The David Marlow Vision

This reprinted article gives a flavour of the ethos of boat building at Marlow Hunter, both before David Marlow owned the business and after.

Feel the Quality... Experience the Value

At Marlow-Hunter (MH) we take those words, Quality and Value, as seriously as a tsunami wave. For we truly understand your boat is an extension of your personal self, an object to be enjoyed without hassle and fear by your family and loved ones. An object yes, but an object that one can love as anything inhuman can be loved and enjoyed. When I purchased Hunter Marine Corporation I had a vision to take the boats Hunter had and the new boats they were developing to new levels of excellence, make "each one better than the one before" were my marching orders. I believe I do build world class power yachts which are unprecedented in quality and appeal. Recently, Marlow Yachts earned 'boat of the year in the large boat category' for 2013 from PassageMaker magazine for its' 104 mega-yacht. My teams is now pouring our mind-power and sweat into every boat from the MH 15 daysailor to the MH 50 ocean voyager. After two year, of ownership below are a few highlights of our continual striving to be better, expressed in words that attempt to describe the passion and dedication of all our employees to make the boat of your dreams come true ... be it that daysailor or ocean voyager.

EASE OF SAILING THROUGH INNOVATION

Over the years Hunter and now Marlow-Hunter has introduced to the production sailing industry some unique innovations to make sailing easier that has caused many other brands to follow. Some of those features have been stern rail seats for clearing the cockpit and giving your family and guests "the best seat in the house" from that location; arches allowing for end boom sheeting with the boom up and out of the way; jib winches aft along with all lines lead aft making the boat much easier to sail single-handed; the B&R (backstay-less) rigs with swept back spreaders for ease of jibbing and power aloft; walk through transoms and now fold down transoms; masts moved forward for better rig balance; and wings on shoal keels for more stability. Other innovations that have not been followed yet, but will be, are our hull design features like the bow hollow, stern reflex, hard chine below the waterline, and a dual ended mainsheet and the list marches on. Couple all of this with in-mast furling and electric winches and you have a package that is much easier to sail. . . it gets you on the water faster and safer than ever before.

SAFETY - OUR HIGHEST CONCERN

All of our boats are constructed to NMMA {National Marine Manufacturing Association) certification using ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) standards and we are a CE Certified (Community of Europe) manufacture which means that we can build boats to be shipped anywhere in the world and meet that countries standards for we not only build to these standards we demand our suppliers do also. It does add cost to manufacturer to be fully compliant with all certifications standards for safety and build quality without exception. In fact, Marlow-Hunter earned the precious award from the American Safety Council given annually to one manufacture selling products to consumers for their efforts in going beyond the minimum standards . So when you do your research on your next boat inquire as to these standards... what you may find from some competitors is a, "No, but we do this or that ... type answer". That is not acceptable in our viewpoint, demand to see the certificates - ours are available for your viewing and copies included with every yacht.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION - THE LAMINATION PROCESS

The common boat construction methods in the 70's, 80 's and 90's for most builders was a balanced sandwich construction using a combination of plywood, balsa wood and general purpose resins. The problem with these materials is that they can absorb water and give high moisture readings during surveys and/or cause the core material to rot especially around areas that have through-hulls or hardware that is attached to the deck. Today, we use core materials that are either resin sealed or are water resistant, like Nida-Core" coring. Nida-Core" is one of the strongest support materials designed for the space shuttle and is the best in the marine business. On top of this material we use a modified epoxy resin that not only is more water resistant but is also five times stronger than a general purpose resin. Furthermore, we add Kevlar (material they make bullet proof vests out of) in strategic areas throughout the hull and chain plate areas. Once again it does cost us more to build this way, and we are the only sailboat manufacturer utilizing NidaCore and Kevlar", however, we feel the extra strength gained is justified just for those moments when you are in severe weather or heavy seas.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION - GELCOATS & RESINS

At Marlow-Hunter, we have learned over the 40+ years of boat building that a good water-resistant gelcoat (ISO-NPG) whether it is oyster white or as a coloured gelcoat, along with a good water resistant resin (Vinyl Ester) will give us a hull bottom that is impervious to osmotic blistering. We also use a gelcoat on the interiors that is an anti-bacterial mixture that stops mould and mildew. Our resins and gelcoats not only give us great water resistant properties, they also give us great cosmetics on our finished fiberglass parts used throughout the boat. Because we use the highest grades of resins and gelcoats we have less heat and shrinkage which provides a better finish without that print through grainy appearance. Through our time proven use of our open moulding processes to control the heat (exothermic reaction) from the laminates and strict quality control of the resin to glass ratios we give you that glossy, smooth, yet strong finish.

