Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Darrell Allen (00:15):
In the lamination
shop.
This building is 20,000 squarefeet.
It's basically 100 foot by 200foot, and every island packet
that has ever been built hasbeen built in this lamination
shop.
This is the original islandpacket facility A lot of history
.
And this has always been alamination, all the way through
Mr Johnson's days and thenthrough our days.
Capn Tinsley (00:36):
Tell me the year
it started?
Darrell Allen (00:39):
Oh, this facility
was built in 1979.
And this was the first buildinghe built.
And then he built the, thebuilding that we'll go into next
, and he built the assemblybuilding last.
And then in the late 80s, youknow, he went across the street
and built 250,000 pushing thingsacross the street exactly, but
the lamination was all done hereokay and then, once they were
(01:00):
all laminated, they would dragthem across the street and
assemble the boats over there.
We now assemble the boats overhere because we build 12 boats a
year on average, and Mr Johnsonand his best times were
building about 120 boats a year.
Capn Tinsley (01:14):
What is this right
here?
Darrell Allen (01:15):
Well, this is the
deck mold for the motor sailor,
and so what we have in hereright now is mainly molds,
because when we're you know, wedon't use all the 20,000 square
feet for lamination.
We use different bits and partsof it depending on what we're
laminating and what we'rebuilding at the time.
So what we have here is we havea deck of a 439 being assembled
(01:37):
, so this is called decking, andso this is where the headliner
is installed on the deck, andthen the decking guy comes in
and installs all the lights, thehandrails inside the hatches,
the ports and then everythingoutside on the deck as well,
(01:58):
except for what goes on the caprail.
And then, after the deck goesdown onto the hull, then we
install the stanchions andeverything that goes on the cap
rail.
But we can't do that, obviously, until the deck is screwed down
to the hull.
Capn Tinsley (02:11):
This is beautiful.
Darrell Allen (02:12):
This is an
off-light with the graystone.
It's the deck for the boat thatwe'll see a little bit later on
439 number 27.
And this boat is going to areally cool couple that are
retiring here in about anothertwo months and that's about when
we'll have the boat done.
Capn Tinsley (02:30):
Tell me about the
process.
Real quick yeah well it's rightnow, when you're ordering a
boat.
Darrell Allen (02:35):
Right now.
If you gave me a check today,you would be about a year, about
14 to 16 months out, away fromgetting a boat.
Capn Tinsley (02:43):
Okay.
Darrell Allen (02:43):
Because we
usually stay booked up 6 to 12
months in advance, because weonly build 12 boats a year and
then, it takes us about 6 to 7months to build the boat, once
we start it.
Capn Tinsley (02:54):
So how much do you
put down?
Darrell Allen (02:57):
Typically, if
you're paying cash, you would
put 30% to start the boat andthen when we get the boat about
a third of the way through thirdto half about 40 we give, we
get another third and then, whenthe debt goes down, we get the
last third.
We save 10 for when the boat'sfinally finished and then they
pay us all of the last 10 lesstwo thousand dollars that we
(03:18):
take when the boat's completelyin the water in their slip
they're happy financing, we dofinancing as well.
Probably 20 of our purchases arefinanced.
We actually have a financecompany that we worked with as a
dealer in san diego orsomething it's usually about one
percent more than a home loan.
It's not that bad.
It's a lot right now well, youknow, but I mean you know if
(03:38):
you're going to use this as yourhome.
Capn Tinsley (03:40):
6.99 right now in
a primary home, so yeah, so
it's's gonna be about 7.99 onthis.
Darrell Allen (03:46):
So it'll cost you
a percent more to live in a
boat or an island package.
Capn Tinsley (03:51):
Sure, oh, it's
worth it.
I'm just trying to get a handleon the number you got it.
Darrell Allen (03:55):
Yeah, now this is
a mold for the swim step or for
a 349.
Okay, so you're looking at theback side of it.
So every mold is going to bethe reverse of the part, right?
Okay, so we would build theswim step on this mold and then
we would glass it to the back ofthe transom of the boat.
Capn Tinsley (04:15):
What are the major
changes you made to the factory
?
I mean, I know the changes youmade to the boats, but in the
order, Well, we haven't reallychanged.
