I don't think you can make that comparison. My guess is that the typical
person who owns a sailboat will keep their boat until such time as their
needs/wants change or the boat becomes unusable. For example, I used to own
a Cal 20. While I liked it, I found that it wasn't meeting my needs. So, I
bought a Sabre. I might buy another, but I wouldn't necessarily do so. I
can't imagine why I would in fact. I would more likely buy something
similar, probably larger, but I'm hopeful that would be years away. I would
have more experience and different needs almost for sure.

--
"j" ganz @@
www.sailnow.com

"JimC" wrote in message
m...


Capt. JG wrote:

Never intended to claim that.

You said "great majority of reports from Mac owners are that they are
happy with their boats and would buy another one." Then, you went on to
say how many were sold, quoting a figure of 30K with some part of 15%
saying they were dissatisfied. I'm pointing out that some percentage of
McD burger eaters would say they didn't like the food, but the vast
majority are probably satisfied.

You claim that it's a good quality boat, right. So, citing a satisfaction
percentage of 85% isn't saying much.


Actually, I was being a little conservative regarding the 15% figure. As
explained to Jeff, the 85% applied only to those who liked the boat and
definitely thought they would buy it again given the chance to chose
again. The survey related to owners of the new 26M, released around 2003,
and some of the owners hadn't had their boats long enough to make
conclusive judgments about buying it again.

So, although the majority of the responses were highly positive, the 15%
figure included several who said they couldn't predict at this time
whether or not they would buy a Mac again (undecided); several who hadn't
made up their mind yet because they hadn't had the boat long enough to
make a valid judgment; one who said he now realized that he needed a
larger boat; and a very small minority who didn't like the boat and would
look for something else. So, it would seem that the actual number of
positive responses is probably greater than 85%, unless one assumes that
all the 15% will in time decide that they don't like the boat.

But to put it in perspective, how many of the participants on ASA end up
buying the same boat, or boats from the same manufacturer, two times in a
row? From the various discussions on this ng, it seems more common that
they want something else. - So their satisfaction rate may ultimately be
somewhat lower than that of the Mac owners. Hard to say for certain, of
course, but there are certainly lots and lots of satisfied Mac owners,
judging from the discussions on the Mac boards as compared with the
discussions on ASA and other sailing forums.

Jim