Many people say they were born into the boating industry, but Fluid Motion president John Livingston (above left) may have the strongest argument. His mother was pregnant with him while she worked at Livingston Boats, owned by his father, Dave, in Washington state.
Dave Livingston started early, too, building his first boat at age 14. He used plans for a 9-foot, 8-inch Mustang from Popular Mechanics magazine. During his youth, Dave rode his bike to the Seattle Yacht Club on Lake Washington to watch hydroplane races. He was befriended by Walt Cade, who worked as a mechanic on the Miss U.S. unlimited hydroplane. “He asked me if I wanted to wipe down the boat, and pretty soon, it was, ‘Can you get me a seven-sixteenths-inch wrench?’” Dave recalls. “I would grab the wrench and give it to them, and they were surprised I knew what the tools were, and that led to, ‘Hey, we’re changing this distributor, can you clean it?’ It was a very fortunate experience.”
Dave also built and ran his own hydroplanes locally in an event called the Sammamish Slough Races until they were shut down after a boat lost control and hit a spectator. He spent four years in the U.S. Navy and went on to work at Nickum & Spaulding Naval Architecture, and at Lockheed Naval Architecture. Soon after, he designed and developed the Livingston dinghy. After several years building the small boat, he sold the company to Reinell, a manufacturer in the Pacific Northwest. After that, Dave designed for or consulted with many boatbuilders, including Bayliner, Wellcraft, Regal and Larson.
Dave was recognized for his contributions to boating when he received a Legend Award from the Northwest Marine Trade Association. After leaving Bayliner, he spent a few years racing vintage Formula 1 and Indy cars but returned to his first love with John, purchasing Ranger Tugs in 1998. The day before the interview for this Q&A, Dave turned 83 and celebrated by completing a 5-kilometer run.
Soundings Trade Only sat down with the Livingstons to get their take on the state of the boating industry and to learn about the ascension of Fluid Motion, which builds the Ranger Tugs, Cutwater and Solara brands.
How does boating fit into the everyday life of the Livingston family?
John: It’s pretty much all that we’ve done. My father started building boats when he was 14, and I’ve learned a lot from him. Even when he worked for Bayliner, I worked there in the summertime and was always running around the shop. It’s how we grew up.
How many family members work at Fluid Motion?
John: In addition to me and my father, my wife, Jen, works at the company. She makes sure we don’t spend our money in all the wrong places.
Many family businesses seem to take on extended family members. Is that the case at Fluid Motion?
John: Our vice president, Jeff Messmer, has been with the company for almost 20 years. The Messmers are basically family to us at this point. Our kids grew up together, and our families still boat together. Jeff was instrumental in building the owner community that started with Ranger Tugs and has provided a lot of success for us.
Did you ever think you should go into a different business because of the large shadow your dad has cast?
John: I didn’t go right into the family business. Uflex [an Italian manufacturer of marine accessories] was splitting away from Teleflex. We were friends with Ana and Giorgio Gai from Uflex, and they wanted me to start their U.S. operations. I told them no because I thought they needed someone with more experience, and they said, “You don’t have a choice — you’re doing it anyway.” My brother Dave and I started that.”
Dave, your work with Regal Marine brought stepped hulls into the runabout world, but it wasn’t about speed, was it?
Dave: The engine makes up such a huge percentage of what we do, and it’s important to get the hulls more efficient to get the size of the engine down because that’s how you create a better value.
John: It all started when we did the first 21 for Regal. We built it in Dad’s garage in West Seattle. When we started with the 21, everybody was running a V-8, and the sterndrive was more than 50% of the cost of the boat. We thought if we could get the same performance with a V-6, we would have a jump on everybody, and we were able to do that.
How did you wind up with Ranger Tugs?
John: It originally started as a sailboat company, and they built canoes, too. We went there to have Howard “Smitty” Smith build a 22-foot runabout. He said, “I have a better idea. I’m going to sell you the company at a price you can’t refuse, and I’m going to Florida.” We had Ranger, and people just kept coming in and buying these little tugboats, and we said, “Maybe there’s some legs with it.” And it’s expanded since then.
Have any design elements that Dave used for other manufacturers worked their way to boats from Ranger Tugs, Cutwater and Solara?
Dave: The other day, I found a picture of an old 6-meter Reinell, and there were many similar lines I had forgotten about. I guess the pencil has a habit of going a certain way, and they showed up again on a current model.
Are you still designing boats? Or does the company have an in-house design team?
Dave: The design side has always been the part I enjoy. You need to have shop work so you have something to do on the idea side. We have another fellow, Dave Pugh, who’s good on the computer. I’m still good with a No. 2 pencil and scale. I try to get stuff sketched pretty close. John and I boat a fair amount, and we talk about things.
Are you a naval architect?
Dave: I’ve studied it, but I’m not formally a naval architect.
John, do you do any design work?
John: I collaborate with Dad on bottom design, but he does most of it. Because we boat together so much, we talk about things.
Do you create your tooling in-house or outsource it?
John: A lot of our tools are still built down at Marine Concepts in Cape Coral, Fla.
Many of your boats use laminar flow interrupters or stepped hulls. Can you explain the design theory?