Darrell Allen (04:22):
We've upgraded,
you know, obviously, the
lighting in the factory, the LED.
We have upgraded the gelmachine.
We've upgraded the hoist.
You know a lot of the equipment, you know just gets tired.
We've bought a new aircompressor.
We've upgraded the CNC software.
Just, you know, in the usualmaintenance, you know New, usual
maintenance, you know it's aboat factory.
Capn Tinsley (04:45):
Yeah, it's
constantly in these maintenance.
Okay, so you were able to comein and just get started.
Darrell Allen (04:49):
Well, not really.
Leslie Allen (04:50):
We had the
property across the street too,
and that was the first harddecision.
Darrell Allen (04:55):
Yeah, so we had
to move out of across the street
because, honestly, when westarted, we had 12 people and no
boat orders.
Capn Tinsley (05:03):
Yeah, and Leslie
told us in another video how you
got a lot of people back.
Darrell Allen (05:08):
Well, as far as
workers you know, island Packet
had been their home for 20-30years and they kind of scattered
to Catalina or Compact orBertram or Jupiter or you know
Chris Craft, wherever, but whenthey and they all knew of us as
a dealer in California.
So when they heard that we werethe ones who took Island Packet
(05:29):
over and were trying to reviveand build new Island Packets,
they did want to come home.
Leslie Allen (05:37):
Especially after
you know, slowly they still all
stayed in contact with eachother.
So one would come back and thenthey'd tell the other.
Darrell Allen (05:45):
But many of them,
you know, bought their homes
close to the factory here andnow that where they were working
before was maybe twice thedistance.
So you know their lives werebuilt in a round island packet
so they were able to put thatback together again and for
example, we have a husband, wifeand a son that work for us, and
the husband and wife had beenhere for 30 years and the son's
been here for probably 20, andand they all live, you know,
(06:07):
within five minutes of thefactory we have here is a motor
sailor, number two with the graystone hull.
And then what happens when webuild the boats is we build the
hull first, and then this areais called hull prep.
So this is basically a raw hullthat's been built, and then the
lead has been installed in thekeel and then the KUZA board has
(06:31):
been installed for around thetank grid.
This will become a tank gridand that's the engine, where the
engine sits, and that's allKUZA board and the legacy boats.
It's all plywood.
Okay, so one of the upgradesthat Leslie and I did was we
changed, we got rid of all theplywood that we could in the
boats and changed it toKoozaboard, which is a synthetic
product which will never bewrought, will never rot in the
(06:53):
bilge, will never be eaten bytermites, it will never warp, it
will never go away.
So it'll be there as long asfiberglass is.
Water won't damage it.
Now it's impervious to water,yeah and Now it's impervious to
water.
Leslie Allen (07:03):
Yeah, there's some
bridges in some places.
I mean it's amazing.
We did a lot of research aboutit.
Darrell Allen (07:08):
Yeah, so our main
fuel tank will go there, our
water tank will go forward andthen our holding tank will go
forward, so this will be thetank grid is what this is called
.
So once the tanks go in in acouple weeks, then they'll come
in and they'll run the hoses,the wires, they'll put the
through holes in and then we'lldrop this here, which is called
(07:29):
the internal grid unit or IGU,and that's what forms the floor
in the boat.
It floors, forms the setteesand the salon.
It forms obviously the forwardstateroom that we just got off
of.
Basically, this is a motorsailor, about 20% built.
Leslie Allen (07:47):
Okay, okay.
And when we were talking aboutcustomization, we can't change
the IGU.
Darrell Allen (07:53):
Internal grid
unit, and that's not necessarily
true, you know It'd make itharder though, wouldn't it?
Well, you know, it depended onthe change and how much time it
takes us to do it right too, toolate in the process.
No, I'm sorry well, but wedon't start in boats that are
sold right, yeah, right, but youknow people change their minds
(08:13):
along the way.
Very true, kinsley, that's verytrue, and and we, we we have a
cutoff point where, once westart the boat, it's got to be
pretty much done now.
If you want to change cushioncolor or countertop color, yeah,
we could do that, but we're notgot to be pretty much done Now.
