FOR THE RECORD
Bombardier further
cuts its work force
Bombardier Recreational Products,
manufacturer of Evinrude outboards
and Sea-Doo personal watercraft, announced sweeping changes in December to deal with the recession, including the elimination of jobs and an overall cutback in production.
The Quebec-based company said
about 550 administrative and professional jobs will be eliminated. Some 80
percent of the cuts were to take place
immediately and the remainder during
the next nine months.
Of the jobs lost, 139 will be in the
United States, BRP spokeswoman Jo-hanne Denault told Soundings Trade
Only, with the majority of the layoffs at
the company’s Sturtevant, Wis., operation. Of the jobs lost in Wisconsin, 20
are white-collar positions and 78 involve
temporary layoffs of hourly employees.
BRP previously had laid off about 370
factory employees in its third quarter,
ended Oct. 31, and another 430 blue-collar employees received temporary
layoff notices in the fourth quarter, the
company said in a statement.
The work force reduction involves all
BRP divisions.
“These are very difficult decisions to
make, but we must take appropriate preventive measures considering the seriousness of the situation,” said José Boisjoli,
president and CEO, in a statement.
of the aluminum segment of the entry-level boating market with our new FinCraft line,” Jacobs said.
Genmar planned to unveil hull No. 1
of the FinCraft at the Jan. 21-25 Minneapolis Boat Show. The 17-footer will
include as standard equipment a 50-hp,
2-stroke outboard (a variety of engine
options will be offered), trailer, Minn
Kota trolling motor and Lowrance
depth finder.
The nationally advertised price in the
U.S. will be $13,995, plus freight and
prep. Additionally, Genmar will offer a
$1,000 introductory cash rebate during
winter and early spring shows. This
will put the FinCraft at $1,000 to
$3,000 less than current entry-level 17-
foot aluminum or fiberglass boats, according to Jacobs.
The FinCraft line will be offered to
Genmar dealers and, in markets without
an existing Genmar dealer, to existing
successful dealers of Lund, Crestliner,
Lowe, Tracker, Alumacraft and G3 boats.
Genmar introduces
entry-level VEC boat
Morris Yacht founder
had a unique vision
Genmar is introducing its first 17-foot
VEC close-molded fiberglass entry-level
fishing boat — the FinCraft — in time to
ship to dealers for the early
spring selling season, company chairman Irwin Jacobs
announced in a letter to
dealers.
Jacobs had previously said
the company would be re-entering the aluminum boat
business, but that wasn’t entirely accurate, according to
the announcement.
“Rather, it is our intention
to capture the market share
Genmar’s new 17-foot FinCraft will retail for less
than $14,000 rigged.
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Thomas Morris, the founder of Morris
Yachts, died Dec. 7 of cancer at his
home in Southwest Harbor, Maine, just
days after his 68th birthday. His company, formed in 1972, had built nearly
200 bluewater yachts of the highest
quality by 2001, when he retired and
was succeeded by his son, Cuyler.
Looking for a new line of work, Morris saw an opportunity in the bare fiberglass hulls of the legendary Friendship
Sloop builder Jarvis Newman. He completed his first Pemaquid 25 in 1973.
But Morris wanted to build a boat
that was uniquely his, and about this
time he heard of a young designer who
had just gone into business for himself.
“[Morris] contacted me through a
mutual friend,” says Chuck Paine. “I
went to Southwest Harbor with a half
model and drawings. He looked at the
half model and said, ‘That’s the one.’ ”
Thus began a collaboration between
the two men that lasted until Morris’
retirement.
Customer and friend Mark Ellman
was looking for “an oh-my-God quality
boat that was capable of going offshore
but I could sail myself,” he says. It was
1989 and Ellman had a crew ready to
enter the next race to Bermuda if Morris could deliver the boat on time.
“I built my first boat with Tom on a
handshake,” Ellman says. He took Morris Yachts’ slogan — each one an
owner’s original — to heart. At Ellman’s request, Morris cut 4,000 pounds
from the boat’s structure, redesigned
the rig with a carbon fiber mast and
gave the boat a deep keel.
On the way to Bermuda, Ellman encountered 55-knot winds in the Gulf
Stream, and after the race he discovered that the chain locker bulkhead —
to which the inner forestay was attached — had delaminated.
Morris’s response, says Ellman: “We
built it. We’ll fix it. He, with his own
hands, fixed the boat.”
Ellman calls Morris a “phenomenal
sailor” with an exhaustive knowledge
of boats, despite his lack of formal
training in marine engineering. Following his retirement, Morris completed
his first trans-Atlantic voyage on a
Paine-designed Morris 46. Ellman says
his friend recently sailed a Morris 42
single-handed from Maine to Florida.
“I will miss him,” Ellman says. “He
was a special guy.”
— Douglas A. Campbell
