expresscraft

yes i see it changed since yesterday. that is ok I just thought it was funny.

expresscraft

I am hoping to be back up and running soon. I did not sell expresscraft. But I do think I have a partner coming on board and we will come back stronger then ever. We have a few things to get in place and I will keep everyone posted right here. We will come back with a new web site as well and post boats we make that most do not even know about so it's going to be big fun. be patient it will not happen over night but the ball will be rolling soon.

rcguy1411

Can't wait hope things work out

Foxvalleypcgeek

I stumbled upon Expresscraft on this forum and have ordered the Seahawk 72 as of today. Hopefully im not in trouble trying to build this thing! I had a warehouse hobbies magnum 57 that came in a kit that i put together but all the holes and things were already there to make it easy. That boat took off accross the lake a couple years ago never to be found again.

Alrobbie

I did not know that Expresscraft was making boats again. I did know that Tom was getting together with someone else to build boats, so I'm glad to hear Expresscraft is back up and running. Sorry to hear about your boat. Allen

expresscraft

Yes thank you for the order Scott, I will update RCU on where we are at. I was going to look for a partner and kind of had things in place for that, But it turned out to Drag along a little too much on getting things going with the few Guys I was talking too about it, I never mind showing how we build things or talking about what I have learned over the years of doing this, So I am talking about the boat business right now because I really love to see our hobby grow, But if we did not get up and running bye the time summer ends then we would pretty much miss the sales season for 2016 as most of the boat sales come after the summer. As people get snowed in that is when they want to build, through the summer itself, people love to run there model boats.I am not saying there is no sales year round but the winter is when it is the most busy. I meet my friend John that started his fiberglass shop out of my 2 car garage around 23 years ago as a customer of mine through our hobby shop. when I told him I was looking for a partner he said you are stupid, do not do that I would build you boats for free,We are that close of friends and he is like a brother to me but he really is way to nice to be business smart but he was right about partnering up was not smart,
To me I also want to know that if something does happen to me that Expresscraft is in good hands.That was a big part of thinking partnership to me it was and has never been about just the money. of course we do have to make a living But I my self along with my wife are very happy. My kids are grown now and both are doing very well so I have one more kid to make sure will make it in this world and that is Expresscraft. John has not built boats in a lot of years other then helping me as needed, But he is a better glasser then me. We have just came out with new ones over the years that he has not done even though he has built 100 of some of our older best sellers of there time and some of those still sell very well. His shop does not have room for the 50 or so boats that we can make, I sent him off with the 1st batch about 2 weeks ago, That was a C-54,MTI, Thunderbolt. Cheetah.And the body we do for Gary Conley's V 8 model. john also had some work to get done from his own production shop So I knew working our stuff in would noy happen over night. The Cheetah was pre sold to a long time customer in Bermuda that is trying to (again) grow our hobby by pushing a super stock racing class. Conley has been a long term customer and needs 10 bodies, I went over to johns shop yesterday on my way back from the VA, he is between me and them so staying in close contact with what is going on in business will never be a problem,He has not started because he is SOOO picky that he is sanding our molds to a higher grit and buffing them to make even nicer boats.That is just how he is. So again our boats will be nicer then ever. He said he will be started on what he has after the week end. the c-54 is also sold, and i will make sure john gets Scott's Sea hawk mold in his hand ASAP. Our goal is to have most of the boats we make in stock over the summer so we go from pay and wait till we can build it to pay and it ships the same day. Also I told my friend John that I want him to give me a honest number on his work and not be so low that he can not pay his bills, he has a full shop and 2 very good daughters that are still just in there teens, I do not want a favor to turn into something that gets old, I am very thankful to have John as my friend, almost 3 years ago he was also my best man at mine and Lisa's wedding. We have always been there for each other. but this is business. Our pricing has been the same since 1989 and we have added carbon to our boats, As john builds these boats and gives me his labor price, I will be changing our pricing accordingly.Bringing them up to 2016 pricing even milk cost more these days.
do not get me wrong I will still be the owner of Expresscraft and I will butt heads with john over any unfair pricing friends or not. in business we can argue it out and still end the conversion as best friends.Do not get me wrong I always shoot straight with customers as well so even there people will just have to suck up the prices and decide if they want to pay to play. or not. I will not sell anymore c-54', cheetahs or sea hawks till I get johns pricing and change them on our site, so they are pricing test beds right now. I will also not let anything ship unless it is correct. so please do not take it that way.As we get this going I will redo our whole web site to reflect the new Expresscraft. we will also take the next step into RTR after we have our hulls up and running, Al from toxic marine is on board as well as Chris from Das boata props, This has all of the labor intensive things covered and should give you guys a idea of the nice high quality RTR's we will have in stock probably around the 1st of 2017. If you buy some of the boats that we have not sold yet we will give the old price on the first to sell to give john a chance to build it then give me a honest number.

Alrobbie

Tom, glad to hear you will be back in business and I was wondering if the new boats will be available in colors? Let me know on that and have a good weekend. Allen

expresscraft

I am not sure on that, we make 50 different boats and even 1 or 2 colors would be a lot of space needed to have them, We might do something special order with a wait, and it would not be shipped the same day. also some of our non shoe box boats were the deck does not overlap the hull would still need to be filled and sanded and would be meant to be painted.and of course we would ad the cost of the colored gel coat and that would just be what the cost was, we are not trying to be over priced but it would just be what it is. thanks though for the good wishes.

