Q&A

Bertram Yachts’ Alton Herndon

New president excels with

40 years of sportfish

boat-building experience

By Doug Thompson

Alton Herndon’s marine-industry career began in 1969 as an industrial engineer with Hatteras Yachts and there he helped design and build some of the famed North Carolina builder’s finest sportfishing boats. Herndon worked for Hatteras for 27 years—the last 11 years as president. In 1996 he left Hatteras and since then has worked for KCS International, Tracker Marine and Southport Boat Works.

Herndon joined Bertram Yachts in early March 2010, and is presiding over the possible relocation of the manufacturing facility as well as the launch of Bertram’s largest boat ever, the 82-foot, 8-inch Bertram 800. Southern Boating Magazine talked to Herndon in early June and found out what’s in store.    

Question: The Miami River has been home to Bertram for a long time—but do you plan to move the plant? Is a new location selected?   

Alton Herndon answers: The Bertrams we are building today are increasingly larger, which creates problems in our manufacturing and launch areas specifically due to beam and height. We are outgrowing the dimensions of the facility. Also our manufacturing facility is an oasis surrounded by the Miami airport, airport services, and rental car operations. Future long term expansion of the Miami airport includes the use of our property. We have visited many other possible locations for Bertram manufacturing both inside and outside of Florida that would meet our requirements with some modifications. We have not selected a new location for Bertram. Our facility has been for sale for over a year but to date we have had no one at our door with an acceptable offer. 

Question: Bertram’s 50-foot range seems more focused on lifestyle comforts than past boats. Is this just a case of bringing the boats up a notch on finish quality or do you see a trend among buyers for convertibles that really convert to cruising?   

Answer: Bertram Yachts are being built to be hard core fishing machines with the comfort and luxury of a cruising vessel. We are responding to customer requests and input and allow many interior modifications, such as moving the location of the galley and dinette, plus special saloon and stateroom arrangements. We are going with lighter interiors, moving away from the dark cherry high gloss look to lighter woods with a satin finish. Flexibility as a manufacturer is more of a requirement today than I have ever seen. If there ever was a true buyer’s market we are in it.   

Question: Tell us about Bertram’s biggest boat ever—the Bertram 800.   

Answer: You are looking at our new Bertram 800, 80 feet plus, 175,000 pounds and as nimble as a 54-footer. The 800 runs 36 knots wide open throttle and rides and handles great. Some people think a sportfishing boat of this size is too big to fish. Not so. I fished on a boat of this size with the owner and friends in Panama a few years ago and we fought five Pacific sailfish at the same time releasing four and losing the fifth one just before we could release it. That big boat was great. The new Bertram 800 is better. It has all of the amenities of a first-class motoryacht with the heart and soul of a sportfishing machine.   

Question: What other new launches are coming, and when?   

Answer: We are working on our product lineup between 40 and 80 feet with no models planned today larger than the 800. We do have new products in the design and build process but I can’t preannounce what they are.   

Question: You are an avid boater—where do you go boating?   

Answer: I go to all of the tournaments Bertram is involved in as a sponsor and when possible fish with Bertram owners. That puts me on the Florida coast, the Bahamas, and up the Eastern Seaboard. I also was fortunate to be able to fish the Bertram Hatteras Shootout where Bertram won the manufacturer’s and individual award.   

Question: A particular Bertram suffered a lamination failure about a year ago that received a lot of press. Although Bertram successfully resolved the issue with the owner and his captain, the company chose not to discuss it publicly. What do you tell customers today about quality control?   

Answer: That boat was corrected. It’s kind of a non-issue once the boat is fixed. The photographs look like hell and make the problem look much worse than it was. Customers that know of this type of problem that has occurred with this boat or with our competitors boats ask what quality control measures we take to assure this will not happen again. Any responsible builder would review the procedures in place to insure they were being followed and the appropriate quality control inspections were being made to prevent a reoccurrence. Our procedures are reviewed and appropriate inspections are made during the building process and after the boat is completed. The owner of this boat has purchased a larger Bertram.   

Question: Bertram has had success with selling its boats outside the U.S. Is international sales part of your current focus?   

Answer: Absolutely. International sales have been very important to the success of Bertram and will continue to be. Typically approximately 30 percent of our sales are sold through 15 dealer locations outside of the U.S.   

Question: How do you feel about pod-drives in sportfishing boats?   

Answer: I think the POD drives are great, but they don’t apply to the size boat we are currently building with the horsepower range that we have. I spoke to one of the POD representatives last week about their future plans (short term future) and was told systems would be available soon for Bertram. I have not received any requests for these drives from our customers to date.

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