If you want to change cushioncolor or countertop color, yeah,
we could do that, but we're notgoing to be obviously change
fiberglass color.
We're not going to be able tochange wood color, because all
that is already done, it's allbeen ordered, you know, and it's
(08:34):
already done.
Capn Tinsley (08:34):
Wow, what is this?
So this is a 349 mold.
Okay.
Darrell Allen (08:39):
And this is a 439
hull mold.
It's massive and this is a 439hull mold.
Capn Tinsley (08:43):
It's massive.
To see it like this, it's justso massive, it's amazing, huh
yeah.
Darrell Allen (08:50):
And then we've
got an IGU mold here, and then
this is a headliner mold.
This is obviously an archthat's in the process of being
built, so it basically startsout as six pieces the outside
skin is one piece, this isanother piece, this is another
piece, this is another piece,and that side is another piece.
So it's actually what?
One, two, three, four piecesthat go into building this,
(09:14):
because you can't build this inone mold.
It wouldn't pull out of themold.
So you have to build each sideand put them all together, and
then, when you're done, you haveto make it look like it's all
one piece.
But, believe it or not, there'sa seam right here that you would
never know when we get to thispoint.
And then this is a headlighterthat we're building for 34926,
(09:37):
and we're going to see it lateron.
This is the plith that we puton top of the arch to hold the
solar panels.
So this sits on the arch andhold the solar panels.
So this sits on the arch andthen the solar panels fastened
to this, and there's usuallyfour pliths at the very top of
the arch, so two to support eachsolar panel.
Capn Tinsley (09:52):
So you think this
is better than stainless steel,
just less maintenance.
Darrell Allen (09:55):
Oh God yes.
Capn Tinsley (09:56):
And less money.
Darrell Allen (09:57):
You still have to
polish it.
A stainless steel arch today.
Have you priced it?
Capn Tinsley (10:00):
Not lately $25,000
, $30,000.
Darrell Allen (10:03):
And we do the
fiberglass arches for $20,000.
Plus they have a built-in davitsystem and the davit line runs
straight to the primary winch.
So, literally, you can push thebutton on the primary winch and
raise the dinghy up.
So this is everything startedhere.
Every island packet ever builtstarted right here.
(10:23):
In this gel coat booth we havea little cherry picker or
hydraulic chair that movesaround in the mold to be able to
spray.
I don't have the lights on heretoday.
Capn Tinsley (10:35):
I actually don't
really know where the light
switch is.
Darrell Allen (10:39):
This is our
wainscoting mold here.
So we actually vacuum, bag ourwainscotting.
So they're gonna.
It looks like it's ready to begel coated, and then they'll
they'll put it in a bag, they'llput the, they'll lay the
fiberglass in, they'll put it ina bag and they'll they'll pump
resin in from one side andthey'll suck it out the other.
Capn Tinsley (10:55):
So it's so.
This is the actual mold yes,okay for the wainscotting okay,
so the vacuum bag is very even.
Darrell Allen (11:03):
Yeah, so it's
basically resonance.
We infuse the resin and it goesthrough the fibers completely.
Capn Tinsley (11:09):
Yeah, it's
actually the best way you can
build a fiberglass, so this is avery historical room right here
.
Darrell Allen (11:14):
It's this.
Is it Every island package everbuilt?
Leslie Allen (11:17):
I love history.
Before this was a boatmanufacturer, it was a monkey
farm no way.
Darrell Allen (11:24):
Yeah, well,
that's the rumor Get out of here
, and in some ways it still is.
We've got to get some localknowledge on that.
For every big part.
So there's four big parts, fourbig moats for every boat the
hull, the IGU, the headliner andthe deck.
But then we have hundreds andhundreds of small parts.
You know little lockers, littlewells, little.
You know hatches.
(11:44):
You know the, the companionwayslider.
That's a completely separatemold.
Uh, the cockpit hatches arecompletely separate molds.
Capn Tinsley (11:52):
I mean, there's
just, you know so many different
moving parts yeah and thosecabinets up there, or oh god,
holy.
Darrell Allen (12:00):
No, who knows
what's up there.
That's probably something wedidn't want to throw away right
now, so they just stuck up there.