Dave: We use laminar flow interrupters on the Rangers to improve turning. On the first Regal FasTrac hull, we put little steps in the bottom to eliminate porpoising in a corner. When the round part of the hull drops down in a corner, it pops up when enough kinetic energy builds up, and it oscillates. The laminar flow interrupter breaks up the flow, and the boat makes a nice, smooth turn.
Do the Cutwaters and Solaras have stepped hulls?
Dave: So much of it is the attitude and the style of the boat. The step is the difference going from Ranger to Cutwater. We try to offer the same fun for the best value, but just do it differently. With the Cutwater, we tried to appeal to people in the Northeast more, and with the Solara, we aimed more at the Southeast with more day boating, maybe fishing for a while and going out to dinner. The look of the Solara and the people we’re selling to, it’s a whole different boat.
John: We started Cutwater about 12 years ago, and it’s a little more Down East, a little bit faster with a little more fishing features, too. Solara was just introduced this year at the Miami boat show.
At least two of your brands are known for affordability. Is price something you consider when designing and marketing new models?
John: We try to offer the best value with the most features for the buck. You can sell something for a $1 million and have a great value, or you can sell something for $100,000 and be a great value. We approach it more that way than the dollars and cents.
Dave: Almost since the beginning, we’ve had a midberth underneath the dinette with separate sleeping on the Rangers. When we go boating, it’s nice to take friends or other family members, and it’s nice to have two separate entrances and two private cabins. And when you get bigger, you get two private heads, as well. That adds value.
How have big outboards changed the product lineup and the boats you design?
John: You do different things to account for it. They’ve become so efficient and so quiet, and they install in no time. You also get your storage space back in the cockpit because there’s no engine under it, so there are benefits to it.
What has impressed you most about the new breed of outboards?
John: They just work. We have an exclusive supplier agreement with Yamaha, and since we started offering outboards, I think we’ve had two motors with warranty issues. Other than that, they just go.
Are there any new models in the pipeline we can look forward to?
Dave: It’s not just new models. It’s new features and trying to improve. We’re getting close to revamping and getting new ideas up to speed throughout the product line. The style always changes. So many domestic companies have gotten out of the boatbuilding business, so people see the trends in European designs, like vertical bows. You have to pay attention to trends.
What is your largest market, geographically speaking?
John: Ranger sells best here in the Pacific Northwest because we’re our own dealer. The Mid-Atlantic is strong. So is the Northeast, and surprisingly, Florida is a great area for us.
How many units do you build in a year?
John: Overall, we’ll build 450 to 475 boats at all three companies this year.
How many employees do you have?
John: About 350.
Tell us about your manufacturing facilities.
John: We have six locations, all in Washington: one in Auburn, one in Kent, three including accounting and H.R. in Monroe, and we occupy six of the 14 buildings that used to be Bayliner headquarters in Arlington, Wash.
Are there any high-tech boatbuilding techniques the company is using?
John: We’re pretty traditional. We’re not using robotics stuff yet. Our boats are built with solid fiberglass, and we use Coosa board in the transoms to build up the thickness for the outboards.
Workforce shortages are a long-running problem. What is your company doing to mitigate the shortage of skilled labor?
John: It’s tough to find people in all aspects of production. We’re opening a training school for people coming off the street who don’t even know how to use tools. We have referral programs, and we have bonuses for people who make it 90 days.
What is the biggest challenge to finding and training employees?
Dave: There’s so much uncommon sense today, the amount of engineering time and the amount of time spent trying to oversimplify everything. It takes a lot more to try to get people comfortable and minimize mistakes. There used to be more tradespeople with different experiences.
Do you get any candidates from the Northwest School of Wooden BoatBuilding?
John: Lots of outboard technicians come out of there, but the school doesn’t have anything specific to fiberglass production boatbuilding.
What was the most challenging aspect of navigating the pandemic? The supply chain, labor, inflation?
Dave: We paid people to stay with us during the pandemic.
John: Once they came back, parts were an issue, but now, for the most part, suppliers are caught up. Now we need more people.
What programs have you have implemented to improve customer interaction?
John: At the start of every season, we take two groups of 40 to 50 boats to Canada to cruise around the islands, and there’s another group of about 40 that goes all the way up to Desolation Sound. It’s mostly with Cutwater and Ranger. A Cutwater dealer in Bellingham does his own cruise that Dad attends. More than 200 boats come to our owners’ rendezvous in September, and many Cutwater and Ranger owners have become friends and frequently cruise together on their own.
What are your thoughts about the industry push to make boating easier?
John: Easier boating means more expensive boating, and it’s not conducive to the new customer. People ask for joysticks and gyro stabilizers, but the gyros don’t fit in our boats. We already put bow and stern thrusters on our boats anyway.
Dave: Things are getting so complicated, it’s hard to keep it simple. The new boaters are there, but it’s so hard to build an inexpensive boat today.
Where are things headed for recreational boating?
John: I see next year being on the tougher side. People need to get back to work, and dealers can’t be so lazy. Things are starting to slow down. Most people have had their sales for the year.
What is the most rewarding aspect of working at Fluid Motion?
Dave: Seeing people happy when they’re boating. We try to keep it simple. We’re selling fun at the best value. It’s not building boats. We’re trying to build a good time for people. Boats are just how we do it.
This article was originally published in the August 2023 issue.
