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Old 11-07-2020, 11:26 AM   #172
twistedtree
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City: Vermont
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 10,093
Quote:
Originally Posted by Hippocampus View Post
Amazing vessel. Congratulations. Having done a new build know how many decisions are involved and the amount of work on the part of the owners. Wondering how was your experience? There’s a persistent internet rant from an individual who was most displeased by his Nordhavn build experience and aftercare to resolve the issues. Did you have any bumps in the road so far?

Yes, Cantoni is bitter and vengeful. It's really unbecoming. He was the ultimate buyer of the 120 (the original buyer bailed out when 2008 hit), and it turned into a big fight between PAE and him. A big element in the whole thing is that he got nailed by the Canadian tax authorities who demanded tax on the boat. His claim against PAE was that he never "accepted" the boat, and hence never took ownership, which conveniently would solve his tax problem. It ended up in court and the judge/jury found in PAE's favor on everything. But Cantoni continues to poke PAE at every opportunity.


Anyway, I think success building a boat with PAE (and probably others) is all about your attitude. If you can be collaborative, it works quite well. If you stand around a yell, it doesn't work so well. But I have never found yelling to be an effective management technique in any field.


The boats are all hand built from logs, barrels of resin, and blocks of stainless steel, and every boat is different. So it's not like ordering a car, and rather more like building a custom home, except much harder because you are also building all the city infrastructure to support the home.


I enjoy the process, but it's a lot of work, but mostly because I want stuff done a particular way. I know lots of people who basically fill out the order, then pick up the boat when it's done. That works fine, but you get things the way the yard wants to build it, not the way you might want.



Where things get into trouble is when a buyer thinks they are buying a car and that they will take the keys and run off across the ocean. That kind of predictability and reliability only comes when you build the same thing, over and over again, perfecting it with each iteration. But that's counter to the definition of a semi-custom boat. You need to shake it out for a while before it becomes a rock solid, reliable boat.
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