Kirk Firing on All Cylinders
On June 04, 2008
“Kirk 43 is just one of the trimarans with the ’wow factor’.” Off the back of wealthy SCIBS, Kirk Prestige trimarans is working hard to fulfill orders & has another ultra-innovative model in the pipeline.
In Accordance to Tasmanian sailing boat building & investor in the company two years ago, Allan Barnett, the company is going from force to force, with customers both here & abroad.
‘Depending on the size of the yacht ordered, we build three 57s per year & five 43s per year.”
Currently, Kirk has two 57s & two 43s in production, plus another 43 ready to start & another three 57s to start after that.
Kirk makes 43 sail & 44 Powerboat & 57 sail & 62 Powerboat, all from its Coomera operations on the Silver Beach.
Feedback from SCIBS, where the company had four sailboats on display – three Perrys & Chesapeake High Seas from Tasmania – was all positive, in accordance to Kirk Prestige Administrator, Harold O’Brien.
‘It truly had the wow factor,” he says of the dockage exhibit, “Especially the 57 feets yacht. lot of people came on board & that’s what we heard ‘wow!’.”
The show will net Kirk about four sales over the next six months.
Kirk won’t be showing at SIBS, thanks to delightful difficulty: all its sailboats will have been delivered to new masters.
‘I’m really attractive 43 up to Gladstone tomorrow & the new masters are attractive that to Broome. it is good difficulty to have. We could take an older sailboat, but the sailing boats we’re making now are far & away different from our older yachts.”
As O’Brien explains, the company has changed its moldings, focused on better finish, captivated the gel coat out & put padded leather or macrosuede (equivalent to the fabric used in BMWs) on interiors.
O’Brien continues: “Most people acknowledge we’re now the yardstick in top end multihulls. The cheaper French imports aren’t affecting us, but are impacting on lour levels in the market.”
With an normal price of just under USD 1 meters for 43 feets & just over USD 2 meters for the 57, consumers at that end are relatively immune to economic pressures. “We’ve establish hard times don’t truly worry them & they’re looking for thing very different.”
Consumer feedback has Ied Kirk to start manufacturing new model – entirely new concept called the Motorsailer.
‘It can do 20 kts under power or can be used under sail. We already have orders for it. The innovation is in the hull.
‘We’ve changed the underwater shape to diesel hull, so it looks like sail sailing boat & diesels like powerboat. It’s the perfect sailing sailing boat & the logical next step for the company.”
Kirk is currently building the 1st of three 57 feets Motorsailers on order.
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