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18 September 2009, 13:36
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#1
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Member
Country: UK - Scotland
Town: Glasgow
Length: no boat
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 330
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Yellowfin
I've just heard that Yellowfin have gone into administration. Whilst I'm sorry for those that lost out in their involvement of trying to bring it to market I can only hope that who ever buys them out can make a go of it. It seemed a rather interesting alternative to what is currently available.
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18 September 2009, 14:33
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#2
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Administrator
Country: UK - England
Town: Brighton
Length: 3m +
Join Date: May 2000
Posts: 7,109
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I thought it had all gone a bit quiet. I wonder whether the problem was the technology or the money.
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18 September 2009, 14:42
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#3
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Southport
Boat name: Qudos
Make: 5.4 Searider
Length: 5m +
Engine: Yam 115 V4
MMSI: 235068784
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 3,930
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Just done a quick google but there was too many results on too many different subjects for me to read through right now.
What is/was Yellowfin?
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18 September 2009, 14:46
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#4
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: N.Wales/Southampton
Make: Zodiac
Length: 3m +
Engine: Honda 15hp
Join Date: Mar 2006
Posts: 449
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Quote:
Originally Posted by JSP
Just done a quick google but there was too many results on too many different subjects for me to read through right now.
What is/was Yellowfin?
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A new type of propulsion system, basically a cross between a surface drive type arrangement and a stern drive but with variable pitch props. That claimed to give amazing maneuverability , fuel economy etc.
http://www.yellowfin.com/
James
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18 September 2009, 14:48
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#5
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Southport
Boat name: Qudos
Make: 5.4 Searider
Length: 5m +
Engine: Yam 115 V4
MMSI: 235068784
Join Date: Sep 2008
Posts: 3,930
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Looks really interesting, thanks J S. Maybe time to go to dragons den!
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18 September 2009, 16:10
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#6
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Member
Country: UK - Wales
Town: swansea
Boat name: Too Blue
Make: BLANK
Length: 8m +
Engine: Suzuki DT225
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,791
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I guessed this would happen. Smelt a bit fishy for quite a while.
there is also a rival German system that looks pretty much indentical - trouble is it is almost impossible to defend a patent because there is very little really new out there.
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18 September 2009, 17:20
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#7
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Member
Country: UK - Wales
Town: Southampton
Boat name: DynaMoHumm/ SRV/deja
Make: Avon8.4, 5.4 & 4.777
Length: 8m +
Engine: Cat3126 Yam 90 &70
MMSI: 42
Join Date: Dec 2003
Posts: 6,562
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there was plenty of money there for a long time, they were quite lavishly appointed for many years. Big offices Superb Workshops luvvly tractor etc. An extremely lengthy proving programme. It's possible the backers pulled the plug
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18 September 2009, 17:23
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#8
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Worcester
Make: Northcraft
Length: 6m +
Engine: 115hp Yam 4 stroke
MMSI: 235063097
Join Date: Jun 2007
Posts: 156
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I've just been watching the videos on the http://www.yellowfin.com/ site ...Amazing!
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18 September 2009, 20:37
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#9
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Member
Country: UK - Scotland
Town: Glasgow
Length: no boat
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 330
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Quote:
Originally Posted by John Kennett
I thought it had all gone a bit quiet. I wonder whether the problem was the technology or the money.
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There is a snippet on the MBM site that hints that money (or lack of it) was the down fall. I always wondered why they did not try and court the bigger players to buy in. Such a pity as it seemed a rather splendid system. I think the next new drive to the market will be from Cauldwell. It looks much more conventional than the Yellowfin system but still seems a nice design all the same.
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21 September 2009, 16:49
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#10
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Southampton
Boat name: Aquaholic
Make: Ribeye
Length: 7m +
Engine: 250 V8
Join Date: Mar 2005
Posts: 1,323
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24 September 2009, 20:08
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#11
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Arundel
Length: 5m +
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 18
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In a market where £100's m of pounds are (were) spent on drive development, such as the Volvo IPS, Yellowfin's investment as described by IBI 'ploughed £13m into the development of the drive system' is just not enough. I have been on their test boat and it was very impressive, sad to see it stall.
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the world’s largest marine navigation product comparison website
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24 September 2009, 20:26
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#12
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Member
Country: UK - Wales
Town: swansea
Boat name: Too Blue
Make: BLANK
Length: 8m +
Engine: Suzuki DT225
Join Date: Mar 2004
Posts: 12,791
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Not always the case - a small dedicated team CAN do things a hell of a lot cheaper than a big company with a huge R+D dept.
Throwing money at things doesn't always work - seen it on way too many IT projects. One we worked on was a classic example - 3 of us were doing better and more work than a PLC with 250 people on the project!!!
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25 September 2009, 09:08
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#13
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Member
Country: UK - England
Town: Arundel
Length: 5m +
Join Date: Sep 2009
Posts: 18
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I understand your point, but I think Yellowfins offering to the industry required large investment. In your exampe it would be like 3 excellent engineers developing a an operating system as opposed to an application.
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25 September 2009, 12:55
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#14
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Member
Country: UK - Scotland
Town: Glasgow
Length: no boat
Join Date: Jul 2008
Posts: 330
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Quote:
Originally Posted by navigate_us
I understand your point, but I think Yellowfins offering to the industry required large investment. In your exampe it would be like 3 excellent engineers developing a an operating system as opposed to an application.
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Whilst I agree that development can sometimes be rather deep money-pits Yellowfin certainly seemed well past the proof of concept stage and, according to the press blurb on their demise, alluded to having a third party ready to manufacture it. Unless there are some dark horror stories with the manufacturing process or the longevity of the drive then I think it will make a rather nice buy for some of the industry players. I know if I had the money I would certainly be interested in it. Objectively I thought it provides a rather elegant engineering solution to the problems with outdrives. Subjectively I thought it looked pretty darn cool
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