For those of you who have always wanted to see where your IP was born, but haven't yet had the opportunity to venture to their Florida headquarters, here's a glimpse of what you could see if you were there.
My tour was hosted by Karsten Johnson who is the son of IP founder Bob Johnson. Even though I was the only person who had signed up for the tour that afternoon, Karsten acted as if I were the most important VIP who had ever visited the factory. He spent the better part of his entire afternoon escorting me to the nooks & crannies of the IP homeplace. Here's what we saw.
We began the tour at the administrative headquarters of IP. Perhaps not the plush offices you would expect, but bear in mind that this is an important cost saving measure that allows the company to put their money into the boat rather than fancy corporate digs.
Well, to be honest, it actually looks more like this. IP is located in Largo, Florida only about a 20 minute drive from the Tampa airport. This is their administrative office where the tour begins. Employees proudly report that you can set your watch by the promptness of the arrival of Mr. Johnson each day at 8:00 a.m. on the dot. Unlike some aloof company Presidents who direct from afar, Mr. Johnson remains active in the company's business on a daily basis.
.Here's the stuff out of which IPs are made. It's not just ordinary fiberglass. This is a triaxial weave glass that feels thick and is rather stiff. Sort of like extra heavy duty canvas. It looks soft and silky but it's actually thicker and heavier than you might think.
Each hull consists of a female mold into which these sheets of fiberglass cloth are hand laid. Then, they are impregnated with resin using rollers out of which the resin comes. Again, it's all done by hand. One layer after another is built up. Note the fan. IP dismantles them and actually uses the fan blades for propellers on their larger vessels. You believe that, right?
Here's a close up shot of the hull. You can see the layers of fiberglass sheets and how they overlap considerably. The bilge is huge and will later be filled with iron or lead ingots which are drowned in resin and then covered with concrete and topped off with more fiberglass to permanently seal it off from the rest of the boat.
Here we see some of the workers wearing the standard IP work uniforms. The guys at the bottom had been drinking since morning and couldn't stand up.
Actually, IP employs about 200 people and it was apparent to me that they are a closely knit family. Even more apparent was the pride they took in their work. Karsten knew them all on a first name basis and more than one friendly joke was exchanged. Since his Dad was gone that day, Karsten let them all go home at noon.
Now, this here is a hand made floor that will be sealed into the bottom of the hull. The left, bottom of the picture is near where the engine will go and the propeller shaft will be.
This is the other side of the hull mold. They may look small in this picture but, trust me, they are mammoth.
Truth being stranger than fiction, each IP is coated with a pink sugar frosting coat before fusing the top deck together. Well, at least it looks like it would be good to eat. Karsten told me that it's actually IP's special formula that replaces the deck core with a water impermeable resin-like substance. For those of you sailors who have experienced the joys of deck rot and had to replace sodden balsa or plywood, you'll appreciate this IP detail big time. When's the last time you saw a delaminated IP deck?
Here are the iron ingots that go into many of the IP bilges. Each one is heavy. I tried to lift one to take home with me, threw out my back, and already have a lawsuit filed. That'll probably be the last tour IP lets me on.
Do you know what this is? From what I can tell, it's unique in the IP factory. It's the only piece of automated equipment I saw during the entire tour. It's a wood working machine that, at the time, was busy drilling holes in some teak. The point to this is that the IP is basically an entirely hand made boat. Absolutely everything I saw during the construction process was made, step by step, by craftsmen. Everything. From the hull to the cabinetry.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. This fellow to the right was sanding a teak & holly cabin sole. I was busy talking to Karsten for about ten mintues. The whole time this fellow kept sanding, and sanding, and sanding and covered only about 4 square feet.
IP gets their teak from Burma and their millwork shop smells like Heaven. It's two stories of one artisan after another crafting precision joinery for the cabins.
Although not yet public knowledge, IP has developed a "starter" boat for the new sailor who wants an IP but can't quite afford it yet. Here we see a proud new owner busy cleaning his pride & joy and looking forward to the day when he can upgrade. Note: This boat has not yet earned the CE ocean certification enjoyed by all other IPs. Yet, leading sailing magazines have already proven it sails better and is more seaworthy than the boats made by those "other guys."
This is the hull of an IP 370. The water and fuel tanks have been put in place as the first step before the rest of the interior goes in. This man was fanatical about vacuuming the hull out to make sure zero particulate was left behind. The bars resting along the top of the hull are actually temporarily fastened to it to assure it remains completely rigid.
This hull has the tanks fitted in along with some wiring and is just about ready to have the floor lowered into it and sealed in place.
Actually, this is that same hull as shown above with the floor suspended above it waiting to be lowered.
Once again, we see the same hull but this time you can see the chain plate arrangement on the starboard side. Each chain plate is welded to a horizontal bar. Heavy strands or ropes of fiberglass saturated in resin are placed over each chain plate and spread alongside the hull in an upside down V formation. This distributes the load of each chainplate along the entire side of the hull as compared to those chainplates that are bolted in place and therefore distribute the weight just along the place to which it's bolted. The man to the right comes with the boat as an optional accessory and was also glassed in place.
Here's a closer look at how the chainplates are permanently bonded to the hull. Replacing a broken chain plate would obviously be a nightmare come true so the moral of the story is to take care of them. I was advised to check the seal periodically and, if necessary, rebed them with Silpruf to assure a watertight seal.
This boat has had the bottom put in place and will soon be ready for her deck. That little aluminum colored object at the bottom of the photo in the compartment is a bow thruster.
Speaking of decks, here are some ready to find a hull. They're made at another building on the IP premises and brought over to meet their hull.
Here's an IP 465 getting her teak innards before the deck is mounted. Everything fit like a perfect glove as if it had been precision machined.
Outside, while walking to another assembly building, you'll pass a large assortment of fuel tanks. Some of them could be used for hot tubs.
Here's the IP toy store. Everything in it from the IP logo to Turtle Wax to circuit breakers to, well, you name it. I picked up a few well needed gadgets for The Whitney.
At the end of the tour, we bumped into Bob Johnson who gave the following advice to all IP owners like me whose boat is well under 40 feet. Click to hear it.
At the end of the tour, Karsten presented my wife and me with complimentary his and her IPs to take back to Texas. Now, that's a tour!
As a legend of boat building himself said during the tour, "I'm gonna get me one of those IP cruisers one day."
"you're going to need a bigger boat."
On a more serious note, I left the IP factory with several impressions that may have not been conveyed by this web page.
First, as mentioned earlier, I was astounded to see the amount of labor intensive effort that went into each boat. They may be a "production boat" in the sense that each owner can't dictate every little detail, but they are amazingly well built. The photos don't adequately depict the bullet proof thickness of the rudder post, hull and other components. Brawny is not a big enough word. If people stop buying them as sailboats, they can always be sold as hurricane shelters.
Second, the factory is spotless. Everything is well organized, stored, and labeled. Floors are swept and even the tiniest bit of card board debris was soon picked up. Everything is roomy, well illuminated and modern.
Third, the employees seemed to genuinely enjoy their work and clearly took pride in what they did. There was an ambiance of "quiet confidence" as they went about their business. They liked what they did and did it exceptionally well.
After Karsten told the employees to take off for the afternoon, we headed out to join them for some beers. The party went most of the night. Karsten gave them all huge raises, big promotions, and I left Largo just before Bob Johnson returned.
And, yes, Karsten does work a side job doing the Mr. Clean commercials.
