b'boat and EBDG took us through the process of vettingHowever, in the newall of the issues and decisions. boat we could considerSimultaneously, we engaged with our banker about what options we might have to finance the construction andpassenger access andto then have in place a take-out permanent loan. In 2016, many of the Seattle-based national banks were most inter- make the vessel asested in a new boat loan, especially if it came with all the other banking services a mid-size company like ours need- compliant as possible with ed. At the end of the day, our existing bank came through with a pre-approved loan package that facilitated us beingland-based ADA designs.set up to build. We could even think about EBDGworkedupthedesignandengineeringpackage to a point where we were able to select six to eight Westincluding an elevator. Coast and Gulf Coast shipyards and provide them with a bid package. When the bids came in, the range between theHere was a chancetop and bottom bidder was over $4.5 million. The bottomto build a more perfectbid was well above what we had anticipated. We were going to need to look at maybe pulling back boat features (scratchSpirit of Seattle. the elevator?) or again defer building a new boat.An unsolicited phone call came from Matt Mullet, CEO & president of All American Marine (AAM), an individual I had met through PVA. He had a shipyard located in Bell- EBDG continued to take the time for us to become better ingham, Wash., and he had a slot open to build a boat likeeducated consumers of shipyard services. the one we were thinking about. The ask was could they obtain a bid package? My initial response was You buildI will give credit for working with the AAM design team to aluminum boats, right? Weve been looking at buildingour (now retired) in-house Port Captain, Don Wicklund. only steel boats as we had been told by those in the ship- Don had 45-plus years with Argosy and had been our ship-building industry aluminum boats are 20 percent moreyard representative for all our major projects. He knew the expensive. Matt persisted in requesting a bid package andworkings and equipment on all our vessels. Having his in-time with his design and engineering team on the Spirit ofstitutional knowledge, along with that of the AAM project Seattle to learn more about its layout, what works, what wemanager, made the process work. wanted to change, and then turned the process in an entire-ly different direction. We streamlined many of the decisions of materials and finishing work as we chose options that AAMs partner Their bid to build this custom boat would involve one ofhad chosen and which AAM had incorporated into prior their partners who would team up with AAM to designpassenger boat builds. When their final package and de-and engineer our vessel throughout the entire project. tails came in, their cost to design and build our 500-pas-senger boat fell within the bank financing package we So, we began the process of designing this vessel (again).had in place.While we spent time and money with EBDG to design a steel boat and we did not end up using their work product,Next step? Risk assessment. To bond or not bond the proj-the decades long relationship and trust with their profes- ect. What is the risk the shipyard may fail during the build? sional team proved useful as a sounding board for decisionsDo you commit to a multi-million-dollar project without a weneededhelpwithonthisnowdesignbuildproject.surety or performance bond, knowing that if the shipyard 29 JULY 2023'