Milburn Boats

[Pen n Ink]

Sad to receive notification that another decent builder is to cease trading due to lack of orders.

[dave moore]

They did a superb job on Best of British, based on a Norton Canes shell. I'm sorry to hear that, but I think that there is less demand than previously for top end work. Maybe those potential punters are hanging on to their money, perhaps the boating market is saturated, it's certainly a trend I've noticed. What do others think?

 

Dave

[nicknorman]

They did a superb job on Best of British, based on a Norton Canes shell. I'm sorry to hear that, but I think that there is less demand than previously for top end work. Maybe those potential punters are hanging on to their money, perhaps the boating market is saturated, it's certainly a trend I've noticed. What do others think?

Dave

I don't think the saturation of the boating market can be blamed considering Steve Hudson had 8 boats in build when he died, but possibly as you say a lack of demand for top end fully bespoke. Steve had a big brand presence in terms of adverts in all the magazines, big presence at Crick and a very recognisable product. A fully bespoke fitter-out must inevitably have the problem of no recognisable product (each one, by definition, being different) and so less public exposure. Plus I think plenty of people especially those for whom it's a first boat, prefer a one stop shop.

 

Anyway, sad to see a quality outfit ceasing.

[cuthound]

Honeystreet was a John Milburn boat on a Reeves shell. After 12 hard years and 14000 hours as a share boat she showed few signs of wear but did need a new engine.

 

I understand he recently handed over the business to his son.

 

What a shame another good builder has gone to the wall. Soon won't be many left.

 

Edited to add the last two paragraphs.

Edited June 25, 2015 by cuthound

[Neil Smith]

I wonder if they could have gone a bit down market to meet demands or if he did hand it over to his son was he as dedicated as dad.

 

Neil.

[junior]

I also think that the more that are built, the more there will be on the second hand market.

 

I guess if you wind back to the 1990's decent quality top end leisure boats had only been being built for what, maybe 10-15 years tops?? If you wanted something with a solid wood floor, belfast sink, granite worktops and a washer/dryer then you had to buy new and bespoke and spend big.

 

Wind the clock forward 20 years and there must be hundereds if not thousands of that type of boat knocking around. 20 years ago you couldn't have got yourself a second hand Braidbar/Hudson/Norton Canes but now you can now regularly find them on AD only a few years old, well looked after and at half the price. I know what I'd rather do with my money.

 

I guess the boat builders know that the more they build the more boats there will be on the second hand market.

[Athy]

Possibly, but that doesn't seem to have stopped Jaguar or BMW from building new cars.

[Machpoint005]

Milburn built a lot of Ownerships boats (including one we had a piece of, back in 2003). Perhaps the disappearance of that market left an unsustainable business plan?

[billS]

Possibly, but that doesn't seem to have stopped Jaguar or BMW from building new cars.

 

True, but a 10 year old Jaguar or BMW has very little residual value, and still requires relatively high maintenance costs. This will normally result in most being scrapped after a lifetime of 10-15 years. The same is not the case for a high end narrow boat.