[SHNOOL]

Walked all over Hull number 1 (Seaward 26RK) at the boat show in Oct... built in the joint plant. Build quality was impressive.

 

[Rocky Mountain Breeze]

Is the facility open for tours anytime? We will be in Tampa in a few weeks and I would enjoy a tour of the facility if it is open on the weekends.

 

[mstern]

Walked all over Hull number 1 (Seaward 26RK) at the boat show in Oct... built in the joint plant.

Have they started numbering the Seaward hulls from scratch now that the Seawards are built at the IPY plant? Makes it sound like IPY saved Seaward ("now building Seaward boats at the IPY plant") when the financial reality seems to have been the opposite. Sort of ironic....

 

[smackdaddy]

Walked all over Hull number 1 (Seaward 26RK) at the boat show in Oct... built in the joint plant. Build quality was impressive.

Thank goodness someone finally listened to Brent Swain on those companionway doors.

 

[rostyvyg]

Is the facility open for tours anytime?

Call the factory ahead of time. Ask for Adam Beattie (Sales Manager). If you are flexible he will find time to show you the facility. He is super nice and very accommodating. He is also very instrumental when someone needs to research the history of a specific hull, get drawings, part numbers or order parts.

 

[sailforlife]

Shame always wanted one great well built boats.

RIP....

:ship-captain::ship-captain:

 

[rostyvyg]

Makes it sound like IPY saved Seaward ("now building Seaward boats at the IPY plant") when the financial reality seems to have been the opposite. Sort of ironic....

From whatever I understood while researching the issue before buying my IP420 the factory put themselves in a corner because they eventually started competing with their own older boats.

The build quality and construction methods are such that the used Island Packets after holding tank replacements look, feel, sail and provide living accommodations as good as as their new yachts and, in many instances, much better then new boats of other manufacturers. The deck is cored with synthetic material and never gets soft. The hull is solid fiberglass. Deck to hull joint is totally bomb proof - they use machine screws and nuts as opposed to the majority of other boat builders. Their proprietary gelcoat does not chalk and exhibit no crazing after 25+ years. They use solid teak for cabinetry. All doors are louvered for ventilation. Lockers have cedar lining. Tankage is huge and low in the hull below the cabin sole, adding to stability and proper trim. This also leaves enormous stowage room everywhere else on those boats. Draft is under 5" which makes it Bahamas friendly. Mast height lets them fit under all ICW bridges (well, except of one). Prop and rudder are protected. Smaller models got reputation of being slow in light air. Nothing a Code 0 can't solve, though. Models over 40" are faster and pure joy to sail. The hull shape makes IP's gently part water as opposed to newer flat bottom boats slamming into waves.

So, to stop competing with their own older models the factory shifted to making larger and pricier yachts. Then 2008 came and no one was able to afford to buy them. The rest is history. Now it seems the factory started focusing on smaller models again and Seaward design fits their current needs very well. It is a very nice small go anywhere boat. So the marriage of convenience might become a love affair. I hope they would come up with a new and improved IP380, though. That would be an ultimate modern age bluewater long distance cruiser.

Anyway, wishing them Good Luck and Godspeed...

 

[smackdaddy]

Deck to hull joint is totally bomb proof - they use machine screws and nuts as opposed to the majority of other boat builders.

Their proprietary gelcoat does not chalk and exhibit no crazing after 25+ years.

The hull shape makes IP's gently part water as opposed to newer flat bottom boats slamming into waves....

Nothing really wrong with IPs, per se, but let's not get carried away.

 

[StarwindMango]

I agree, the build quality of the 26RK I went on at the factory was impressive for a smallish "transportable" boat. They're freakin' expensive though!

Of course...if you compare a 28 ft. LOA sailboat price to a new 28 ft. LOA offshore center console powerboat, the sailboat price starts to look better!

Regardless of the price, I hope Seaward sticks around. If they ever do make a smaller boat (19/20/21 RK?) my father has expressed interest in a new one. The 26 RK is a little bigger than he wants and on the edge of the budget but a smaller RK makes lots of sense.

 

[StarwindMango]

Thank goodness someone finally listened to Brent Swain on those companionway doors.

