Intrepid Powerboats builds high-end semi-custom boats from 20 to 47 feet that are known for their innovative features. But, according to company president Ken Clinton, Intrepid’s designers can’t claim credit for all those innovations—most were born in the minds of Intrepid’s customers. On The Water spoke with Clinton about how Intrepid Powerboats builds some of the most coveted fishing boats on the market.
You have roots in the Northeast. Is that where your experience with boating began?
I grew up in Danielson, Connecticut. My father worked for General Dynamics in Groton, and at 19 years old, I was working there as a machinist, building submarines. Then I got married, and my wife and I went on our honeymoon to Florida. We left 10 inches of snow in Providence in February and walked out into the sunshine in St Petersburg. I just said, ‘This is it. Let’s move.’ I found work at Triumph Yachts in Tampa installing engines. In 1991, I started as a boatbuilder at Intrepid and I’ve been here ever since.
As a direct-to-consumer boatbuilder, Intrepid does not have a traditional dealership network. How does this work for a boat buyer in the Northeast?
While we don’t have a dealership network, we have a sales partner in the Northeast at Hyannis Marina on Cape Cod, and we have relationships with marinas all over the world. When we started, we asked clients, “What is your local marina?” We’d then reach out to the marina, qualify them, and educate them. Now, after doing that for 30 years, we have an extensive network of partners all over the globe.
Our partners can properly service our boats. We have a process where they send a picture and quote a price, and we approve the work. We make sure to pay marinas immediately for any service work they do, which ensures that when there are multiple boats in the yard, our customers get serviced first because the marinas know they are going to get paid right away.
Intrepid builds gorgeous boats. What makes them great fishing boats?
It starts with our history. We went after the tender market in the late 1980s and early 1990s because we saw an opportunity. No other builders wanted to target that segment because tenders get absolutely punished, so the key was to build a boat strong enough to withstand that punishment. Tenders get dragged behind boats in 12-foot seas, so they must be overbuilt to survive. Once we started building tenders, we decided to build every boat that way—stronger, stouter. That hasn’t changed over the years; the only change we’ve made is to build our boats even stronger.
Any boat owner knows, and this is especially true in the Northeast, that you can leave in beautiful conditions, with a good forecast, and get caught in bad weather and rough seas. My job is to make sure that you get home safely – that our boats will always get you home if you are caught in a bad situation.
The other thing that has made our boats great fishing platforms is the way we custom-build them. I talk directly to every fisherman who is buying one of our boats. We meet face to face with each buyer, and he shares with us all his wants in a fishing boat. We hear everything, down to their theories on how to keep baitfish alive in a livewell. All this information is like gold and has shaped the way our boats are built. I’ve had owners say to me, ‘Ken, you’re an amazing designer,’ and I tell them, “It’s not me. Our customers are creating what we are building.”
For example, we recently built a 407 Nomad for the FLIR pro fishing team. They explained what their needs were for keeping baitfish alive, so we devised a properly pressurized livewell with a Hooker Sea Chest System. So, now, when the livewell is latched, it maintains pressure so that the water inside doesn’t slosh and the bait doesn’t get beaten up.
Which of your boats has been most popular with fishermen?
The Nomad is definitely our fishiest boat. Looking at the 407 Nomad, there are two configurations. We have the SE with a side entry to the head and a layout ideal for entertaining yet still with plenty of room for fishing, and an FE , which is a front-entry design that has an impressive amount of added space in the aft cockpit and beyond. Both models feature a large fuel capacity, so if you’re an offshore fisherman, you can go further and stay longer. There are great fishing features like two above-deck baitwells with viewing windows, and a massive fish box, or coffin box, under the forward lounge.
I can hear your excitement when describing the features of your boats. It sounds like you genuinely love your job.
It’s a good gig, and as corny as it sounds, there are days I have to pinch myself. I’m building custom pieces of art for people who appreciate boats, and that includes clients like Jeff Gordon, A-Rod, Scottie Pippen, and Enrique Iglesias. I sit down with our customers and get to see how they react when I tell them, “We can build a boat for you the way you want it.” That’s what we do. We don’t say no to ideas.
In March I’ll be taking delivery of my 10th brand new Intrepid !