So a 15 year old Yugo is a great car as long as it's frame is intact? You're
in used boat/car salesman mode, Chuck.

There is more to a boat than it's hull...and I never implied that the hull
would have failed quicker if it were used in sal****er.

How would you define "fall apart"?

There is no doubt that Bayliner wasn't building the best available boats 25
years ago. Few would say that Bayliner builds the "best" available boats today.
I certainly would not.

What has happened over the years is that
non-boating dock gossips and competing
sales people have painted a picture of Bayliner that is worse than the boat
actually deserves. Those who are predisposed to believe the worst about every
thing and everybody clamor the loudest about the deck hardware, the threads in
the upholstery, etc.

In spite of the fact that "everybody knows" a new Bayliner will be worthless
piece of
totalled junk in just a few years, "everybody knows" the hull is likely to
split in half and drown your family underway, "everybody knows" the boats are
unsuited to any water with anything more severe than a ripple on the surface,
and all the other things "everybody knows"...........somebody forgot to tell
the boats!

In this neck of the woods, older Bayliners are everywhere. The older boats were
not built as well as the newer Bayliners (and the newer Bayliners are not built
as well, in some respects, as more expensive competing brands), yet they
continue to provide good service in a sal****er environment where a typical
summer afternoon involves a steep, short period, 1-2 foot chop. Worse weather
brings worse water, and we still don't see Bayliners splitting down the keel,
losing transoms,
or suffering the sudden, catastrophic failures that the most energetic bashers
imply are commonplace.

Notice that the OP didn't pull a Stan the Mann on the NG and claim that his
boat was "far superior" to most others, just remarked that in spite of the
constant bashing and disparaging remarks about Bayliner his boat continues to
give good service after a many, many years.

His experience is not all that unusual.
(You can counter with a horror story of an abused and beat up old Bayliner if
you like, I didn't say that you can't ruin a boat
with neglect or misuse).

Another factor that makes Bayliner the butt of so many jokes is that it has
traditionally been a popular choice for newbies. Those same newbies make the
same stupid mistakes that they'd make if they had purchased any other boat
instead, but we see more of those goof-ups in a Bayliner than in other boats
due to the sheer numbers sold. It becomes easy to stereotype anybody owning a
Bayliner as an inexperienced rookie, and the logical extension is that if they
had "known better" they would have purchased another brand. The logical
extension supports that position that the boats must be dramatically
substandard....and so it goes.

Some of those rookies must be very slow learners. Bayliner enjoys an owner
loyalty
that most other brands would kill for. (Insert old saw: "The owner loyalty is
because you'll be thrown off any other dealer's lot if you show up with a used
Bayliner to trade in....they would rather pass on your business than make any
money on a customer who previously bought a Bayliner"....here)