Joe Bryant-President Of Bryant Boats

Over the last couple of months I  have had the pleasure of corresponding with Joe Bryant, President of Bryant Boats, Inc. By the time you get to the end of this interview, it will be very clear as to why I have been a long time admirer of his boats and the dedication that he and his family bring to our sport. At one point I received an e-mail from Joe at 4:00 am. Surprised? Of course I was. But to Joe Bryant, that was nothing out of the ordinary. And it is because of that interest and involvement in the boating industry and his customers that Joe Bryant and the boats that he builds are anything but ordinary. Read on and then visit www.bryantboats.com  because I know this will make any serious boater beg for more!!

I spend a large portion of each day pouring over magazines, newspaper articles, and reading material from many different web sites. It became very
obvious to me that you don't spend the time and money in advertising that many large companies do, yet your reputation and name recognition is the same or better. How did you manage that?

We've always felt the strongest way to build brand recognition was by
word of mouth. Boaters are an extremely tight group. You can advertise in
every magazine on earth and it's still not as strong as having a boater
recommend the product. It's a slow way of building the brand but we
feel it's by far the strongest. We simply choose to invest the majority of
our funds that might go toward retail advertising into making our boats
better. Our Bryant Boat Owners take care of the rest.

On the same idea, why do you shy away from J.D. Powers?

One reason is that we don't meet the volume thresholds that J.D. Power
requires. The primary reason is that it's extremely expensive and we
felt our resources could be better spent elsewhere.

I know from your web site that you only build 400 boats a year.
Obviously more could be sold so how did 400 become the magic number?

400 Bryants per year is what "feels" right to us. At that
level, I can still know every single employee well on a personal level. As
President of the company, I think that's important. With a production level of 400
boats per year, the owners of this company are able to have their hands
on every single boat that comes through our facility. I like that. If
you've read our brochure, you know that I feel having outstanding
employees is the key to a great product. We're very proud that our average
Bryant Employee has over 12 years of boatbuilding experience. And I'm proud
of the fact that we have many people who've worked with us for over 20
years. We have virtually zero turnover and a waiting list of potential
employees. I think the fact that the ownership and management of the company is so close to the folks that actually build the boats has a large part in that.

I often say that "we're big enough to be big, but small enough to
be small". At 400 boats, we can buy our resin by the tanker load and purchase
engines by the truckload. So we can take advantage of the economies of scale
that a very small builder cannot. I'm also on the Board of Directors of the
IBBI purchasing group. The IBBI allows boat companies like Malibu,
Crownline and Godfrey to pool our buying power and be extremely competitive in
purchasing. But we're also small enough that we can create a "family" type
environment in our plant and stay very close to our employees, dealers,
and boat owners. For us, we're just the right size.

There are many builders out there that claim their boats to be 100%
wood free. Some are but quite a few aren't. There is always a debate over
which is better. No doubt the fact that there will never be any rot is a biggie but what about the other benefits and are there any shortcomings to a
boat that is truly wood free?

The only "problem" with a wood free boat is that it costs more
to produce. In my opinion, that's the real reason why you're not seeing it totally
across the industry. I think you will in the very near future.
Right now, it's just the premium brands like Cobalt and the inboard and
V-drive ski folks, and the high performance bass boats. It's just a matter of
time though as it's an obvious advantage to the consumer. One of my
favorite stories on the wood free construction is about one of the very first
wood free boats we produced in 1994. The customer had actually purchased
the model that we used plywood on but by the time we were ready to put his
boat into production, we were producing the new wood free boats. I was
worried about seeing him the next year at the show and having him ask me why I
didn't tell him about our new boats. So I called him up and told him
what were doing. He's a former Navy Blue Angel Pilot and now flies for
Federal Express. As it worked out, he happened to be in the area the next
week. He came by the plant, saw what we were doing and immediately changed
his order to one of the new wood free boats. He told me, "Joe, I
would have killed you if you'd sold me one of those plywood boats when I could have had a composite construction". Knowing what I know, I would agree
with him.

Were Bryant boats always wood free?

No. That's what makes me such a proponent of wood free construction.
My family built boats for 34 years with plywood like many of my competitors
do today. We toured the MasterCraft facility in 1993 and they were kind
enough to show us how they were building their stringers and floors
from composites. As a builder who had suffered my share of encapsulated
stringers, transoms and floors that had rotted, we instantly knew this
was a better way. (Explaining to a customer that the "soft spot"
in his floor means that it's rotting is not a pleasant conversation) I think
building boats from plywood and seeing up close all the range of problems
plywood construction brings to a boat has made me even more adamant about the advantages of wood free construction.

Some of the other design elements are the sort of thing you slap your
head and say why doesn't anyone else do that. The cooler up front that pulls
out for instance. What other goodies like that have you got tucked away?

I can't give away everything now can I...? Seriously, the things that
make our boats a "Bryant" are often common sense things like our
integrated Coleman cooler. They're things that we learn boating on the lake
ourselves and from listening to our customers at retail boat shows. The gel coat
pinstripe graphics instead of a tape on vinyl pinstripe like most
builders use was one of those things. Everyone hates replacing the tape that
gets torn. And I'd hear about it at the boat shows. So we did something
about it. As far as what's next, we've got some very exciting gel coat
options for 2004 with our "Sport Graphics" that I think folks are
really going to like. It's all about listening to your customers.

What is the theory behind the fuel tank in the bow?

