Holby Marine Co. in Bristol recently earned the town’s approval to expand its 10,000-square-foot, boat-manufacturing facility to include other businesses. It’s an attempt to create an all-purpose marine center, though not the company’s first expansion.
Three years after it was founded in 1984 – in a 3,400-square-foot building in the former Herreshoff Manufacturing Co.’s complex in Bristol – the company built its own facility at 97 Broad Common Road, where it still operates.
Although Holby has been building sailboats since its inception – the company’s boats have won Sailing World magazine’s Boat of the Year award twice – it has recently become increasingly focused on its line of powerboats, said founder and President W. Barrett Holby Jr.
Those powerboats are the 18-, 20- and 24-foot Pilot series and the 17-foot Bristol Skiff. The first of the Pilot series – designed by Canada’s Mark Ellis Design – hit the water in 1999. This year, Holby will build about eight 24-foot Pilots and another 10 20-foot Pilots. But those sales levels are not quite where the company wants them to be, Holby said.
“The economy is down, for sure, so we’ve had a slow time since about this time last year,” Holby said. “We’re still busy, but we don’t have the backlog that we’d like to have at this point in the year.”
The 24-foot model, complete with a canvas roof and all the necessary electronics – installed at Holby – costs about $150,000, Holby said.
And while sales of the Pilot series are affected by the economy, the company’s 17-foot Bristol Skiff, which at $20,000 is the company’s lowest-priced boat, is a far better indicator of the overall financial market, Holby said.
“The skiff is kind of like the canary in the mine,” Holby said. “When sales of it slow down, a few months later the stock market slows down. And when it picks up, the stock market does.”
He added that sales of the skiff had been down through the spring, but have now starting to pick up. Those boats normally sell during March and June, with a few sold in July. “They’re actually picking up now, which is a little bit surprising to us. We’re still selling them this year, and we’re now approaching August,” Holby said.
Holby will manufacture about 40 skiffs this year, he said.
The company has also, in an effort to move outside the marine industry, created another product line: fiberglass-based bulkheads for houses. Those designs, called Clam Door bulkheads for their slightly-rounded shape, were introduced in 1994.
“We thought it would be good to diversify the business,” Holby said last week. “And we saw that the metal bulkhead doors really rust out, they don’t last long, especially in areas along the New England coast.”
Initially, the flagship product of the company were the Holby line, which were the Holby Clearwater 35 and the Clearwater 36, which were awarded Boat of the Year honors in 1993 and 1999, respectively. Holby then started to produce the Quest series, designed by Newport’s Rodger Martin Yacht Designs.
“They’re a smaller boat and I have to say the problem with them is that they’re very well built, so they’re a little expensive,” Holby said. With a full sail and electronics package, they cost about $180,000.
“And it’s not made to be shown off at a yacht club, like a Hinckley yacht might be – that you own this and it’s a special thing,” he said. “It’s expensive in that it’s all composites and those composites are expensive …It’s a real sailor’s cruiser racer, and that market it fairly thin, I’d say.”
The last Quest 33 was delivered in 2002. Now Holby is looking to “reintroduce it, making a few changes … that could bring the price down.”
Holby says the company already has “two people interested, two strong commitments,” to locate in the planned marine center, though he wouldn’t name names.
Along with bringing other companies into its Bristol facility, Holby also wants to grow the repair aspects of his business. He now reconstructs about two or three boats each year. Holby chose Rhode Island to operate his business because it had the highest-quality local work force. Now, Florida and Maine facilities are producing boats that rival the quality of Rhode Island boat makers. And rising property values in Bristol and the surrounding areas have made “it harder for workers to live in the area,” he said.
Still, Holby has kept the attrition rate low. And he proudly notes that a few workers have been with the company since 1985.
“We have a core group who’ve been here for a long time.” •
company profile: Holby Marine Co.
Owner: W. Barrett Holby Jr.
Type of Business: Boat manufacturer
Locations: 97 Broad Common Road, Bristol
Employees: 13
Year Established: 1984
Annual Sales: WND