Johnnysplits

I enjoyed our conversation today Tom. Looking forward to that Cheeta!! Maybe when the time comes, instead of you shipping me the hull, I'll take a drive there to pick it up and check out the operation...if that's possible.

expresscraft

yes that would be fine and i enjoyed the talk myself.

expresscraft

I was off a little on my assessment of what john was doing with the molds. I had never changed in building from years ago, So I used release wax. I also had a few laminators over the years and waxing with release wax always gave me a good look at the molds before starting another part, BUT wax will also leave stiryne burns in the molds. It also needs to be redone after every few pulls. What John has done is stripped the molds, re sanded them and buffed them out very nice. Then he applied a chemical release agent in the molds that will allow a lot of pulls without needing to be re waxed. It also does not transfer to the parts so assembling the decks and hulls will also be a little easier to do correctly. But more importantly it is a step to produce like a manufacturer, I should have a cheeta at the end of the week if all goes well, you coming over would be just fine and we will talk boats.

Johnnysplits

Hey Tom, how are we making out on that Cheeta hull?

expresscraft

Well, I am going to have to take a few steps back, getting the molds up to producing parts was a killer on the time frame, But fitting them into the production of parts at John's shop is also a task, Simply can not buy time and he has other things to get done as well. So I have learned again that going forward we need to do our hulls in runs to keep the time per boat stays less then 1 at a time.So right now production is the 1st priority and not sales, the cheetha will be done soon, I am also letting people know who are following this thread what might be good information to them as well in there business.

expresscraft

Johnny it was good meeting you. I am glad you like your cheetha, The sea hawk, c54 and some of the car bodies have already been delivered now, so things are getting on track very nice now, As we get boats in stock we will be selling them. But even that is back seat right now, I want to have all of our boats in stock so we do not have people waiting on boats to be shipped, This is just a part of growing our hobby, Buying , building and playing all have there roll, If buying is a hassle some modelers will move on to other things, I do want to change that. My goal is to grow our hobby. Also have to keep up with bills so it is a balancing act. But so far so good my bunnies are happy so that makes me happy as well as the wife, Doing without is ok with me, making boating better will have a good payoff for us and our customers and you guys are also a big part of our business, feed back, promoting and showing how fun boats are. helps all of us more then just paying for the products. I never feel this is my business, this is our business. I am just trying to make the best choices for it.

expresscraft

So I have been giving this some thought as well, My shop is still here and the production of our boats and only the molds John is working out of is at his shop. What do you guys think of a class or few day school to show you how to build a boat of of fiber glass. you would choose what boat you wanted and then you would build it. Of course I would be right there telling you what and how to do it, I do not want our hobby to lose its craftsman.Once you get here in Florida, we are only 45 miles from Orlando, I would even pick you up from the airport, Our house is small but you would be welcome here. or there is a motel, that is inexpensive and very nice right up the road. As far as price goes, you would need to buy the materials That we can also get right up the road, Some basic tools that you could certainly take home with you. And as far as paying me right now I would just have you pay what you think its worth, This is more about growing the hobby then getting paid, let me know what you guys think.

Johnnysplits

You've got me interested. Wish I had more free time. I'd drive over.

expresscraft

I have my shop coming along and I will be looking for our own laminator right here soon. I will just have to rethink building RTR's later as mixing a fiberglass shop and nut and bolt shop does not work well. i already have a few lines out we will see how it goes, Keep you boaters posted.

lever02

lever02

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lever02

Well there's the new graphics. Auto bailer works like a champ.

expresscraft

I am so glad you still have your Phantom and it looks great. I have had a few people think about building boats, But they all seem to get intimidated, I do not pay by the hour, but by the part. Me and the wife would teach and build a boat with the right person, and they would get paid for it. when they no longer needed us, They build at there pace, If they mess up a part, they lose time and I lose Materials, If course I do not mind helping so that does not happen. once someone knows how to do this work it should pay 30-40.00 HR with no degree to be paid back.. I do not even have people work for me, you set your own hours, all I do is provide the shop, keep a list of what needs to be made. Provide material, The problem is nobody wants to work anymore. today's people who work with there hands do it on a keyboard, I wish I could find one good modeler that wanted to build boats for a living. Then EXPRESSCRAFT would be back.

JasonWalters

Looking to build the 70 inch apache. Stuck between electric setup or inline gas any suggestions ?

crapshooter

both power types would be awesome as long as you select the correct sizes for either electric or gas power. plus what do you prefere , electric or gas ? do you have the dollars needed for these power combos ? i feel gas power would work out cheaper to set up compared to electric power. Fads Trading have some great RCMK twins cheap plus pipes.

expresscraft

The boat that lever02 posted is a inline twin powered Phantom, Same hull as Apache just a different hatch. I think he also did a build thread here on RCU. If I remember right he built Air planes but this was his first boat build, My point is he did great, And building is a fun part of the hobby many miss these days. I do agree with crapshooter, electric are great, but also more expensive, I do think they are the future of the hobby as there are a lot of people with money, that when they choose a toy, they buy it. and really even a expensive boat cost less then a lot of 10 speed Bicycles cost these days. Sure us on a budget, work with what we can afford. But that does not always represent what people want.. the average house in America these days is 250,000, there are 50,000 cars at every traffic light, even new full size pick up trucks are at the 50 k mark, Expense will not keep electric powered big models from happening more and more, Also a lot more places that will allow you to run your quite electric boat.

expresscraft

Good news, We got the shop back up and running and the help we need, We are taking orders and building boats again, We also had to raise our prices, We have not ever done this since 1989, and materials are higher then ever. Plus our boats are now done in Carbon fiber on the inside for great strength to handle today's power. Boats that are 225.00 on the web site are now 275.00, boats that are 300.00 are now 350.00, boats that are 350.00 are now 425.00. I will change the site prices soon. Either way I do not have a shopping cart on my site so I spend time and talk to each customer to make sure they get what they want. but most important we are back.