Friday, December 13, 2013

Boat Builder Blunders

There is a popular quote in the book "The Wind in the Willows" by Kenneth Grahame - "Believe me, my young friend, there is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats"
However I think dear old Mr. Grahame may have changed his tune if he owned one of today's popular boat brands touted as "premium".

Over at The Marine Installer's Rant, a blog I thoroughly enjoy, Mr. Bishop documents some of the horrible circumstances he has to face on boats doing electronic installations. Some of his insights are brilliantly documented, and these need to be compiled in a book, then shipped to every builder on the planet.

You can see the contrast in values of most of today's boat builders compared to the builders who truly understand what it takes to own and operate a boat.
Superficial Glitz and Glam over Maintainability,
Layout over Accessibility,
Technology over Usability and Longevity.

Most people will measure quality by values on the left, when true quality is always measured by the values on the right. My advice to you, be careful what you are valuing when you are looking for your next boat, and hold builders and current owners to a higher standard.

I am thankful that Mr. Tollefson, the maker of my Tollycraft, leaned more to the right of these values above, and I hope to maintain those values in my next boat.

Here is Mr. Bishops post.
The Top Ten Things That Make My Life Difficult