[troyaux]

HELP????????

I''d like to thank you for your thorough reply. Its a big help. I have a hard time understanding how a 70''s boat that has thick fiberglass wouldn''t be stronger..Isn''t heavier and thicker always better ? Were those boats not made of the same polyester resin of today''s boats? What things do I look for (besides the need for a shallow draft or centerboard in my case) as far as strength? I have asked the question :what defines a coastal cruiser but I don''t understand how all these companies would sell these expensive things that would fall apart in a few storms. I can understand that these boats could were not designed to handle ocean crossings or years of pounding but on the same hand the Bahamas are so close to Florida that I wonder is that going beyond the design limits of a coastal cruiser to do this? the same is true for most of the Carribean... its only a hundred miles here and there and little hops among the islands.. Would not a regular Catalina 27 or 30, and Oday or Irwin stand up to this??????? what happens? Would an Irwin or other lightly built boat break up in a storm. Certainly the designers of a 30-35 foot boat would not expect one to day sail.. I wonder if I should look at buying the most weight i can for the money or is that not a good way to look at it??????

I had a Magregor 25 and the hull was way to light and I agree its a cheap boat. But for years it took a lot of pounding on the steep waves of the great lakes and its still in one piece... MacGregor factory reps swear that even though the hulls flex, meaning you can make the freeboard indent with a good push, that they are engineered to handle coastal waters and trips to Catalina in CA. What does that mean? Wouldn''t stiffer be better.I feel this boat had been a great starter but I am not sure I''d cross to Bahama on it... However, to make my point... wouldn''t almost any production boat 30-34 feet long be safe enough to make those trips?

I am trying to get the handle on what I should look for, model, weight, price, year, or what? Can anyone shine a light on my questions? You mentioned that in the 80''s the boats were better made but lighter... can you explain that?