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High end yacht business is through the roof. (I know this first hand, but I dont own one..) Interesting article. Lots of chrome and other metal work:
THE RISE OF MCYACHTS
For years, the one-upmanship at elite marinas has focused on 400-foot, $200 million-plus floating mansions. Now, thanks in part to a booming charter industry and easier financing, a new class of yachts is growing suprisingly quickly. They are the nautical world's McYachts, luxurious 120- to 200-foot vessels costing anywhere from $13 million to $80 million. With banks using yacht loans to lure high-end clients, the initial cash outlay can be $4 million or less. The new entrants are changing some of the culture of this rarefied world. St. Barts harbormaster Jacques Greux says he's seeing younger owners and more late-night partying. Designers say they're equipping more yachts with gyms, playrooms for kids and technological wizardry such as underwater cameras and theaters for movie screenings. The boats are drawing a new class of owner who aren't Wall Street titans or Silicon Valley billionaires, but include a turkey farmer, coal mine owner, and the head of a billboard company. In 2005, 204 boats 120- to 200-feet long were under construction, up 28% from 2002, while the number of boats 200 feet and bigger was virtually flat in the same period, according to Yachts International Magazine, a publication that caters to owners of large motoryachts and tracks the construction of new boats by polling builders, designers and subcontractors. In all, at least 800 of these boats have been added to the global fleet in the last three years. Demand for these boats has given new life to the U.S. boat-building business. For the McYacht-sized boats, getting into the game doesn't take as big an infusion of cash as a 300-plus footer -- though the operating costs add up. While a 150-foot yacht costs anywhere from $25 million to $50 million, its annual operating costs are at least 10% of the purchase price. Filling up the 10,000-gallon tank of a 150-foot yacht with diesel fuel on Nantucket costs about $37,500. Add to that dock space ($2.50 to $5 a night for every foot of the yacht's length) and crew salaries, which have been rising as the number of very large yachts has expanded. The starting pay for stewards and stewardesses, who clean cabins and serve meals, has gone from $2,000 to $3,000 a month in the last year, according to Diane Byrne, executive editor of Power & Motoryacht. (The Wall Street Journal, 8/12/2006.)
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