OnBoard Magazine - Issue XII - 2020 Season

FAMILY FIRST While there is a great deal of differences between some of the new boat brands we offer, there are some common threads that define why we champion for these manufacturers. A major commonality are family values. Our featured boat builders treat their employees like family, and you can usually find the management team and owners roaming around the production floor saying hello to the employees and asking about their families. This genuine care for the team that pours their craft into every boat from hull lay-up to delivery emulates our own passion and care for our teams. “Walking around the Viking and Valhalla plants you can see it in everyone, how much pride and care they are showing no matter where they work in the facility,” Bluewater Sales Professional Joe Green explains. “Everyone seems to be excited about the newest addition (Valhalla) to the Viking family.” A family-first mantra goes a long way with instilling a great passion in each team member. They’re not just going to work each day to punch the clock and get paid, they want to work alongside their friends and impress their colleagues and the future owners with their skills. When working with our customers on a new boat purchase, they always enjoy touring the factory and watching their boat advance through the build process. They build relationships with the team members and management responsible for bringing their boat from concept to completion. Bluewater Sales Professional Troy Waller sums it up: “Regulator really knows how to treat a customer. From the time you step into the facility until the time you leave you are treated like a true friend.” For example, if a customer is deeply interested in the construction progress, Bluewater salesmen can work directly with Regulator project managers to provide daily photos and updates on their boat. “The entire staff is accommodating, professional and very knowledgeable. You can really sense that it is a great place to work by the smiles on the employee’s faces and the craftsmanship of their work, adds Waller.” FROM START TO FINISH Surely, you’ve heard it before: our brands fabricate as many of the parts as possible that go into each boat. Viking and Valhalla boast a million dollar 5-axis router that tools their own plugs and molds for all the composite components for every boat. Jupiter offers a bevy of customization for all their models and manages all of them in house. They have their own paint booth for custom hull colors, their own teak shop and a metal shop that fabricates the T-top and rocket launcher frames for each boat. Sabre and Back Cove do all their own R&D, engineering and design in-house with a dedicated team. Their “Built in the Maine Tradition” is not just a tagline but a philosophy the whole team lives by. Sales Professional and self-professed ‘Blue Boat Guy’ Chris Hall Jr., explains, “Furniture, cabinetry and metal components are all built by hand in the facility. The moment a customer arrives at the factory, the passion and experienced craftsmanship is immediately evident.” Princess Yachts claims over 80 percent of all components for every yacht from 40 feet to 40 meters is fabricated in-house, but they do so a little differently. Bluewater Sales Professional Scott MacDonald has enjoyed the privilege of touring the Plymouth, England operation on more than one occasion and explains, "Princess Yachts "From the time you step into the facility until the time you leave you are treated like a true friend." Bluewater team members on one of their many visits with Viking and Valhalla construction staff. 48 BLUEWATER