"DSK" wrote in message
. ..
Some of the Valiants and Uniflites (power boats) lost more than that.
Some
are virtually unmarketable today.

Really? AFAIK both change hands at somewhat higher than average prices.
Generally regarded as pretty good boats.

We had two examples here. Both were larger Uniflite cruisers, both severely
blistered and repaired, and neither has sold. Both have been on the market
for over 5 years at lower-than-market prices.

Maxprop wrote:
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.

???

Never heard this.

Uniflite built boats for the military, which required fire-retardant
*resin* to be used in the hull lay-up. This resin turned out to be less
imprevious to water than they realized.

The same layup schedule used for the military boats was used for
reacreational production boats--both Uniflites and Uniflite-built
Valiants--as well. A boatbuilder at a boat show once told me that
"pulverized asbestos" was used in the resins as a fire-retardant, and
probably resulted in the osmotic blistering tendencies of the boats.

... Additionally many yards refused to repair the blisters due to the
asbestos hazard from the grinding.

Never heard this either.

.... So lots of those old boats became virtually unmarketable.

Actually, a Uniflite and 2 Valiants have been sold in our marina within
the past year and a half. One of the Valiants sold almost overnight for
the ask price, which I thought was rather high.

Are you just spreading this rumor because you want to buy a Valiant and
want to get teh price down?

Do you think spreading a rumor on Usenet would actually have any more effect
than a drop of water in the ocean?

See Bubble's reference in his response post. There are others if you don't
mind doing the search.

Max

Really? AFAIK both change hands at somewhat higher than average prices.
Generally regarded as pretty good boats.


Maxprop wrote:
We had two examples here. Both were larger Uniflite cruisers, both severely
blistered and repaired, and neither has sold. Both have been on the market
for over 5 years at lower-than-market prices.


Interesting. Maybe a re-estimate of "market prices" is in order.




The same layup schedule used for the military boats was used for
reacreational production boats--both Uniflites and Uniflite-built
Valiants--as well. A boatbuilder at a boat show once told me that
"pulverized asbestos" was used in the resins as a fire-retardant, and
probably resulted in the osmotic blistering tendencies of the boats.


If so, that could well be the result. I've never seen any
documentation on the nature of the fire-retardant material used.



Are you just spreading this rumor because you want to buy a Valiant and
want to get teh price down?


Do you think spreading a rumor on Usenet would actually have any more effect
than a drop of water in the ocean?

Actually, I do indeed. It's a small world. And if the rumor
was planted intelligently, and backed up by some actual
references, it would certainly pop up on any Google search
for info on old Valiants done by would-be Valiant buyers.

DSK

"DSK" wrote in message

Actually, I do indeed. It's a small world. And if the rumor was planted
intelligently, and backed up by some actual references, it would certainly
pop up on any Google search for info on old Valiants done by would-be
Valiant buyers.

To answer your first question: no, I'm not in the market for an older
Valiant. Or a newer one. While I would certainly steer clear of one of the
fire retardant models, I'm just not fond of Valiants. Some say they are
great cruisers, and they may be. In the same price range there are many
other boats I'd be more inclined to investigate as my next boat.

Max