Boats are designed by boat buyers.
I think I understand what Eric is saying here, and if I do he's correct. Our airplanes are design by our buyers, too. Not the wings and engines, but the size, range, payload, interior, and flight decks are designed by us to meet our customers' requirements and desires.
We used to not do this.
WE designed every aspect of the planes and then presented them to our customers as done deals. "Here's what you need, " we'd say.
Most of the time, this approach didn't work out very well, the most famous incident being the 707 prototype, the 367-80. We told the airlines that 3-2 seating was just fine and was exactly what they needed. They told us to piss off, and if we didn't redesign the Model 700 as we were going to call it, to have 3-3 seating they would take their business to Douglas, whose DC-8 was 3-3.
We bitched and moaned and told the airlines they didn't know what they were doing, and they said, "Fine. Screw you, we're calling Douglas." And they did. At which point we said something like "Holy crap, they're serious." and we redesigned the fuselage of the passenger version of the 700 to be 3-3 (the military tanker version-- KC-135-- retained the Dash-80s narrower fuselage).
The airlines said, "Cool, you came to your senses," and started ordering the 700. Our ad agency said that "Seven Hundred" sounded sort of dorky, how about calling it the "Seven-Oh-Seven" instea? Boeing's CEO at the time, the legendary Bill Allen, said, "I don't give a crap what it's called as long as it sells." So 707 it became. Designed--- as Eric said--- by its potential buyers.
I think Eric's statement applies to all consumer goods. In the early 1960s American Marine commissioned naval architect Ken Smith to design a diesel-powered cabin cruiser that had some of the attributes of the commercial fish boats of the day. Forward pilothouse, main cabin where the fish hold would have been, walkaround main deck, high bow-deep forefoot for cutting though choppy or rough(ish) water, and so forth.
The result was
Spray (photo). Nice boat, the people she was built for loved her, and she still exists. American Marine liked
Spray, too, but they decided that while the hull design was right on the money, the cabin configuration wasn't the most ideal. So they (or somebody) redesigned it to better meet what the buyers of a cruising boat of this type would want.
The result was the first Grand Banks 36.
So I think Eric is right on the money. Particularly with products that are meant to appeal to the largest possible market. Which is exactly what Bayliner boats are. I have no idea of their research process, but however they did their market research, that's what guid3ed the overall design of their boats.
There are a lot of people who don't like designs that are meant to appeal to as many people as possible. They want something more unique, or designed to do something most buyers aren't interested in doing or can't afford to do. That's why their are companies like Aston Martin and Morgan and Lamborghini and Willard and Seahorse Marine (I think that's the rignt name for the Coot folks), and Nordhavn and so forth.
But even their cars or boats or whatever are designed to appeal to a specific market, so it and be said that their products, too, are designed by their buyers.
It took me a lot more sentences than it took Eric, but I think he accurately summed up the realities of creating a consumer product like a Bayliner.
