SEA SLED

The Knapp Years

1925 - 1934

 

Here comes another one. A 28 foot finished product at the factory in 1926

From 1925- 1934 6,000 Sea Sleds were produced under Knapp management

Rosenfeld collection / Mystic Seaport

 

So the longtime yachtsman Joseph P. Knapp and son Joseph F. Knapp had a up and running boat manufacturing concern , with 2 plants, a showroom in NYC and semi retired Albert Hickman as a technical advisor. The twenties were still Roaring and Knapp wasted no time applying his salesmanship methods and organiztion to it.

Besides using conventional places like Motor Boating, Rudder, and Yachting magazines. Knapp had at his disposal Colliers, Woman's Home Companion, and American Magazine to run full page ads in. Most of the ad copy seemed directed at the affluent society. But then again Sea Sleds were never cheap boats in any way.

In 1929 $95.00 was a lot of money & $50,000.00 was a fortune.

 

HERE'S A LITTLE SIDE TRIP IF YOU WANT TO TAKE IT:


DURING THE YEARS THAT KNAPP HAD THE COMPANY SEA SLEDS

LIKE THE REST OF AMERICA WERE CAUGHT UP WITH PROHIBITION 1918-1933

SEA SLEDS & RUM RUNNING

 

 

 

Lots Of Knapp Hobbies & Interests represented in their ads

I Wonder What Amount Was Spent On Ads

Then there were Ads that no amount of money could by

DATELINE : PATCHOGUE 1926

CLICK HERE FOR A 1929 TESTOMONIAL WITH PHOTO ON A 13 FOOT SEA SLED RACE BOAT

 

BUT FOR ALL THE ADVERTISING $$$$ THEY SPENT
THERE WERE MUCH LARGER NEGATIVE FORCES BEYOND KNAPP'S CONTROL

In 1931 Sea Sled introduced a traditional hull model most likely to help dwindling sales. I always was amazed at the dress code of folks who appeared in Sea Sled Ads.

By 1933 The Handwriting Was On The Wall

 

Regardless of the the amount of capitalization (almost 5 million that I know of) Nothing the Knapps could do could counter the effects of the Great Depression the last two years they ran the Sea Sled Corporation

1932

* This and the next year are the worst years of the Great Depression. For 1932, GNP falls a record 13.4 percent; unemployment rises to 23.6 percent.

* Industrial stocks have lost 80 percent of their value since 1930.

* 10,000 banks have failed since 1929, or 40 percent of the 1929 total.

* About $2 billion in deposits have been lost since 1929.

* Money supply has contracted 31 percent since 1929.

* GNP has also fallen 31 percent since 1929.

* Over 13 million Americans have lost their jobs since 1929.

* Capital growth investments have dropped from $16.2 billion to 1/3 of one billion since 1929.

* Farm prices have fallen 53 percent since 1929.

* International trade has fallen by two-thirds since 1929.

* The Fed makes its first major expansion of the money supply since February 1930.

* Congress creates the Reconstruction Finance Corporation. (More)

* Congress passes the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932. (More)

* Top tax rate is raised from 25 to 63 percent.

* Popular opinion considers Hoover's measures too little too late. Franklin Roosevelt easily defeats Hoover in the fall election. Democrats win control of Congress.

* At his Democratic presidential nomination, Roosevelt says: "I pledge you, I pledge myself, to a new deal for the American people."

1933

* Roosevelt inaugurated; begins "First 100 Days" of intensive legislative activity. (More)

* A third banking panic occurs in March. Roosevelt declares a Bank Holiday; closes financial institutions to stop a run on banks.

* Alarmed by Roosevelt's plan to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, a group of millionaire businessmen, led by the Du Pont and J.P. Morgan empires, plans to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and install a fascist government. The businessmen try to recruit General Smedley Butler, promising him an army of 500,000, unlimited financial backing and generous media spin control. The plot is foiled when Butler reports it to Congress.

* Congress authorizes creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the National Recovery Administration, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority. (More)

* Congress passes the Emergency Banking Bill, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Farm Credit Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Truth-in-Securities Act. (More)

* U.S. goes off the gold standard.

* Roosevelt does much to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, but is obsessed with a balanced budget. He later rejects Keynes' advice to begin heavy deficit spending.

* The free fall of the GNP is significantly slowed; it dips only 2.1 percent this year. Unemployment rises slightly, to 24.9 percent.

 

AND SO IN 1934 HICKMAN TOOK HIS COMPANY BACK