On Sat, 21 Jan 2006 20:01:58 +0100, GK wrote:

I am thinking about to build a Bruce Roberts 340 because I like some
details of it and I am close to order his plans (but not the cutting files).
Before taking any decision I would like to get some more information of
others because BR makes a lot of advertising and he is talking about
thousands of boats built, however
the little information in news list and others are mostly not very
favourable on the quality of plans and the saling quality and on BR
himself.
This makes me a little suspicious.

So it should. I've seen some beautifully done BR designs...but I don't
know how they sailed and credit for the nice builds has nothing to do
with BR.

Also, I've seen a lot of total crap low on its lines and with a finish
Ray Charles would criticize. BR designs are like Hyundais of 15 years
ago...ok for getting around, but not taken seriously in some quarters.

The Spray class in particular gets a lot of criticism for taking a bad
idea (19th century oyster boat) and assuming that the design, and not
the skill of Slocum, got the thing around the world. I hear they are
total pigs to sail.

I cannot find any of his boats on the secondhand market.

That's odd. I went to Yachtworld.com, and put in "Bruce Roberts" under
"builder/mfg" and 25 to 55 feet in size and "All" in the country slot,
and got 70 hits, ranging from 345,000 euros to 20,000 euros.

Frankly, they are very common, as both home builders and boatyards do
them as custom jobs. That's why there is probably the biggest range in
quality in these boats: skill set of the builders.

R.