Pretty good deal, Its a 2100 landed here on a trailer for about 35k.

From here its fit engine and electronics. Everything else is done, Full paint, upholstery, winch etc.

Its constructed from 5083 alloy, 5 mm hull, exact spec as an nz built boat but half the cost.

Im not sure if hes a totally nuts or a bloody genius. Whats your guys thoughts on this? I have noticed quite a few Chinese boats are popping up on tm lately. Is this the start of things to come? I know the weld quality wont be as good as NZ built machines and re-sale wont be there either. But the cost of 6m plus boats now days is getting frankly stupid. I can totally understand why hes gone ahead and taken the plunge.

Im sure Stabi wont be doing backflips out there boats being copied either. The cost of material and the labour rate must only be a fraction of what we are paying on our shores.

Apart from logo stickers you cant tell em apart.

what are your guys thoughts on this?  Im sure there will be plenty of calls of "chinese rubbish" etc etc. But remember, this is simply a hull built out of the same alloy as we use here. Its not like a Great Wall car that is built out of thousands of inferior parts. Interested to hear your guys thoughts.

cheers.

 

It's one thing to do a chinese boat "inspired" by designs they have borrowed, bit of a mish-mash of other brands, even some fairly obvious design elements. 

Quite another thing altogether to make an exact copy and then sell it into the same market where the bloody thing was created.

Completely aside from the ethics of it, I would have serious reservations about the materials. Look at all the wonky steel that went into those bridges in the Waikato. I dare say if you went to the chinese factory and said "I want it to be 5083 Alloy" (or whatever) they would go sure, sure, we'll write whatever you want on it. I mean, at the end of the day, how on earth can you trust a company that would do as blatant a rip-off as these boats are to do anything at all ethically? If they have no problem arse-****ing an entire company, do you think they'll hesitate for a moment to shaft an individual as well?

I am interested in how it pans out, Ive seen another gospel boat up close and the bird **** welds didn't inspire confidence. Hate to see the welds that are hidden.

Id also be wary of the 5083 grade alloy, I think there are different quality materials around as mentioned above.

Cost wise once painted etc does come in a fair bit cheaper than NZ prices, maybe this will give companies in NZ a very good reason to keep quality up and continue improving their product so they stay ahead of the game. Has to be good for the consumer i would think.

The doozy is when, 3 years down the track once they've discovered the boat is a dog, some unscrupulous owner gets their signwriter mate to knock up a set of Stabicraft graphics and slaps them on the side of the boat before they sell it. They are, to a non-experts visual inspection, damn near identical boats.

It's no different to someone bringing in fake "Calloway" golf clubs or "luois vuitton" handbags, except that a fake **** boat might just kill someone one day. And just like happens to the fake consumer goods, they should be seized and destroyed by Customs for complete and utter intellectual property infringement.

China can do fake/copied stuff cheap because they don't have to allow for R&D (completely aside from the fact they're paying an unqualified "welder" $4 a day and the aluminium is definitely maybe possibly something resembling what they tell you it is). But this means they don't cultivate any R&D capability. So when they drive the creators of the original IP out of business by undercutting them, nobody is innovating, you just get stuck with the chinese version. This is categorically not good for the consumer.

If Stabicraft for some crazy reason decided to move manufacturing to China, that's a different kettle of fish. They would have quality control, and the whole R&D innovation thing wouldn't stop.

Not all the boat is 5083, only the hull. The rest is marine grade alloy, there is a big difference. Most boats are constructed like this I,m told. Even with my new boat there were a number of details that required remedial work sfter I took possession. They maker had no issue attending to these and doing a couple of extras. This would not happen from the Chinese builder. I would take with a grain of salt any spec's provided on the Gospel.

NZ export quite a few alloy boats. I just read that Profile are going to have their boats manufactured in USA next year. Same quality, must see a decent gap in the US market to set up manufacturing rather than export from here. Obviously can't keep up with demand. I have been told that getting experienced fabricators is very difficult.

I will put some pics up of it fitted up and out on the water, and yes will show lots of close ups of pidgin **** welds for you lot to get worked up over.

Trust me Im patriotic as they come when it comes to nz built boats ( I have a surpreme boat built by Gerald Henderson being finished off as we speak.... which is pretty much the polar opposite to Gospel boats) But Im just interested to see what can be done on the other side of the world for considerably less cash. Remember, the stabi rip-off is 35k

engine (150 hp ) and electronics another 30k. The one iv looked at on tm are twice that price.

I wonder if perhaps they bought a couple of hulls and ground out the welds and unfolded the boats. Cheap R&D.

I wouldn't put some sort of crazy industrial espionage outside the realms of possibility though.

A general comment on Chinese manufacturing, from my experience, is that it can be very good but can also be very bad.  The companies that I know have had good experiences have been there, spent time there and often have their own quality inspectors permanently in the Chinese factories.  Companies sourcing a cheap supplier online and only dealing by email, I have heard some nightmare stories.  But it's not all bad, over the years we've had a lot of work from re-making tooling that had already been made in China, but was a total disaster, at work.

The thing that would put me off in this instance is that $35k is a lot of money to risk.  All the China stuff is cash upfront, and good luck getting a refund if you don't like what turns up.  I wouldn't spend that kind of money on a boat without a sea trial and knowing there was some back up if anything went wrong.  Just because it looks just like a Stabi doesn't mean it will handle like one. 

 

https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/more-of-the-same_topic132177.html" rel="nofollow - https://www.fishing.net.nz/forum/more-of-the-same_topic132177.html

 

 

The issue is the QA/QC process - I have built very very large marine structures in China and provided this is addressed at the outset the final product will be as good as anything. We virtually shut their factory down, redesigned their QA/QC process and put our own inspectors in place - and we still audited every 3 months from HQ.... well known products of high quality are made in China - but I bet they all follow this process! 

So if these guys have their own QA/QC controls, issue their own guarantees and stand by them - fine - if not I would not touch them. 

BTW I am apparently a 'boomer' and I do not give a monkey backside who makes it or who sells it as long as its safe, fit for purpose and good value

Its stuck in a dockyard in China. They shut the entire shipping terminal down and sent there workers into lock down the day before the boat was due to be shipped.

I get the feeling many readers will rejoice on hearing this news. 

Not like the owner is gonna be able to take it out even if it did make it here.

Id say its gonna be getting a bloody good wipe down when it finally arrives.

This may help with your decision.

https://www.facebook.com/aitutakiwahoofishingcharters/?__tn__=%2Cd%2CP-R&eid=ARDpHYJ2HFYCP7JSw5x75sbCIGtTZQ1KSNn18Zw1j6963V_SNE6WDxAD_wahafnzVUqPU2YJ2LqxgjTH" rel="nofollow -

Na mate , my friend who was going to buy the boat pulled out of the deal.

I think he did a bit of reaserch before the boat arrived and got cold feet.

He ended up with a 640 ht from sport craft  boats from Morrinsville.

Think that was probably the sensible choice.

He got brand new outboard fitted and trailer here in NZ. Dual battery setup with smart charging, Simrad electronics the works. All up fishing on the water cost him $65k. Same Stabi 2050 with all the same specs. $130k.

I've been on his boat countless times fishing all over. 150L fuel tank and we go far, overnights and no worries. He put more than 300hrs on the new outboard over the 2.5years. 

No issues as far as I can see. 

Cheers