Boat Jewelry market research

Because of some upcoming interior modifications I need to relocate our boat's build plaque. Instead of just screwing it to another bulkhead I thought I'd fab up a little owner's plaque to house it. This has me wondering if there's a market for something like this. I don't know that other builders supply a plaque like this but perhaps if a line drawing of the owner's boat were submitted, that could be lasered into the panel in its place. Based on the time it took to glue up the teak, cnc machine the shape, router the edges and to laser the text, I'd have to sell these for somewhere in the $200 range (bear in mind we're talking Canadian pesos). Mine measures approximately 7.5 x 7.7" by .625" thick and is made of Honduran teak. These would be shipped unfinished so that owners could varnish them to their own taste. All feedback is welcome!

Of course the title of this post should have read BOAT Jewelry...I really should get into the habit of poorfreading.

Very nice touch .

Boydster said:

Of course the title of this post should have read BOAT Jewelry...I really should get into the habit of poorfreading.

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Easy fix. Not touching jewelry/jewellery....
Cool plaque.

Thanks Bruce! In this part of the world either spelling is considered acceptable.

Very nice work . What kind of CNC router and laser do you have ?

CNCs are Shopbot PRT Alphas and the laser is a 45 watt Epilog. We'll be adding a 200 watt 4x8' laser later this year...can't wait to get my hands on that one!

Hi Boyd

Absolutely gorgeous!!
Now I have some thinking to do......

Slight historical problem with your plaque, Boydster. Malaya became an independent country in 1957. In 1963, it was united with northern Borneo and Singapore which had just been granted independence from Britain and the name was changed to Malaysia. Two years later,the Malaysian parliament unanimously kicked Singapore out of the country--- very bad blood between them--- and the island became the independent Republic of Singapore

So when your boat was made, Singapore was not part of Malaysia and in fact hated their guts. They continue to be at odds with each other to a degree.

Grand Banks did not open their yard across the Strait in Malaysia until sometime in the 90s I believe. So your boat (and our PNW boat) were made in American Marine's Singapore yard. Malaysia was not part of the picture. At that time American Marine's original yard in Kowloon, Hong Kong was still open, but no fiberglass boats were made there.

The first ever fiberglass GB made was made in mid-1973 and is GB36-360. Our late 1973 boat is GB36-403. Grand Banks hulls are numbered consecutively by model, not as a brand.

Ya know if I had paid for the thing I'd be pretty pissed right now. ;-)
Thought I had done my homework, apparently not.
...back to the drawing board.

Boydster said:

Ya know if I had paid for the thing I'd be pretty pissed right now. ;-)
Thought I had done my homework, apparently not.
...back to the drawing board.

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But it looks GREAT

and yes Marin has the knowledge

Boyd....Once you install it everyone who views it will think it's a great work of art. Don't let the facts confuse the storey.

Ha!...that was one of my dad's favourite lines. "Never let the truth get in the way of a good story".

Problem is that anyone who knows the history of Grand Banks will spot the inaccuracy right off the bat and will point out what's wrong, same as I did. I'm all for a good story but history is what it is and getting it wrong reflects on the credibility of the teller.

Plus if he ever has anyone from Singapore OR Malaysia on his boat and they read that they will be VERY quick to educate Boydster on the reality of the situation.

Yes but somehow I suspect the vast majority of his guests are just thrilled to be able to be on board.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

Thanks Marin, all good. More teak was glued up this morning and I'll be able to knock out the edited version 2.0 tomorrow. This one will be used as a sample in the shop.

mbevins said:

Yes but somehow I suspect the vast majority of his guests are just thrilled to be able to be on board.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

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When we have guests on our boats once they get over the "how cool is this" thing they then start going around the boat and asking questions about every damn thing that's on it. "What's this for?" "How does that work?" "Why is this here?" And on and on and on until we start thinking seriously about the advisability of having guests on the boat at all.

Could be worse Marin, could be guests on your floatplane..."What's this little red button do?"

I dub thee "Marinipedia."

:lol::lol:

Marin said:

When we have guests on our boats once they get over the "how cool is this" thing they then start going around the boat and asking questions about every damn thing that's on it. "What's this for?" "How does that work?" "Why is this here?" And on and on and on until we start thinking seriously about the advisability of having guests on the boat at all.

Click to expand...

That's when the Boss say's I have too. Stop complaining at least you own the D#$ thing.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Trawler

Very nice!

Version 2.0, special thanks to Marin for pointing out the erroneous information on the original plaque. His knowledge saved me from what could have been a pretty embarrassing situation with my history major daughter!

There you go. You've averted another dust-up between Malaysia and Singapore and created a very cool and creative source of information about your boat. Our builder's plate is in its original location which is fine on our physically bone stock boat, but it would be fun to frame it in a more interesting way. Well, not a more interesting way because American Marine didn't frame it at all.

Very nice, Boyd. I think you are on to something, even for those of us whom don't have plaques. A small wooden doodad with the basic history would be very cool. The lettering is very smart. I'm going to give it some thought...

Can you laser aluminum plate?