So this is a part again of oneof the arch molds, in fact that
I don't know if that has a part.
It says 439 on it.
Yeah, that may be.
Oh, look at there.
Capn Tinsley (12:19):
It's an actual
piece.
This is the mold.
Darrell Allen (12:20):
This is the piece
.
Capn Tinsley (12:21):
And what is this?
This is good.
This is the side piece to thatarch right there, the outside
piece.
Oh, I see Actually it's theinside piece I see.
Darrell Allen (12:30):
Because this is
the little cutout right there on
the inside.
Capn Tinsley (12:32):
Okay, we got to
see it.
It's in all different stageshere.
Darrell Allen (12:37):
Yeah, so that's
the other side.
Capn Tinsley (12:38):
So this is a mold.
Darrell Allen (12:39):
And this is the
very top of the arch.
Capn Tinsley (12:42):
Okay.
Darrell Allen (12:42):
So that's why I
say it's five different molds to
build that arch, and then youglass them all together and
finish them all out to make themlook like one piece.
I don't know anybody thatbuilds a nicer arch than we do.
Leslie Allen (12:57):
It's immaculate,
everybody loves it.
Darrell Allen (13:00):
It's immaculate,
everybody loves it.
So we'll walk out of thelamination building and then we
use this area here for tooling.
So right now we're not doing alot of different tooling
projects.
Capn Tinsley (13:14):
What do you do
with all the old molds?
Darrell Allen (13:16):
Cut them up and
throw them away yeah yeah, no,
every year your 320 is gone.
The 350 is gone 380 is gone,370 is gone, 420 is gone, packet
crafts gone, packet cats gone,31, 27, 32, they're all gone
because you don't have enoughspace, go in the smithsonian or
something.
So we have a 349, number 25right here and this boat's about
(13:44):
30 days away from shipping.
So it's in the paint area andyou can see we've mastered off
for the bootstripe.
Capn Tinsley (13:50):
So no teak on this
one either.
Is nobody doing teak no.
Darrell Allen (13:54):
No, we don't.
No, we offer a teak eyebrow foran extra charge, but nobody
wants it.
Well, two boats, I guess, haveordered it out of 70.
Capn Tinsley (14:03):
We've built about
70 boats, but you'll do it if
somebody asks for it.
Yeah, okay.
Darrell Allen (14:06):
I won't do a teak
cap rail, I can't.
We've changed the hold of deckjoint.
Capn Tinsley (14:10):
I see.
Darrell Allen (14:17):
On the legacy
boats the whole deck joint was
under the cap rail.
On ours it's more of a shoeboxfit, which is much more
conventional to the moderntechnology.
Capn Tinsley (14:22):
Okay, yeah, all
right, it is hard to take care
of, but it looks so good allright, and then we'll leave this
area.
This is about 10,000 squarefoot area here and then we're
gonna go a with the littlesailboat over there.
Darrell Allen (14:39):
That's actually
one of our employees.
That's Bobby's boat.
Bobby bought that and it waskind of a hurricane damaged
little boat.
He asked if he could bring itin and work on his spare time
getting it fixed so he could gosailing and get it back in the
water.
Bobby's a hard worker and youknow there's nothing that we
won't do for our guys that worklike Bobby does.
Capn Tinsley (15:02):
So this is wood in
here.
Darrell Allen (15:03):
Yeah, this is
obviously our mill and we've got
, you know, planers and tablesaws and router sanders and you
know, drill presses and back inthe corner we have a CNC router
that we do a lot of theintricate cuts on.
Capn Tinsley (15:20):
And all this was
here.
I mean, obviously you have toupgrade.
Darrell Allen (15:23):
Well, we added
the mezzanine on top.
The router was actually here.
We built each table.
Some of these tables were here,some of them we built when we
took over.
They were basically building,oh, maybe one or two Seaward 32s
a year Because Seaward boughtIsland Packet from the bank and
they were building a couple 26s.
(15:45):
So the guy that owned Seawardand bought Island Packet from
the bank did it for a hobby.
He wasn't in the boat business,he just wanted to have play
with boats and it's still on thename, see.
See where we still own the nameseaworth.
Yeah, and we may bring it backout with some type of a product
someday.
