Mr. Leigh-Smith's marina, one of the largest in the Southern Hemisphere, has 20 to 25 potential customers for Kingship yachts lined up. The marina has already sold 15 smaller boats - of 40 to 60 feet - made in China, at a Shanghai boatyard, and found the quality generally acceptable despite some initial problems with curtains, carpets, cleats and handrails.
"We've had our small dramas with them, quality control," Mr. Leigh-Smith said. But, he added, "Every time we've gone to the factory and said 'we're not happy with this,' they've rectified it."
As is often the case with manufacturing in China, Kingship is entering the yacht market with a lot of help from abroad.
Mr. Liang is financing and directing the project from Hong Kong. He brought in Mr. Yong from Singapore. Prominent American and Dutch designers drew up the blueprints for Kingship's yachts.
After starting construction of the first yacht with Chinese steel and finding it tough to get plates in the right sizes and shapes, Kingship is assembling the second one from imported steel plates, and plans to do the same with three more. The plates are forged in the Netherlands by Corus, a big European steel maker, and then cut and bent to shape there by Multi Metaal before being shipped here in containers for assembly.
The engines are imported from a Caterpillar factory in Illinois, though two representatives of a DaimlerChrysler subsidiary in southern Germany showed up at the opening ceremony to promote their engines for future yachts.
The generators come from Alaska Diesel Electric in Seattle. The interior lighting systems and the fabric for the upholstered chairs are also imported from the United States. So are the hinges for the shower doors. While the frosted glass is made locally, the hinges still have to be imported to make sure that the doors will open and close just right, said Olivia Liu, Kingship's interior decorator.
Kingship executives say they still have a competitive advantage because they are close to Chinese factories that increasingly dominate the world in the production of many materials, and the quality of local products is improving. They plan to start buying Chinese steel plates now that Corus and Multi Metaal have generated detailed computer data on the sizes and shapes needed.
Most important, Kingship has cheap labor that more than makes up for the extra shipping costs on imported parts.
Security guards, who make up about a tenth of the 200-person labor force, earn $120 a month, Mr. Yong said. Specialty skilled workers, like welders certified to international marine standards, can earn as much as $600 a month, a handsome salary in this country even if it is considerably less than a European marine welder makes in a week.
All workers live at the site in high-ceiling concrete barracks that, while spartan and crowded, are a big improvement over the huts nearby. Employees now sleep four to a room, though there are plans for eight to a room on bunk beds once the factory has a full order book and the work force has expanded to 500 people assembling seven vessels at a time.
Having the workers live on site helps when a yacht has to be refitted. They can work in shifts around the clock, day and night, to make sure that a vessel is ready in time for the summer or winter cruising season, Mr. Yong said.
"They want to earn more instead of idling around," he said, adding that the workers, mostly from elsewhere in China, did not have their families with them - a common practice in the country - and had little else to do. The company sent the workers away from the factory and barracks during the opening ceremony.
Western boat manufacturers say that the reliance here on imported parts, combined with a lack of local experience in assembling boats, means that they have little to fear. China's industry, they say, is too far behind to catch up quickly.
