Wooden Boat Market?

[Peeteris]

Dear fellow wooden boat enthusiasts,

I am doing a research on wooden boat market for my bachelor thesis. The questionnaire below is not that much about boats, but rather about whether there is a market for new wooden boats or not.
The survey is super simple, only 13 questions, should not take more than a minute of your time.
I would be very grateful for your contribution!
link to the questionnaire:
www.visidati.lv/survey/678803914/

BR,
Peter

[Thad]

My observation is that there is no market, but there are builders and there are people who want wooden boats. This holds for new and old boats. Maybe a 12 1/2 or Beetle has a market, but speculative building of those models is chancy too, I believe, even for the established builder.

[Hwyl]

Question 12 should state "in order of preference" when I got to "brand name" which has zeroinfluence on me the only choice left was "4" so I went in and rejiggered the answers. I think the question "Would you buy new or used" violates the poll rules and should be broken down into 2or 3 questions. Cheers

[Wooden Boat Fittings]

I don't think I got that far -- maybe I got ruled out of further participation. Anyway, it seems to me that the survey is too simplistic to provide useful answers in any form of research.

I market used wooden vessels of all types, and I think Thad's answer is pretty-much to the point. There's a market for used wooden boats, but it's not a large one. And no-one but a wooden-boat-lover ever builds a new wooden boat, which s/he builds for personal use, not for a market.

Mike

[wizbang 13]

I don't really trust this thing. I can't even look at the survey without giving info?
13 questions in less than a minit? i smell a rat.

[Peeteris]

Many thanks for your feedback! Yes, the question about new or used is only addressed to the respondents who do not answer "No" for "would you consider purchasing a boat in the future". I am definitely not that good at marketing, so your critique is welcome for future reference.

BR,
Peter

[Peeteris]

Do not worry, there are no spams or viruses or other bad stuff. If i new how to make the survey visible before providing answers, i probably would, but i'm not that good at this kind of thing.

[Ian McColgin]

Question 14, I think it was, is stupidly phrased: Would you consider buying a new or used boat? yes, no, both.

I've done a fair amount of polling of various sorts in my career and while I never took a course in survey design as such (plenty of math and physics work in statistics) I've had surveys I designed professional reviewed and improved so I've got the idea. That said, were I teaching a marketing class and if I took honest surveying seriously (rather than marketing puff-piece or push style survey), I would not give this survey a passing grade.

[James McMullen]

There is no market for wooden boats, not in any meaningful sense. It is a very small and specialized niche. If you are imagining you're going to mass-market a wooden boat, you're delusional. It is the province of very small-scale custom building and amateur enthusiasts only.

[Gerarddm]

It is a student survey, Ian, and so can't be expected to pass a rigorous analysis. But you would think the professor would take a pass at it. Useless data does not help the thesis at all.

[crawdaddyjim50]

Wooden boats are bought and sold daily. This constitutes a market. What he means to say I think is, is there a mass market for wooden boats. For which the answer is no. But the survey is more directed at what kinds of boats are most popular and this can be found through research into registrations more completely than by a survey. If you post a survey such as this on a wooden boat specific site you should expect to see a bias toward such vessels. This will not be helpful to his thesis.

[frank pedersen]

I understand Chesapeake Lightcraft has sold more than 20,000 boat kits, so that is a real market. Some people think DIY projects increase in a down economy. It would be interesting to see whether our host has experienced an uptick in sales of boat plans.

Frank

[Dale R. Hamilton]

well I've got 4 mahogany runabouts, that everyone agrees are beautiful, including forumites, and I can't sell them for the building costs. I've got one on ebay now that has generated 800 hits, and not one bid. Market? what market?

[JimConlin]

It's far more realistic to look at the records of actual boats and actual transactions than to ask some faceless people (us) whether we have dreams.

I can't imagine that he survey as drawn could produce meaningful findings.

[ILikeRust]

I think it depends entirely on how you define "wooden boat." If you're talking about a carvel-plank-on-frame motor cruiser like some of the classic old Chris Crafts and Elcos, I'm thinking there isn't much of a market. If you're talking about modern cold-molded epoxy and veneer boats, I'm thinking there actually is one, because there are plenty of those boats being built, of all kinds.

What kind of wooden boat are we talking about? Size, sail vs. power, method of construction, style, yadda yadda...

[Breakaway]

There is a market for new wooden boats. They are built, bought and sold all the time. But the vast disparity in type of boat couples with low numbers for any given type that the market is as fragmented as a shattered vase.

Kevin

[pcford]

The easy part is building. The hard part is selling them.

[wizbang 13]

well I've got 4 mahogany runabouts, that everyone agrees are beautiful, including forumites, and I can't sell them for the building costs. I've got one on ebay now that has generated 800 hits, and not one bid. Market? what market?

What !!!! The gentleman from Nigeria didn't actually have his agent pick it up and give you an EXTRA $100? sorry, I'm thinking CL.

[sailboy3]

Bruce, did you ever manage to sell your catboat?

[wizbang 13]

No, The gentleman from Nigeria never actually sent his agent to pick it up. Imagine that!!
She is hanging in my boatshed, visible in the background of the Bingo/ thread.
I have several things on CL now, car, truck, boats.It is getting ruined by the scammers.

[skipper68]

Well, Here is "Posh" Mahogany Bay, a 2013 54 footer"Retromoderne' " that is already sold for $4.5 million dollars. It was built at Brooklin Boat Yard. Wasn't sure I liked the white entry, till I found out they were air powered. The head has clear glass that goes opaque when you hit a button. It has a sunshade that moves automatically with the sun to shade the occupants. She's triple planked African Mahogany. I like the thought behind the build. "It's time for boats to become what they were 75 years ago."

[TerryLL]

The easy part is building. The hard part is selling them.

It doesn't matter what you make, boats, widgets, whatever. The only route to success is knowing how to sell your product.

[Michael D. Storey]

I might suggest that nex time you look far a bachelor's program that does not require a thesis.