CAUTION, There’s a fine line between Breakthrough technology,

Half-baked ideas and Snake oil.

These mini-rants are often prompted by something that has gotten caught in my craw over the last eight weeks. This one is no exception, prompted by two different events. First a client asked my opinion of a new boat design feature he read about. The feature promised the usual: improved performance, more efficiency, better economy, high fiber, less fat.

The second event was a three day military watercraft conference with the theme "The Pulse of Technology". What the disparity between these events pointed out was the following. First, there is an amazing amount of time, determination, and money required to develop any breakthrough concept. Second, the tiny amount of research and development dollars typically available for any new yacht project. And third, yacht advertising leaves the impression that what little money is spent is producing more valid and defendable data than can actually be justified.

Look at other industries. The design and development costs of even a modest aircraft

are vastly greater than the total cost the plane. This is true for most complex products: cars, software, even toasters. The story, however, is not the same for yachts. Tooling costs aside, research & development often represents as little as 5% of the cost of one or two boats. This is not an indictment, simply a truism. The economies of the industry simply do not support more.

As a result, a buyer should be very cautious in evaluating lofty claims. Even well intentioned builders may present you with data "proving" such and such. That does not mean that the data is fully correct or reproducible nor that it can be extrapolated beyond the one boat used for the test. Remember the bromide: "If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is." Put your efforts into finding builders with a history of good work, not the ones with the hottest new feature.