another viper max convert

[waverunner]

Originally Posted by Jono Garton

No problem Steve, your boat looks great.

Keep your fingers crossed for good weather next weekend.

Jono

My drive is now clear of building materials and a 5.8 will fit a treat, might have to shorten the drawbar on the trailer though.
Well impressed with your backup Jono and Ian with steve's build, nothing was too much trouble, you have both helped to put osprey well and truly on the map. Keep up the good work, will definately be in touch for an 08, but will need to strike a good deal with the lump on the transom.

[Mollers]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I LOVE your boats - get your website sorted and I am sure you would sell even more of them!!! Don't under estimate the power of Youtube either - loads of Ribcrafts on there.......

Yep, pants website.

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by Mollers

Yep, pants website.

It's not just the website - the company appears to have a very 'passive' approach to marketing. Has anyone seen a brochure or price list?

In fairness to Jono Garton, he has done a lot for getting the Osprey brand publicised this year. Prior to that, any publicity & marketing was carried out by current/previous owners of the boats!

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

It's not just the website - the company appears to have a very 'passive' approach to marketing. Has anyone seen a brochure or price list?

In fairness to Jono Garton, he has done a lot for getting the Osprey brand publicised this year. Prior to that, any publicity & marketing was carried out by current/previous owners of the boats!

I agree - wasn't even aware they were built here any more - thought they were something to do with Belgium.

Any chance of a brief potted history???

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I agree - wasn't even aware they were built here any more - thought they were something to do with Belgium.

Any chance of a brief potted history???

Here you go:

http://ospreyowners.webeden.co.uk/

Much of the information posted on the site is courtesy of Pete7 - Ribnet's Osprey guru

Fancy a spin one evening?

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by Downhilldai

Here you go:

http://ospreyowners.webeden.co.uk/

Much of the information posted on the site is courtesy of Pete7 - Ribnet's Osprey guru

Fancy a spin one evening?

Would love to but working flat out to get a new venture up and running.Will give you a shout when it's all sorted!!!

[Jono Garton]

Hi Guys

Myself & Ian are working on a brochure for both Humber and Osprey. We don't tend to spend allot of time advertising the Osprey Product as only 10 - 15 perfect boat a year can be produced and we can sell all we can get our hands on.

No one's really clarified how things work with Osprey, these are the key facts-

Kris Deradt of Brugge Marine Centre Belguim own Osprey Inflatables

Mike Whitam of Whitam Mouldings hand laminates the hulls and will now only supply through Brugge Marine Centre. Mike operates on his own and is a perfectionist.

Eurocraft Tubing are the only appointed tubers for Osprey RIB's

There are various dealers through out Europe many of which post on RIB.net and do a very good job.

There is two routes to buy an Osprey in the UK -

1. Through myself and Ian through PBS we have several boat available to demo by arrangement and love the product.

2. Through Roy Bishop & Dave Page at Manning Machine Tools who are a tool merchant nr Wolerhampton.

We don't compete against each other and speak regularly to make sure we are not quoting to the same customer.

Hope this clarifies things.

Jono

[OSPREY RIBS]

We're sorry that there is this confusion over Osprey and although it seems complicated, it isn't really.

As Jono says, Kris in Belgium holds the rights to the Osprey range. Mike owns the moulds for the hulls. In 2005 the distributor in the U.K. went into liquidation and Roy Bishop - who owns a 7.0m Vipermax and liked it so much that he contacted Kris and subsequently became the U.K. distributor for Osprey. All boats sold in the U.K. and Eire are sold through Roy and his company, Manning Machine Tools Ltd. Yes, we agree the website could be better and yes, we could produce lots of colourful brochures but the aim has always been to supply boats at a competive price, which can only be achieved by keeping overheads down. We believe the majority of customers want a boat made to their own specification - some want a boat that is ready to launch, some want to do a complete fit-out themselves and others want something in-between.

As Jono says, Mike is a perfectionist and can only produce 10-15 boats per year (and that's worldwide, not just for the U.K. market!) so it seems wrong to us to launch a major marketing campaign which could result in orders for many, many boats which would mean delivery times of years not months!

All boats supplied by Jono come through us and we are happy to give him a good deal as he has currently ordered 5 and is able to offer a good service.

Although we are based in Wolverhampton - not exactly by the sea we know! - Roy's boat is based in North Wales as are several others that we have access to, so we have happy to give anyone a sea trial if they wish. Roy's knowledge and experience of boating is second to none - although his computer skills are rubbish!

We hope this clarifies things - the main issue is if you want an Osprey, don't delay or at least order early if you want one for the 2008 season.

[Jono]

Originally Posted by Jono Garton

....Manning Machine Tools who are a tool merchant nr Wolerhampton.

