Boat Outfitters is Teak Isle
April 04, 2023 6 min read
Boat Outfitters grew out of a larger company called Teak Isle Mfg, whose primary business is supplying boat builders with OEM parts like inset tackle box and drawer units, hatches and doors, dash and switch panels, swim platforms and ladders, cabinetry, and fishing rod and tool holders.
Spawning from a need seen following the recession of 2008 when new boat sales dropped off a cliff, and dealers and manufacturers tightened their belts painfully in order to survive. Part of that tightening consisted of cutting way back on customer service staff, including parts people. Meanwhile, demand for parts and accessories grew as boat owners became more inclined to work on the boats they had and less inclined to trade them in for new ones.
Contents
- 1. Hassle? Or Opportunity?
- 2. Powered by Teak Isle
- 2.1 Teak Isle’s huge library of part designs
- 2.2 Because of Teak Isle’s longstanding relationships
- 2.3 There’s a good possibility Teak Isle made your original part
- 2.4 Even when it comes to custom parts
- 2.5 Teak Isle’s size and stature
- 2.6 Teak Isle’s business-to-business model
- 2.7 Because of their relationship with Teak Isle
Hassle? Or Opportunity?
Teak Isle saw this as an opportunity. After all, they’d been making parts for a large portion of U.S. boat builders since 1980 and were sitting on a huge store of accumulated industry knowledge and a one-of-a-kind library of part drawings and CNC programs going back to 1980, even for boat models and manufacturers that had gone the way of the dodo.
The question was how to market and sell those parts efficiently to the boat owners who needed them. Boat Outfitters was the answer, and over the ensuing decade, it grew steadily into a leading online source of high-quality and hard-to-find replacement parts and innovative accessories for recreational boats.
Powered by Teak Isle
Now, 12 years later, Boat Outfitters has its own facility and staff, but our close ties to Teak Isle are still what differentiate us from other marine parts and accessories companies. Here’s how:
Teak Isle’s huge library of part designs means that in many cases we can make exact replacement parts even for boats built decades ago.
For 45 years now, Teak Isle has been designing and manufacturing parts for a large portion of American boat builders. The company currently employs 18 engineers and supplies more than 200 boat builders. Individual boat models might use as many as 100 different Teak Isle parts. Even when a model is scrapped or a manufacturer goes out of business, Teak Isle keeps all part designs on file as drawings, CAD programs, etc.
Need a replacement console door for your 1998 Grady White? Chances are we made the original and can make you an exact match in a matter of a week or so.
Because of Teak Isle’s longstanding relationships with boat builders, we have an immense store of knowledge about recreational boat parts.
New boat owners are often surprised to find that ordering boat parts isn’t like ordering car parts. There is no master database, nowhere to type in your make, model and year to see what size which hinges you need for your console door. That makes old-fashioned tribal knowledge invaluable.
There is no master database, nowhere to type in your make, model and year to see what size which hinges you need for your console door.
For instance, we know that 12 years ago, between the 2011 and 2012 model years, Boston Whaler switched the color of their Starboard and acrylic parts from Seafoam to Arctic White. Are there people at Boston Whaler with that knowledge? Sure, but your chances of getting to talk to them are slim. Does your Boston Whaler dealer know it? Probably not. Does the live chat operator at your favorite online discount marine reseller know it? Not a chance.
There’s a good possibility Teak Isle made your original part, so a replacement from Boat Outfitters will be identical.
Not all replacement parts look like the originals — even if they fit. The auto industry is full of aftermarket replacement parts — headlight housings, for example, or floormats — that fit fine but don’t match OEM quality or appearance.
When you get a part from Boat Outfitters, it’s not just the dimensions and hole pattern that match the original; it’s also the material, styling, hardware, level of workmanship and everything else.
The same goes for Boat Outfitters accessories, which are made to exactly the same standards as Teak Isle OEM parts.
Even when it comes to custom parts, Teak Isle’s extensive design library often means faster service and better products.
Working from the design of the original part, we can create customized variations more efficiently. Thinking about a custom acrylic dash panel for your center console, for example? Teak Isle might well have the outside shape of your dash already on file, which saves the time, expense and potential for error associated with templating and digitizing it from scratch.
Working from the design of the original part, we can create customized variations more efficiently.
How about replacing an old under-gunwale rod box insert with a custom tackle storage unit? Again, we might well already have the exact size and shape of the cutout ready to go, significantly streamlining the design process.
Teak Isle’s size and stature translate to exceptional buying power.
Teak Isle is the single biggest buyer of King Starboard in the world. The company also purchases and warehouses marine acrylic, various types of marine flooring, Corian, and of course stainless steel hardware like hinges and latches in huge volumes. That allows Boat Outfitters to source materials and hardware at lower prices and to turn orders around more quickly.
Teak Isle’s business-to-business model allows Boat Outfitters to stock parts that aren’t available to consumers anywhere else.
Retailers that sell only to consumers can’t realistically afford to stock certain specialized parts. There might not be enough consumer demand for a particular stainless steel hinge, for example, to justify the cost of stocking and marketing it. But, if Teak Isle uses that hinge in one or more OEM parts, Boat Outfitters can also offer it direct to consumers without worrying about how many we sell per year.
Because of their relationship with Teak Isle, boat manufacturers often turn to Boat Outfitters as a partner.
Generally speaking, it’s easier and more profitable for boat builders to outsource parts sales. When it comes to parts made by Teak Isle, referring boat owners to Boat Outfitters is an obvious choice. But some builders now ask us to stock even non-Teak Isle parts for their boats.
A spray nozzle used widely on one popular boat brand, for example, commonly needs replacement. The builder was struggling to keep up with selling and shipping replacements, so they asked us to start stocking the part instead. Now the builder spends less time selling parts and the boat owner gets quicker service. As our catalog expands, we are building manufacturer-specific pages to make it easier to find the right parts for your brand.
The net result, we like to think, is a small but meaningful improvement to the boat ownership experience.