(16:05):
Oh, here's the back seat to themotor sitter that they didn't
get in.
They were supposed to have thisplace in the cockpit, so this
is the aft facing seat for themotor sailor, and then, of
course, storage below.
Capn Tinsley (16:17):
Yeah, I remember
you saying it would go right in
front of the door.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, and it's big enough fortwo people, and, of course,
we'll have a cushion on the back.
Okay, so let me ask you, okay,so we have people that can
afford a new boat, and then wehave people that want to do a
trade-in, and and then there arepeople that would want to bring
(16:38):
a boat here and get work doneso our refit business, you know,
what we've learned is is youknow, most factories do refits
because they don't have enoughnew boats to build and in the
end of mr Johnson's days that'swhat they started doing.
Darrell Allen (16:54):
So there were
some refits done here at the
factory at the end of of thetime because he didn't have any
new boat sales.
We have plenty of new boatsales to keep the factory alive
and going and happy and well.
But what we've learned isthere's a real need for refit.
As these boats get older, youknow they need a refit.
Leslie Allen (17:13):
Well then, nobody
can do it like we can, and we
make sure that it's costeffective.
Darrell Allen (17:22):
Yeah, you know
what?
We'll beat anybody's price andwe'll do it factory certified at
the same time.
So we've got right now.
The gentleman who's running ourrefit department is Bill
Charles, and Bill's beenassociated with Island Packet
for over 40 years and there'snobody more knowledgeable on the
legacy boats than him that'scurrently anywhere working.
Leslie Allen (17:45):
He probably built
almost every Island Packet.
Darrell Allen (17:47):
Or been a part of
every Island Packet.
So how do you?
Capn Tinsley (17:50):
get a boat in here
.
Darrell Allen (17:51):
Well, you know we
were obviously a lot of the
refits don't have to necessarilybe done in the factory.
Okay, so so far we've done a 44and a 38 in the boat yard.
So they wanted to say replacetheir standing rigging at the
same time as we did the chainplates.
So we would do the chain platesand then we'd have a company
called the yacht riggers do thestanding rigging and we would
haul the boat at the yachtriggers boat yard.
Capn Tinsley (18:13):
Okay, you work
with yacht riggers Will and
Steve.
They're the ones that did allmy stuff.
Darrell Allen (18:18):
They're amazing.
Yeah, they're the best riggercompany I've ever been
associated with.
Capn Tinsley (18:23):
Richard is the dad
.
Yeah, I met them when they wereworking out of the back of his
house.
Darrell Allen (18:26):
Yeah, yeah,
exactly, they're great people.
Yeah, all of our new boats andthey help us on the refits where
they need help.
But, for example, we have aisland packet 31 refit coming up
.
He just had a standing riggingdone.
And when I say refit, mainlyit's chain plates on the or
tanks on the older boats.
Capn Tinsley (18:45):
I know they do the
external, but we don't because
they did the external and it wasfine.
I'm like 27 but I kind of havegotten where I'm a little biased
now because, well that, becausefor resale too, yeah exactly To
me.
Darrell Allen (19:00):
The external
chain plates, you know look kind
of homemade or home, you know,like you did it in your backyard
or something.
Let's do it the way the boatwas designed by.
Capn Tinsley (19:08):
Bob Johnson.
So they will do it the originalway for you.
Well, we will, you will, yeah.
Darrell Allen (19:14):
Okay, so we will
handle, you know, the cabinetry.
We'll take the cabinetry out.
We'll take out the oak chainplates.
Capn Tinsley (19:20):
And it'll be at
their yard.
Darrell Allen (19:22):
Yes, or we can,
even if you don't need the rigs
In St Pete.
Yes, if you don't need the rigschanged out, we can actually do
it in the slip.
Capn Tinsley (19:34):
Okay, so far do
you travel.
Darrell Allen (19:37):
Well, we stay in
St Pete.
Okay, yeah, we have arelationship with the Harbridge
Marina in St Pete.
And we have two 50-foot slipsthere that we deliver our new
boats out of and we bring boatsback for warranty and we use
that area there and then we usea slip, if we need to, for refit
as well.
So we've refitted a 38, a 44.