I have a love-hate relationship with companionway doors like this. Normal hatch boards (wash boards, etc.) are a PIA to deal with in general, but they don't take up that nice aft cabin-trunk space where people like to lean. Swinging doors are easy to enter/exit but they look tacky when open and waste a lot of space on a small boat.

 

[Minnewaska]

.....I hope they would come up with a new and improved IP380, though. That would be an ultimate modern age bluewater long distance cruiser...

Would that be the BlueJacket line they were trying to launch a few years back. Not my cup of tea, but I saw one at the New England Boat show and thought it was nicely done. Lost track of what happened to them, as I've never seen one since.

 

[mstern]

From whatever I understood while researching the issue before buying my IP420 the factory put themselves in a corner because they eventually started competing with their own older boats.

Anyway, wishing them Good Luck and Godspeed...

This has been an issue with the entire fiberglass boat industry since its inception; it is not limited to IPY. Every manufacturer since Pearson brought out the Triton has been competing with their own products. Unlike their wooden counterparts, a five-year old fiberglass boat, even if only marginally maintained, will look almost new. Once a sufficient stock of boats was available on the used boat market, it became a lot harder to sell new boats.

Car makers were able to counter this problem by developing the "model year" concept, changing the look (if not the substance) of their products yearly; but they have always had the advantage over boats of being able to deal with the costs of those changes through the economies of scale. Boat makers who struggle to put out 20 or 30 of the same model per year just don't have the ability to that. The big boys (Catalina, Bristol, Pearson, C&C) chose to address the problem by developing new models when there was a significant development in design (fin keels/spade rudders; plumb bows; sugar scoop sterns; hull chines). As we've seen, sometimes, that's not enough to stay in business.

I don't know the whys and wherefores of IPY's story. They clearly moved away from their early, smaller models to bigger yachts; but then, so did most manufacturers. IPY has always been a small niche within the small niche of sailboats designed to cruise: heavy, full keel, traditional looking, high-end but not "luxurious", expensive. They were obviously successful as they had decades of continuous operation; but I doubt they were ever really profitable, and I find it hard to believe that the market for used IPY's hurt them any more than it has hurt other manufacturers. My guess: their tiny slice of the pie was dealt a vicious blow by the Great Recession, and they never financially recovered.

No judgments here; I've never sailed on one, but I really like the IPY designs and the philosophy behind them. At one point, the Estero was my favorite design among cruising yachts. I too wish them the best of good fortune; I hope the recent acquisition gives them the financial stability they need to survive and thrive.

 

[rostyvyg]

My guess: their tiny slice of the pie was dealt a vicious blow by the Great Recession, and they never financially recovered.

I too wish them the best of good fortune; I hope the recent acquisition gives them the financial stability they need to survive and thrive.

Well, the paradox is - if a couple of young wealthy professionals wants to take a sabbatical or an older couple wants to sell their home and retire cruising around the world there are none modern affordable new sailboats on the market that fit the bill. No one disses Catalinas, Hunters, Beneteaus, jenneaus, etc, - they just have a different crowd in sights. They cater to daysailers, wannabe racers, charter companies. Pretty much no one builds currently a sea kindly (albeit slower) full keel sailboat with a protected rudder, snug safe cockpit, plenty handholds below, useful galley, great stowage, big tankage, pre-wired and pre-plumbed for cruising gear. Island Packet is a rare manufacturer who has an ability to fulfill this need without even trying too hard. All they have to do is continue following their tradition. Considering that more and more people can work remotely and want to escape the rat race they might recover just fine.

 

[smackdaddy]

Well, the paradox is - if a couple of young wealthy professionals wants to take a sabbatical or an older couple wants to sell their home and retire cruising around the world there are none modern affordable new sailboats on the market that fit the bill. No one disses Catalinas, Hunters, Beneteaus, jenneaus, etc, - they just have a different crowd in sights. They cater to daysailers, wannabe racers, charter companies.

Pretty much no one builds currently a sea kindly (albeit slower) full keel sailboat with a protected rudder, snug safe cockpit, plenty handholds below, useful galley, great stowage, big tankage, pre-wired and pre-plumbed for cruising gear.

