Albin Factory Shutdown - Part Two

[gerygarcia]

VERY INTERESTING-----VERY GOOD BOAT-- GOOD PRICE-- AVERAGE ATTENTION TO DETAIL--BELOW AVERAGE CUSTOMER SUPPORT----NO MARKETING EFFORT---THIN DEALERS----
WONDER WHY THEY CLOSED
LOOKS LIKE A GREAT OPPORTUNITY FOR SOME BRIGHT YOUNG VENTURE CAPITALIST TO STEP IN--I AM SURE THIS GROUP WOULD CHEER THEM ON---I WOULD
HENRY

Everything you said is right on. There are many things that Albin has done to make it a good boat with a great reputation as an affordable boat with incredible sea keeping abilities. It's why they've sold so many boats.

They haven't been able to improve on attention to detail, which is why they haven't been more successful (In my opinion). I think they left "finishing" to the dealer level, which in turn led to inconsistency in the end product. Many of their dealers, if not all of their dealers did not sell Albins exclusively which probably contributed to the lack of attention to detail work.

Legacy (Freedom Yachts) changed their marketing approach in the past year or so.
Legacy trimmed their line of boats they produced. Right now they sell only two boats - 32 and 42. They have minimal dealers. I think they sell their boats "direct" and have only one dealer on the west coast. I think it helps maintain quality control of their end product and keeps their profitibility up by not having to have a "middle man" sell their boats. I think Pearson (True North) yachts does the same "direct marketing" approach to selling their boats.

Albin (or whoever buys the company) should look at what they've done as a possible model on how they should relaunch.

Customer support is the other area Albin needs to improve on. This is where the Albin Owners group can really be helpful. I hope Albin listens to us more in the future. It will help build a stronger brand. Only time will tell if the company restarts or if a new owner comes around and decides to look at us as an "equitiy marketing" source. Having Andrew Page was a good thing. I hope they have a similar person in the future.

I hope all the employees of Albin land on their feet. It hurts them the most.

I will cheer them on also if they keep building these great boats!

[gerygarcia]

GO RED SOX !!
2 down 2 to go

Congrats on the win! This is coming from a die hard Yankee fan

[AlanD]

Wow, looks like I have the last boat coming out of Albin, for now at least. I am doing final checks on her now, doing some cruises and filling out the Hull Warranty stuff. Hope it all works out well for them. I have been through restructurings and revampings before and hope they keep their talented folks and stick to their best lines. Hopefully will get some pictures up soon.

[Mariner]

Alan,

Have you been deailing directly with Albin at all? Have they said anything to you about what's happening? Do you have any reservations about buying a boat with a warranty from a company that may not be around to honor it?

[NJRobert]

I purchased a new 28TE Newport Edition this past April. The quality of the boat is undisputed, however, the "fit and finish" left me with several "warranty" issues that my dealer resolved. There remains one issue specific to some plastic parts that are also covered under the warranty. I'm hoping they open their doors again, if only to sell off what parts and machines they have :roll

[AlanD]

Mariner, I have been speaking to my sales rep and have had direct information from Albin. Personally I have no reservations on my boat here, as Hull Warranty goes, I am still submitting my paperwork as planned. All other warranty stuff goes through the other manufacturers like Yanmar, Raymarine, etc... (I am less concerned about the Hull, one of the reasons I bought a new Albin.)

As for the company, I can not say much, and don't want to say anything that could negatively impact any of their employees or the current internal efforts within their company on where they are going. Speculation is bad in these things, especially if you are working on a reorg/restructure/sale of the group, rumors can spoil deals.

I can say, there is a lot of activity here at Albin, I still wish them the best, and I am hoping they will make a public statement soon.

[Elizabeth Ann]

As for the company, I can not say much, and don't want to say anything that could negatively impact any of their employees or the current internal efforts within their company on where they are going. Speculation is bad in these things, especially if you are working on a reorg/restructure/sale of the group, rumors can spoil deals.

I can say, there is a lot of activity here at Albin, I still wish them the best, and I am hoping they will make a public statement soon.

Ditto. Let's see how this plays out.

[Veebyes2]

WOW! I have been 'land cruising' for the past 2 months so access to the internet has been sporatic & brief.

So sorry to see the closeure, temporary or permanent, of Albin. As a 21 year owner of their boats, 2 of them, it comes as a real shocker but at the same time not entirely surprising.

JMO but things seemed to start to unravel as far back as the early 90s with the ceasing of production of the venerable 27, a boat with very strong European heritage. Around this time the 36 trawler was also dropped.

Again JMO but Albin has never built boats for the mass market. With very few exceptions Albin has designed boats which were 'different'. During the 80s & 90s this was due in no small part to the efforts of Terry Compton, an Englishman by birth, who looked at boat design with European eyes i.e. form followed function rather than the N American way where 'The Look' dictates everything.

