I think with Chouest, it's more of the same, although it will be interesting to see the differences in how he thinks and proceeds. Maintaining management always helps too in a transition.
I think there is plenty of both, Chouest owns a very large shipyard that builds lots and lots of oil industry boats for the gulf. Chouest bought ACY years ago and has kept everything going in the same direction it was, in both the yard and ACY custom sportfish
The construction of oil industry vessels is very much in a sad state at the moment, there have been these cycles before when the price of a barrel of oil is down exploration just about stops and no one brings new gear online. There are new build vessels going straight to layup some of them are very specialised and have cost hundreds of millions to build and have never earned a cent fore their owners. The revenue stream previously foreseen to fund what may be very well intentioned but in reality wishful thinking might now not be as strong as it was.
That's very true. However, they're well positioned to handle it. They were having difficult building all the vessels needed and having to contract to try to keep up so now not having to do that. The vessels being built are primarily for their own use. They have adjusted work schedules. But perhaps most importantly, they aren't highly leveraged as so many are, not trying to survive on borrowed money. So, while business for Chouest is certainly down, it's not the threat to them and certainly not to their other entities that one might imagine.
Well it looks like they are making some moves. 1. Re-styled 112 2. New 145 model- from what I've seen it looks really good, can't wait to see this one in person. 3. New 212, this should be interesting to follow. So far limited info has been released on all three, but I am sure more to come.
The 112 was their oldest boat and still very popular but just in need of some modernization and not surprising they'd try to go more the route of the 125 on both it and the 145. Something in the 140-150' range always seemed needed to me. The 212, I thought they'd do something, but didn't expect it quite that big. They've had 164 owners wanting to move to something bigger. While materials other than fiberglass may seem odd for them, don't forget Choest builds a lot of metal boats.
Check Facebook Westport page. Hopefully there will be further media announcements with more info soon.
