Next message: Dan Hall: "Re: T&T: Boats as investments, or DF 49"
>When you look at Taiwan built trawlers you will find boats with the
same brand name built in the same year with construction methods and
quality that go from very good to very bad. It appears that the
importers of these boats used different yards to build them and the
yards used different subcontractors to work on them so they really need
to be evaluated on an individual basis.
A lot of the boat manufacturing yards in Taiwan are small, family-run
operations. Many of the so-called "Taiwan trawlers" have a basic hull
that is put together in a larger yard and then the hull is moved to a
family boatyard for completion. So like the proverbial "what day of the
week was your car built," the quality of each boat depends very much on
the quality and fabrication practices of the family yard doing the work.
Some specific brands, for example, have a reputation (around here,
anyway) of being very inconsistent in build quality. Some families
built up the cabin walls and bulkheads by using odd-shaped bits of
plywood and other scraps as reinforcing material inside the fiberglass
structure. Other families used superior materials and methods to do the
same job on the same make and model. In the end, the boats all looked
the same from the outside, but the ones with the scrap-wood cores are
more susceptible to delaminating, water intrusion, and core rot. Boats
from different subcontract yards could be delivered sequentially, which
could mean that the owners of hull number ABC had a great boat while the
owners of hull number ABD have some potentially serious problems lurking
in the cabin walls.
American Marine, now Grand Banks, has a longstanding reputation for
building high-quality boats, but I think the real contribution Grand
Banks brought to the trawler-building industry was consistency. They
are certainly not the only Asia-based manufacturer to build recreational
trawlers with a consistent, high level of quality, but it's probably
safe to say they were one of the first. This is not a plug for Grand
Banks but a plug for consistency. Since much of the work that affects
the overall quality and longevity of a boat is hidden to the average
boat buyer, it can be well worth coming up with the extra money to
purchase-- new or used-- a boat brand that has a reputation for
consistency in build quality. There are enough things to wear out,
break, or fail on a boat as it is, so it's nice to know that at least
the basic structure is sound and doesn't contain any hidden surprises.
______________________________
C. Marin Faure
GB36-403 "La Perouse"
Bellingham, Washington
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