Compton designed the 27 & everything else till he left Albin to form his own company in the early 00s. Many boats were wonderful boats but were sales flops. Compton designed the early 90s 26' 'Getaway', a great weekender for 2 (it looked like a shrunk 32+2) but it was too heavy for the SUVs of the day to tow & cost more than the cookie cutter high production boats. He designed the late 80s 34 'trawler', not really a trawler but a very practical boat even if it was butt ugly in the eyes of all but a few. The hull of the 34 lived on in the 32+2. Compton also designed the very successful 28, Albin's 'bread & butter' seller. Even this boat has a tough time against the mass market, & cheaper, outboard crowd.

Taking a new boat to production is no cheap undertaking. JMHO but it is shame Albin produced so many wonderfully designed boats in a market where few buyers appreciate & want to pay for such boats. In a market of look alike 'plastic fantastics' such as Sea Ray, Cruisers, Bayliner etc.etc. it is difficult to get people to buy something different.

Albin's attitude towards after sales service is another issue & is prevalent in the marine industry. Won't touch that one with my personal experience, but it was very frustrating.

Hopefully Albin will emerge stronger & better than ever. The builder of the 5th wheel trailer I bought last year had a story similar to Albin. They build a better than average product, are a relatively small company & had a service reputation that left alot to be desired. The company, Western RV, builders of Alpenlite trailers & Alpine motorhomes, is turning around.

[NJRobert]

I seemed to have misplaced Damon's phone number in Ct. Does anyone have it?

Thanks

[JackK]

I seemed to have misplaced Damon's phone number in Ct. Does anyone have it?

Thanks

Damon Hussar
Marketing

Albin Marine
PO Box 228
143 River Rd.
Cos Cob, CT 06807

Ph: (203) 661-4341
Fax: (203) 661-6040

[Tuxedo]

From the locked thread, which I assume was locked because this is where the mods want the discussion.

Last thing I heard yesterday was that Damon is no longer with the company and Fred Peters was traveling. There's a woman named Monica, I believe, who is answering the phone right now, but still no word yet on any final outcomes. Not a good scene for new Albin owners stil under warranty, that might have warranty issues.

Monica is the Office Manager, Bookkeeper, Treasurer, Person who signs the checks, Co-Owner, Ex-wife of Fred. If you have a warranty claim, best buddy up to her.

[RobS]

Not a good scene for Kenny at Standish either - this is his only line of boats. Spoke to him yesterday for a bit - naturally he's pretty bummed, and knows nothing about Albin's future yet.

[captrlbagwell]

Yea Kenny is bumming I bought a new 26 TE and anlong with the purchase came a 1000 gals of fuel. Well Kenny and I took the fall on thet one theyAlbine closed up owing me agout 400 gals and never paid Kenny. And Kenny is a great guy.

[Albinflorida]

This is the situation from a dealer's personal viewpoint. As you know, the company has ceased production, has layed everyone off and Fred is disolving the company. Fred Peters is activly trying to sell the company. He pumped a lot of money into the company, this past year, and is just trying to get out. Damon has taken a job in NY with IBM. Ed Winarski is looking. A combination of a very down boating market, stale designs (yes I do love the 28, 31 and 35's, but increased competition, with new designs, at a lower or slightly above price point has really hurt.), ineffecient manufacturing practices and the 2 Chinese boats has just put Albin in a bad position. There were orders waiting, but the debt would not allow them to continue. Fred should have sold the company 3 years ago when he had buyers persuing the company. His property is worth a lot, but not for sale, The molds are old and in need of repair. Best case, someone buys the name, tooling and molds and continues producing them with updated designs and more efficient manufacturing methods, resulting in a lower price point, worst case, the molds are sold at auction to a manufactuor and destroyed to get rid of the competition,(it does happen). Unfortunatly, at this time, dealers will have to absorb as much of the warranty as they can. The factory warranty on the hull is the main thing, which for now, will not be honored, but, fortunatly, the hull is the one thing we never have a problem with. Resale should not be affected as the hardware and other parts, other than molded parts we could not get from the factory anyway, are off the shelf. Let's keep our fingers crossed everything will shake out soon. These are bad times in the boating industry with Sea Ray down over 50%, Marine Max on the verge of banktuptcy and several manufactuors out of buisness or are restructuring. These are my own personal views, but I have good information to back them up. Hopefully things will get better soon.

[NJRobert]

My main problem now is getting the "coaming" panels replaced on both port and starboard sides. The new boat came in to me this year with "spider cracks" in the corners. My dealer put an order in to Albin for them, but then this whole thing happened. My main concern is trying to find the manufacturer of these panels and my Albin dealer will get them for me. Do you or does anyone out there happen to know who might make these for them? I own a 2007 28 Newport

Robert