"To boldly go where no man has gone before��� seemed much more benevolent than ���fools rush in where angels fear to tread.��� Either one seemed to fit one of the latest custom yacht projects we were involved in. Our customer was the kind we worry about. Although he had a reasonably high level of boating experience it was on the wrong stuff.

He had spent years on boats that were not particularly comparable to what he was determined to own. Brooke Williams and his wife Dee were hoping to live the dream and move aboard full time.We had decided early on that the best approach with this particular customer was to allow him to be very much a part of the process.

Our feeling was that because of the complexity of the project and because there was not a really clear understanding of exactly where we were going with some of the design aspects of the boat that we should partner with the customer. Brooke enjoys all of the new technology that presents itself in the electronics and computer end of things and had many unique ideas that he hoped to see come to life.

One of the great parts of this design collaboration was that Brooke had no desire to try to pack too much into his boat in the way of accommodations, an attitude that usually increases the odds of a yacht���s success. A simple and elegant layout for his Mirage 47 provided a master stateroom and one guest cabin, a huge galley and comfortable saloon.

However, his plans for just about all other aspects of the boat such as navigation, boat management, and entertainment failed to share the same level of simplicity. The technology for some of what Brooke wanted to do was evolving as we were building. I made Brooke an offer. I told him we would work together to try to achieve as many of his goals as we could but he would have to be an integral part of the effort. He would need to share in the workload of research and communications with the various suppliers, oversee work in progress, and be available at the drop of a hat for any consultation.

Brooke responded by moving to Florida and just about living at the plant. I explained that he would need a strong stomach for, as we put it, ���the sausage factory.��� I also explained that I was more than willing to share the credit with him for any success we might have so long as he shared some of the blame with me when things did not go right. It was a deal Brooke readily accepted.

Although most of what we were hoping to achieve did not fall into any of Brooke���s prior career paths���English teacher, insurance broker, master gardener��� it was clear that he was a tenacious student with an insatiable capacity for learning. Brooke is a sponge for assimilating information and then being able to process it into working ideas. There were highs and lows during the project and Brooke pretty much rolled with the punches. His mantra was ���cha ruga ruga��� the sound of the slow grind.

There was at least one supplier that I would have liked to strangle, but Brooke had very little trouble with him. In other cases, Brooke���s accent, remarkably like that of millionaire Thurston Howell III on Gilligan���s Island, had some of our southern suppliers ready to charge double.To make a long story short, the boat finally went into the water after nine months of construction time. On a project of this magnitude with so many new ideas at play, the fun really begins when the boat finally gets wet.

While this particular yacht did not have ���mega��� status, it was certainly as complicated as the big boys. One of the characteristics that it shares with many of today's larger vessels is the lack of a steering wheel. All steering is done with a joystick or punching buttons on the autopilot. Placing a finger on the desired destination on one of the charts displayed on one of the four touch screen monitors that light up the pilothouse will steer the boat, pretty cool.

After 35 years of boat building I was once again truly impressed with the technology that we have available to us as boaters. One hundred percent of the ship���s monitoring, including all engine and generator status, is done on a PC in the Microsoft Windows environment. This system allows advance notification of any problems that may develop well before an analog gauge or idiot light would have a clue. Think of it as smart instruments that can actually learn.

Real-time weather forecasting comes aboard via satellite and is displayed on another touch screen at the helm. This system deserves its own article and I consider it as big a development in our boating world as the GPS. Married up with an excellent radar system that can be overlaid on the electronic charts rounds out a world-class pilothouse.

Brooke���s helm reminds me of the best instrument panels in commercial jetliners, ready to do any job in any condition. Brooke does not believe in all work and no play however and music is clearly a passion. The boat has about a bazillion speakers that can all be controlled and once again a PC-based music system delivers the vibes. His hard drive has several thousand hours of music stored on it for quick retrieval. Everything from Aretha to Zeppelin, very cool and I think the heart of a DJ beats in Brooke���s body.

How much of this stuff worked out of the box? Virtually none. There is hardly one new thing that we did that does not have a story behind it. Even today, a year later, Brooke continues to tweak and we continue to assist however we can. Some things we would not do again while others are incorporated into our new boats today. One of the sayings we are prone to use around the shop is that the pioneers get all the arrows.

Brooke and I are still wiping blood off from some of the wounds. There is a lot to be learned from a project like this. Far more then just the technical lessons that are learned are the lessons of patience, persistence and tolerance. Some of my co-workers chastised me for allowing a customer to see behind the scenes as I allowed Brooke to do.

My feeling is that customers and builders should be doing more of it. Visit the shop that builds or repairs your boat. Get to know the guys that are responsible for the equipment that may one day save your life. Heck, take them to lunch. For the handful of builders that read this I would suggest the same course of action for you.

Your customers can and should become some of your best friends. Brooke recently sailed into the homeport of the naval architect who designed his trawler. He was invited to the launching party of a $5 million, 66-foot sportfish boat that had taken four years to build. The boat was built by a premier builder. As the boat hit the water a bit of pandemonium broke out as a throughhull transducer popped out and a few hundred gallons of water came through the resulting hole. Brooke e-mailed me to share the incident and one more chuckle about the sausage factory. Cha ruga ruga.