I certainly have nothing against IPs as I've said, but your statements are definitely very short-sighted. And I'm certain you're not "hating" on any of these boats (which doesn't happen on forums apprently) - but you really should do a bit more research. Perhaps you should look into some of my wildly popular sentiments on the matter.

In any case, IP is gone. For a perfectly valid reason. No one bought their boats. That's just the reality of it. And they are not the only ones.

 

[mstern]

I certainly have nothing against IPs as I've said, but your statements are definitely very short-sighted. And I'm certain you're not "hating" on any of these boats (which doesn't happen on forums apprently) - but you really should do a bit more research. Perhaps you should look into some of my wildly popular sentiments on the matter.

In any case, IP is gone. For a perfectly valid reason. No one bought their boats. That's just the reality of it. And they are not the only ones.

Actually, IP is not gone. They were acquired by Hake Yachts, the builders of Seaward Yachts. IP, Blue Jacket and Seaward yachts are now all being built at the IP facility in Florida.

But Smack is right; despite Rostyvyg's obvious admiration for the brand, not enough people agree: IP was in financial difficulty because not enough people bought their product. Most sailors do not want a full keel, heavy displacement boat. There are benefits to be sure, but it seems that there is an ever-decreasing number of sailors who are willing to plunk down that much money for what is essentially a 50 year old design. Granted, IP has made refinements to the architecture, and they certainly use more modern materials and construction techniques. But at base, this is a boat that would look right at home in the 1960's. Except for that godawful gelcoat color. Will someone please explain that to me?

 

[colemj]

Deck to hull joint is totally bomb proof - they use machine screws and nuts as opposed to the majority of other boat builders.

I've never understood why people think this type of hull joint design is a good one - it is certainly anything but bomb-proof, and is probably the second-worse way to make that joint, besting only the low-quality pop-rivet group. I think it has to do more with years of advertising it as "good" than actual design engineering.

Our deck/hull joint is laid together with adhesive between the flanges, then fully glassed inside and out with 2 layers of 3608 biaxial fabric overlapping the joint 6" on each side. Now that is bomb-proof because it is essentially now a monocoque structure with the entire boat.

I think Amel and several other catamaran manufacturers also do it this way. Maybe many builders do this now, but I don't keep track of things like this.

Machine screws and nuts makes me think fragile, and leaky...

Mark

 

[rostyvyg]

Except for that godawful gelcoat color. Will someone please explain that to me?

Well, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. Some people like the ivory color, others dislike it.. But it helps to quickly find the boat in a crowded anchorage.

...who are willing to plunk down that much money for what is essentially a 50 year old design.

IPs aren't floating condos or light-air rockets by any stretch, but look closely at the hull shapes and you'll see they're considerably more modern than most traditional full-keel alternatives.

Anyway, we are getting off topic. No one boat fits all. But the factory is open after ownership has changed and they are still building quality yachts.

 

[smackdaddy]

Have you seen Bob Perry's new carbon full-keelers? If full-keelers have a future, this is it.

 

[RegisteredUser]

If wood doors are sticking/catching/ect it may be due to wood swelling..or frame/door attachment shifting.

You can easily plane 'sticky' areas.
In the old days, everybody planed their doors...

 

[Lazerbrains]

I went aboard a largish IP last year at the boat show - 55' center cockpit.
Beautiful boat, and probably one of the nicest cockpits you could spend time in during a long crossing.
The hull had a custom paint job (navy blue) to cover the baby-vomit color they normally use.

It was obviously designed as a passage-maker. However, several prospective buyers were walking off shaking their heads.
When I went aboard I immediately saw why - it was like a dance-floor inside with no handholds - I tried to imagine how you would get around while heeled and I couldn't other than crawling along the floor. Boat was quite expensive also - north of 1 mil.

BTW - long keeled boats are hardly out of style among cruisers. Go to any of the cruising grounds in the S. Pacific and you will see a preponderance of them. The difference is it is at the price IPs are, it is less expensive to pick up a used Hans Christian/Baba/Westsail/Whatever and re-oputfit it - and many feel they have a better boat than an IP