(20:00):
Uh, we've done this is ahurricane damaged boat that we
had to bring back to the factoryrefit because there was no
choice.
Uh, that boat was damaged byhurricane milton and and had
nearly a half a million dollarsworth of damage on it, so that
that was significant.
a boat of that significance wewill bring back to the factory
that's a 439, number 21 okayyeah so, but if we can do it in
the water, we're doing the water.
We have a 380 coming up, buttheir boat was damaged in Milton
(20:23):
as well in their slip, andwe're gonna be able to repair it
at the at the Harbridge marina,because it's mainly stuff on
top of the deck there's a littlebit of fiberglass.
Capn Tinsley (20:32):
You can inspect
mine exactly at the marina.
Darrell Allen (20:35):
So to haul the
boat, take the mast off the boat
, haul it out of the water, getit on a truck, get it here and
get it back is about $15,000.
Capn Tinsley (20:45):
In addition to the
work.
Darrell Allen (20:47):
So if we can keep
you from having to spend that
$15,000, and keep it in thewater.
It's much better, or haul it ata boatyard.
So if we can't do the work inthe water, then our second
choice is haul it at a boat yard, because putting it on the
truck tends to be most of themost.
Probably over half of ourowners are legacy owners.
Yeah, or half of our buyers,should I say of the new, next
(21:09):
generation, on that packet youwant to make legacy?
owners yeah and and not onlyjust make them happy.
We get emails on a regularbasis on and we send them to
different engineers.
Jerry Swartz, who's retired butwas here during back in the day
and he still works out of hishome for us and we'll send
questions to him.
You know, warren, you know, isone of our engineers here.
He answers questions.
I answer questions.
We try to keep up with thelegacy questions and needs as
(21:34):
much as we do the new boats sothe trade-in thing and I'll wrap
this up, but what?
that would be interesting to alot of people well, we love
island packets right and so evenif you want a brokerage island
packet, we'll help you with that.
We have.
We have a a resale islandpacket.
Yachts resale is a separatecompany that I'm part of, uh,
(21:54):
and Barone runs it for me, andso we've resold 485s in the last
couple years.
Probably what three?
We've resold a couple 465s,we've resold a couple 420s,
we've resold a couple 380s,we've resold one, two, three,
four, three, nines, and so we dovery well with that.
(22:19):
So even if you're not in themarket for a brand new boat,
call us.
Capn Tinsley (22:22):
Because you might
have a legacy boat.
Darrell Allen (22:24):
Yeah, we're
helping several owners, so you
could even upgrade to a legacyboat here.
Oh yes, maybe, oh yes, right nowwe have two 465s listed, one's
under contract.
We have two 485s listed, oneunder contract.
We have two, four, eight, fivelisted, one under contract.
We have one, two, two, four,three, nines listed actually
(22:45):
three, one under contract thatwe're doing.
So you know, we do very wellwith the resale business and the
refit business is just asimportant to us because we
believe that people should havean option.
Okay, so if you want a secondopinion on your refit, call us
and we'll try to make it workout.
And I know there's anothervendor in Florida who's telling
(23:06):
320, 380, 370 owners that theirchain plates are bad and I'm
sorry, I'll stand up and I'lldefend that all day long.
And out of all the chain platesand all the boats that are out
there, we don't know of morethan about a dozen that have
actually failed and they were onthe 27s and on the 31s.
We've never heard of athree-digit series island packet
(23:28):
ever failing Even a 98?
.
And, honestly, when they pullthem out of the boat they're
fine, there's nothing wrong withthem.
And in 98, which Bob Johnsonchanged the way that they were
installed, so some that werebuilt water so somewhere in 98
you know that was changed 99 ornewer, you know it's exactly
like we're building today.
Okay, okay, yeah, so so.
(23:50):
But before you give somebody$20,000 to replace chain plates,
call us, we do it, do it forless, but before we change them,
we're going to inspect them tomake sure they actually need to
be changed.
We don't make a living off ofrefit, we do it as a service.
Capn Tinsley (24:06):
Okay.
Darrell Allen (24:07):
Okay.
Capn Tinsley (24:08):
All right, salty
Ben and out.