Wayne.B wrote:
On 23 Jan 2006 17:51:41 -0800, wrote:
I was recently aboard Meridian's new 391 Sedan.
Chuck, here's a minor edit for you:
" the wood is cut on c&c routing machines"
Should read:
" the wood is cut on CNC routing machines"
Aha! Thanks!
CNC is short for Computerized Numerical Control, i.e., computer
controlled when applied to machine tools.
The boat sounds nice enough with good pricing, speed and fuel economy.
You've got to wonder about durability however with that kind of light
weight on a 40 footer. One good argument for buying 20 year old boats
is that you get to see how they are holding up.
My boat has a listed weight of 16,000 pounds at 36-feet. May be close
to about the same
ratio. While that does seem pretty light, she has held up structurally
very well for 24 years.
Watch for weight to disappear from more boats in the next several
years. Some of the builders are using honeycombed composite panels,
rather than plywood, under the veneers of interior joinery, and there
are other technologies at work among modern builders to wring some of
the weight out of the boats. It's been driven more by a quest for
performance (everybody wants a 30kt 40-footer, price of fuel be darned)
but as the market interest begins shifting toward fuel economy those
same lighter weights will allow smaller HP engines to provide adequate
(if not thrilling) performance.