Manning?...of Wolverhampton?....Dear God, Nooooooooo! Please tell me they're not related.......

[OSPREY RIBS]

Ok Jono - we're not related!

[Richard Selman]

Drove the 900+ mile round trip down to Wales the weekend before last to test drive Roy's Osprey Vipermax 7. Roy gave up a long arranged mountain biking trip at the last minute to better accommodate our visit, give us a proper test and let us back up across the border that night. He could not have done more for us or made us more welcome. Conditions were nice and rough and really showed off the capabilities of the boat. Must have been on the water two to three hours blattering up and down the 6 to 8 ft waves off of Barmouth. Saw how Roy handled a nasty 10ft breaking wave in the mouth of the river by throttling up and punching the boat right through and letting the wave roll over the top. Superb.

The boat is bigger than I had imagined from tghe pics and probably a bit bigger than I had originally intended to get but after seeing it handle those conditions I really could not go smaller. I always knew a bigger boat would be better but I did not expect the difference would be so great. Even my father (a confirmed yachtie who turns his nose up at a trip in my current RIB) could not believe how well the boat handled the sea and had the time of his life. Could go on but its probably enough to say that the deposit has been placed and we are now discussing layout and options.

Probably going to power it with a 250 HP Yamaha 4 stroke ultra long shaft plus a decent aux (12 to 15 HP perhaps).
210 litre internal tank. 2 by 2 jockey seats. Osprey's discovery console is quite wide and does not leave much room either side but you really notice the shelter it gives – especially when a wave rolls over the boat. Probably going with that.

Be grateful for any advice from those of you who have recently had one built - any mods or good ideas I should ask to be incorporated, options that I don't know about etc. The distance will make it difficult to visit the factory during the build.

Richard

[Chris]

Originally Posted by codprawn

I LOVE your boats - get your website sorted and I am sure you would sell even more of them!!! Don't under estimate the power of Youtube either - loads of Ribcrafts on there.......

I agree both the .co.uk and .com websites are awful and do nothing to promote the boats.

I love the boats too and hope that one day I can afford to buy a newer one than I own now.

Chris

[OSPREY RIBS]

Point taken regarding website - we'll try and do better and any (sensible!)suggestions regarding content would be appreciated!

[BogMonster]

Originally Posted by OSPREY RIBS

Point taken regarding website - we'll try and do better and any (sensible!)suggestions regarding content would be appreciated!

I agree on the website it isn't good when compared to others.

I would say Ribcraft's site is pretty good (or it was last time I looked), in my opinion you want to show detailed boat specs, lots of photos of different spec, layout and colour combinations both in and out of the water, photos of all the different types of console and seating that are available with captions that tell you what each one is, as well as photos of other things like different A-frames that can be offered. Perhaps some PDFs of the hard copy brochures (if there are brochures?) or if not then do something as a PDF that people can print out on an A4 printer and leave lying around to assist the "thought process" - and the downloadable video clips on the Ribcraft site (one for each model) are a really good idea too.

[codprawn]

Originally Posted by OSPREY RIBS

Point taken regarding website - we'll try and do better and any (sensible!)suggestions regarding content would be appreciated!

Some nice photos of the gorgeous boats you build along with some links to videos on Youtube would be a good start!!!

[Downhilldai]

Originally Posted by OSPREY RIBS

Point taken regarding website - we'll try and do better and any (sensible!)suggestions regarding content would be appreciated!

Get the spec right: the 5.5, 5.8 & 6.2 Vipermax are all stated as having a beam of 2.36m. This is wrong. My 5.8 has a beam of 2.48m
Also include prices and details of all the options available. The Humber and Ribcraft websites should give some food for thought.
Finally, don't overlook the leisure user - while Osprey RIBs may be considered 'hardcore', there is a lot of interest from people, on this forum, for example, who admire the brand and would only want it for leisure purposes.

[Mollers]

Don't suppose that this current wave of interest and 'Mikey One Barn's' limited out-put is going to do the residuals any harm.

[Erin]

Noooooo please don't make them too popular, I want to get mine ordered first.

[Tims Osprey]

Agreed ospreys website is a let down when you see the stunning boats that they make, with a much better website osprey could possibly be the leader in the market? What you need to do is put some videos together for the range of boats that you make in action, with some cool music in the background, also more and better detailed pictures of the range of craft on offer, some used craft on offer would be nice too

when i have the readies a nice 5.85 vipermax with a yam or rude e-tec on the back is very much on top of my shopping list.

[OSPREY RIBS]

Yes Tim, I agree but it could be worse - we could have a fantastic website and rubbish boats! We will improve the site!

Roy