Come to think of it, I see a lot of '70s boats still, and not as many
'80s boats, and then more '90s and later boats. I am under the
impression that economic factors that saw a lot of North American boat
builders close in the '80s led to a lot of shortcuts and quality
compromises in many manufacturers' vessels.

R.


No no no no.... most USA boat builders shut down, went out of business
or went bankrupt when the socialist/democrat US congress during the late
80s decided to penalize the filthy rich "yacht" owners by imposing a
yearly "boat tax" .... immediately followed by approx. 30,000 boat
workers losing their jobs when hardly anybody bought any boats! The
infamous 'boat tax' was rescinded after about 4 years but the US
recreational boat building industry had been virtually been destroyed
and still hasn't fully recovered .... 'furriners' have since taken a
major portion of that market share.