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Perfect Pedigree
Michael Verdon
02/02/2004
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"We didn’t have the time-honored tradition of many of the European builders, so we had to do what Lexus did—build a name very fast," he says. By all accounts, the branding exercise has been successful, and Trinity is one of the hottest custom builders in North America.
Part of that has come from the yard’s reputation for quality. Smith says that Trinity saw an opportunity in the early ’90s to build more safety features into its vessels than do most other shipyards. "We built to international standards like ABS and SOLAS like our commercial ships," says Smith. "That includes safety features like watertight bulkheads, as well as advanced fire-fighting and other safety systems. Structurally, we build one of the safest yachts on the water." One example was Trinity’s Whale Song, a 94-foot, steel-hulled cruiser built to Ice Class ABS standards, which allows the owner to chase whales through Antarctic waters.
In 2000, Trinity began to ramp up the production of yachts more than 150 feet long, a segment ignored by most North American yards. Since then, its order book has consistently sold out, and its workforce has expanded from 150 to about 450.
Smith has also seen the line’s pedigree boom in the last three years. "We’re now getting the critical mass," he says. "We have seven new builds under way, including a 180-footer, and four are repeat clients. You must be doing something right when that many come back to you."
He also notes that early builds like Noble House, launched in 1997, sold for the fourth time at last year’s Ft. Lauderdale boat show for more than the owner paid for her. "When you start getting to the third guy getting more than he paid for it, it says something about the reputation of the brand," he says.
The Dutch brand, Feadship, can also make that claim, having launched more than 200 yachts since the 1970s. The brand is synonymous with luxury custom yachts, the same way "Xerox" is often used to refer to any photocopier. Feadship started in 1949 as a post-war alliance of Dutch shipyards that targeted the U.S. market. The name stands for "First Export Association of Dutch Shipbuilders."
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