BOAT CONSTRUCTION - HULL TO DECK JOINT

Most boat manufacturers use an inboard flange hull to deck joint and they tout that it is a better and stronger way to marry a deck and hull. However, the downside to an inboard flange is that there is no way to protect the hull from the dock or a piling if you are trying to put it into a slip or navigate through a crowded marina. The Marlow-Hunter outboard flange with a stiff/hard rub-rail over the flanges will protect the boat as it actually absorbs some of the force. In order to make this flange a strong secure surface we not only chemically bond the hull to deck joint with the highest quality adhesive from 3M, but we also mechanically bond this flange by through-bolting it every ten inches from bow to stern.

INTERIOR CONSTRUCTION - MODULAR BUILDING

Many builders, including Hunter until the 2000's, built the furniture in boats from the inside out in the hull prior to placing the deck on. With our modular method each boat model has a mock hull that is used as a base to build the furniture unit, independent from the hull and deck. A grid structure uniquely designed for a particular boat is lowered and locked into place with locators inside this mock hull. Once the grid is locked into place the entire unit is levelled and the furniture can then be built on top of the grid for an exact fit. The sides of the hull have windows cut into them allowing easy access to build the furniture, and accesses it from the floor outside as well as from the inside. This allows for neater plumbing and electrical runs as well as a much tighter and secure furniture unit. Once the furniture is built in the mock hull this modular unit is lowered into the actual hull and located with tabs which are then bonded. The end result is a hull and furniture unit that is consistent from boat to boat with little to no variation which causes the deck to fit snuggly onto the hull when they are married together.

INTERIOR BUILDING - THE FURNITURE

Hunter, now Marlow-Hunter, machine cuts all of our own furniture so our wood team has the ability to tweak every piece of furniture to get the best fit possible. We continue to use the best teak, cherry and hardwoods as well as drawer and furniture hardware. Our boats have ball-bearing drawer slides as well as cedar lined hanging lockers with all boats having an array of storage space easily accessible. The floors are matched to the interior woods, and have that "teak and holly" appearance or are made with real plank wood on several of the larger boats. So compare and ask, "Do you have real drawers with ball-bearing slides?", or the one question few manufactures can answer with a 'yes we do', "do you have real authentic Corian countertops in your boat?" We use real wood and wood laminates with real names like teak and cherry and real hardwoods with real names, and real Corian not a substitute. Again it cost more, however, we will not settle for less.

STANDARD EQUIPMENT - SAIL -A-WAY EQUIPPED

Just like we are known for our interior fit and finish, we are also known for the amount of standard equipment that we offer as part of the base boat price. Couple our sail-a-way boat pricing with our grouping of the most popular options in what we term the "Mariner Package" and you have a value packed boat which is of the highest quality. Anyone who has owned a Hunter or Marlow-Hunter knows this fact so ask current owners of our boats as to the value for their dollar not only at time of purchase but at the time of re-sale or trade-up. We have over 32,000 owners many on their second, third and even their fifth boat.

CUSTOMER SERVICE - WARRANTY IS ONLY THE START

We have a Five-Year limited, transferable hull warranty and a Two-Year limited, pro-rated stem to stern warranty. Many of our suppliers also offer their separate warranties that extend beyond the two years. That is where we begin however we excel at going further. Examples are we demand that our dealers adhere to customer service standards that are in line with todays marine environment for they are our front-line partners, and we continue to seek improvements by asking our owners what they experienced during the buying process and in utilizing their boats by sending out two separate surveys electronically and rating us, our dealers. and our boats. Finally, we have an internal staff that is located in the USA with the knowledge to assist you. I am proud to be the owner of such a tradition laid great boat company, so come on board, check us out and FEEL THE QUALITY... EXPERIENCE THE VALUE.

Last updated 09:18 on 18 July 2023