American boats, value for momey????

[jack.d]

G,day. At the boat show last weekend there were a lot of american boats. We are currently looking at bow-riders, comfort for the wife and some fishablity for me. The american boats we enquired about were about the same price as the ausie boats, haines, cruise craft etc, however appeared to be better fitted out. Some of the american makers also have bow-rider models that are aimed at fishers with electric motor mounts, casting platforms etc. Most are stern drive with only limited models offering outboards. Having a run in some next weekend.
Any comments or experience with these boats would be appreciated.

[NQCairns]

I read the American forum sometimes, the market over there is huge with a great many brands. The point that I picked up constantly is the great variance in build quality between brands, competition is causing cost cutting in manufacture to keep prices down.
If you know the brand etc do a search on various US boating sites to see the general quality of the builds, some of the horror storys are unbelievable like putty holding in composite transoms that get repaired with putty again after cracking/breaking early during the warrenty period, to floors/structure splitting because of a lack of fibreglass tying in bulkheads etc to hull.
There are a lot of boats sold per year over there and a lot of people post on the forums but many more people who buy boats do not post on boating forums just like here. Be carefull and be very aware of the salesman who speak with forked tongues. nq

[Glug]

American boats worth buying? Check this site out before deciding
http://www.yachtsurvey.com/index.html :-X

[cooky]

This may sound ridiculous or too patriotic, however I sincerely feel that while Americans have a huge boat market and some quality offerings - we should BUY LOCALLY. If you're not buying from the town/city/state you're living in, buy an AUSTRALIAN MADE product :D :D.
Our product is EXCELLENT and there is truely no reason to look elsewhere. ;)
Support the country you live in.
Globalisation is real and I'm very aware of this, however I own a couple of businesses and I always train my staff to buy locally first, Australian owned second (even if more expensive), and otherwise at last resort.
There are too many positives to list here and you should be aware of them - support your country and community.
Help other Australians to buy boats. ;D ;D