Way Marine Design, a St. Augustine-based start-up, has designed what it bills as the world's first No-Profile Boat Lift.
Unlike conventional boat lifts, which use a system of overhead pulleys and cables, the No-Profile Boat Lift is powered by hydraulic cylinders on either side of a platform on which the boat rests. Not having the framework of overhead motors also provides easier access to the boat from all sides making loading and cleaning easier.
"We've brought the boat lift out of the Stone Age," Way Marine CEO Chris Way said.
The lift was designed by Chris's brother Robert, who has more than two decades of experience in industrial and aviation engineering.
The inspiration, Robert said, was to make a lift "that was invisible, and it didn't clutter your deck, and didn't have machinery in your way that you had to either step over or duck under."
The Way brothers dipped into their savings and used about $150,000 to launch the company and commercialize the invention.
The brothers' used a freight elevator to test the contraption.
"It's one thing to design it on paper and another one in the real world," Chris said.
Way Marine recruited friends and acquaintances to try out various prototypes at their waterfront homes, serving as the company's unofficial R&D department.
Once the model proved itself, the brothers went shopping for investors. They recruited business students at Flagler College to formulate a business plan for the company, which the brothers used to get additional financing from banks and private investors.
Chris said his collaboration with Flagler allowed the business students "to get some real experience and design a business plan that was actually going to be used."
Six years later, Way Marine is cruising comfortably. The company expects annual revenues of nearly $900,000, a number Chris hopes to hike to about $5 million in the next five years.
The company, which introduced its boat lift at the Miami International Boat Show in February, is on track to sell about 100 units this year, and the goal for 2007 is to double that.
The Way brothers have already charted a route to achieving those targets.
The company plans to diversify its customer base - currently homeowners account for 95 percent of sales, with the rest being marina and waterfront developers. Chris hopes, in the next three years, developers will account for more than 50 percent of the company's sales.
Way Marine might already be on its way there. The company is negotiating with a Florida-based developer who is planning a 400-home waterfront development in the Bahamas, Chris said. Each of those homes could be fitted with a No-Profile boat lift.
Despite the smooth sailing, Way Marine is preparing for choppiness ahead. The biggest challenge, and one many startups grapple with, will be Way Marine's ability to grow fast enough to keep pace with demand.
Consider this: Last year, Way Marine sold $55,000 worth of lifts. So far this year, the company has already sold $650,000 worth of lifts.
To keep pace with demand, Way Marine is increasing the amount of mechanical components, such as pulley wheels, it outsources, allowing it to quickly ramp up production, as needed.
"We're hoping by ... halfway through 2007, we're going to be primarily assembling lift," Chris said.
Despite its selling qualities, the No-Profile Boat Lift suffers a big handicap - its price.
Retailing for up to $35,000, the No-Profile lift can cost three times more than its more pedestrian cousins. And that means Way Marine will always be a niche player, selling to limited, but high-income, customers.
"Even the other boat lift companies that have seen our lifts, they say 'that's a stupendous lift, but boy that's expensive,'" Way said.
But Arnold DeLorenzo, who bought the No-Profile boat lift about a year ago, says "it's worth every penny."
The owner of St. Augustine-based Olde Carriage Realty was wowed by the lift's aesthetic appeal.
"It's very streamlined. You can't tell it's even there," DeLorenzo. "You can use it as a platform ... you can put anything on it."
urvaksh.karkaria@jacksonville.com,
(904) 359-4367
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