Most boats have a fuel tank mounted in the floor directly in front of
the engine. You can buy a stock tank from one of the fuel tank suppliers
right off the shelf that will have the dimensions to fit most boats. It's
quick and easy. We chose to have our tanks custom designed just for Bryant
and move them to the bow for 2 reasons. First off, it transfers a
significant amount of weight that would normally be aft in the boat and moves it
forward. How a boat planes is extremely important to our customers.
It's simply physics in that moving a weight forward in the boat will
help the boat plane more quickly. Most boaters have done the same thing at
one time or another by having a person move from the stern of the boat to
the bow. We just do it for you. Yes, it requires a significantly more
expensive fuel tank as we have to absorb the tooling costs for a custom
tank. But we feel it's worth it. The 2nd reason is that having a
tank forward in the boat allows us to have a forward mounted fuel fill. We
used to fill our tanks from the rear and had the same problems other
builders have with gas "burping" back as you filled the tank. Again,
we listened and designed a way to fill the tank from a more forward position.


You seem to concentrate on a limited number of models. Are there any
plans to increase that?

We've introduced a new 23' 4" deckboat and that's gone over
extremely well. With our production levels, we're cognizant of not spreading ourselves too thinly but you'll also see us slowly expand into bigger sizes.

In the last couple of years there has been a dramatic push to get a lot
of "entry level" boats on the market by a number of builders. Is
that anything that you would ever consider?

I'm thankful for the entry level market and builders as it allows new
folks into the market and we absolutely need them. But I just don't ever see
us building a boat in that price range. We simply don't have the culture
or mentality to use the materials or to build boats at the speed that
would allow us to price our product at the level an "entry level" boat requires.

On a more serious note, there has been a tragic incident in which a
woman was killed after being struck by a propeller. The resulting lawsuit
appears that it might pave the way for a lot of safety regulations that could
vary from state to state. How do you think that will pan out and how will builders be able to respond?

I'm not certain how that particular situation will play out. But clearly, making the boats as safe as possible is something the industry has to
keep a focus on.

Overall in what direction do you see the market moving and evolving.
You always seem to build boats so they meet your standards and not follow
along with the crowd. With that in mind, which direction do you see Bryant
boats heading?

We are a little unique in that we focus on a more specialized market
niche. Bryant Boats aren't for everyone. But for the customer that is a
little more discriminating and knows what they're looking for and appreciates
the differences in how a boat is constructed, we can offer some things that
we think they'll appreciate. We do sort of build things to our
standards. Instead of trying to cater to a particular group, we just build boats as
if we were building them for ourselves. We've been fortunate in that apparently quite a few other folks want a boat built to that standard.

Now if you would indulge a few personal questions Joe. What is your
typical day like, if there is ever such a thing for you.

Now that's a tough question! I have a wonderful wife and four young
children ages 9, 6, 4 and 2. I don't have to tell any parents out
there that makes for a busy day. So my first challenge of the day is getting
out of the house after 25 hugs and wrestling matches... At Bryant, I wear
a lot of hats so my day is always varied. It's really a shared time
between production, marketing and talking with dealers and customers. I'm
blessed to have an outstanding group of people to work with like our National
Sales Manager - Jeff White, my brother - Rich Bryant and my Dad -Jim Bryant.
It's very much a team effort. During the months from January to
April, I'll travel a great deal working retail boat shows and helping support
our dealers. With my family, I hate to travel and be gone, but I enjoy
very much talking with our owners and hearing first hand what they're seeing
and listening to their feedback.

How long has Bryant boats existed and who started the company?

My Father, Jim Bryant, founded Thunder Craft Boats in Knoxville, TN way
back in 1960. I grew up around the boat plant and eventually went to work
there full time in 1988. In 1990, after 30 years of owning ThunderCraft, we
sold the majority interest in ThunderCraft in a move that we thought would grow
the company. The economy and some other factors created a few major
obstacles for the new owners and they eventually were forced to close
the business. We signed a non compete agreement when we sold Thunder Craft but this was lifted in 1990. That's when my Father and I founded Bryant Boats. After multiple expansions, we're still using the original building we started with 13 years ago.

What is your favorite body of water?

I would have to say Tellico Lake in our backyard here is my favorite. East Tennessee is a fantastic area for water sports. The majority of our
brochure photographs were taken on Tellico. It's extremely clean and I think you'll have a hard time beating the mountain backdrops and scenery.

You are one of the only manufactures that builds their own trailers.
What is your thinking behind that?

Actually, they're built by Boat Mate Trailers to our specifications.
We saw too many dealers who had trouble mating a boat of our quality with
a trailer that offered the same level of features and workmanship.
Offering our boats with trailers to our dealers is a way for us to assist them
in creating the total package for their retail customers.

Okay, lets say I'm someone who is brand new to boating. What advice
would you give me? What should I look for in a boat? How do I know what boat to buy? Is there anything I need to know besides hopping in and turning the key?

"Boating" is such a broad term and it can mean so many different things. I'd suggest that a new boater get out to the local lakes and see what's happening. They may find wakeboarding is something they love or it
could be cruising in a pontoon boat. Or maybe fishing is what they're into.
That's the first step. Once they decide what type of boating they want
to do, then they can start narrowing it down to what brands they want to
look at. Among those brands, I'd say take your time and do your homework.
As mentioned above, most builders don't have huge marketing budgets so
many buyers have never even heard of some the best brands out there. Study
brochures and find out what you can. Watch the DVD or video and see
for yourself exactly how the boats are built. If they don't show you how
it's built ask more questions. Call the factory if you need to. We look at a boat as a long term thing. I don't run into many folks these days that buy with the intention of trading their boat in a different model every two years. It's a long term thing and demands some attention. But the main thing is that once she's in your garage, enjoy it! That's what it's all about.

We could pester this guy all day with questions as I'm sure you could too. We would love to hear from some Bryant owners out there so feel free to e-mail your comments to us so we can post them here.

We have to put in the legal stuff.               

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