"Capt. Rob" wrote in message
ups.com...
Some of the Valiants and Uniflites (power boats) lost more than that.
Some
are virtually unmarketable today. Since you are the "expert" broker,
do you
know why these boats blistered so severely?


I'm no expert broker and never handled either, so let's here about it.
I remember reading about the problem somewhere re the Valiant line,
probably in Sailing in one of their used boat reviews.

Someone came up with the bright idea that using a layer of asbestos in the
hulls would make them fireproof. Around the same time, they even used
asbestos fibers in the chopper guns. Asbestos, it seems, is hygroscopic as
hell, thus the blisters. The Uniflites and Valiants in question all had
asbestos in their hulls. Additionally many yards refused to repair the
blisters due to the asbestos hazard from the grinding. So lots of those old
boats became virtually unmarketable. I don't recall the dates of
manufacturer, but anyone considering an old Valiant should check out the
dates first.

Max