On Mar 11, 3:32�pm, wrote:


Sea Ray has better name recognition than Rinker thanks mainly to great
marketing. *On the other hand the Rinker may actually have higher
quality hardware and workmanship. *Compare the quality of things like
deck rails (welded or t-fittings, diameter) and cabin cabinetry and
hardware.


Do you have some basis for that statement, (opinion) or is it purely
rhetorical?

If I dig out the Powerboat Guide from 1998, (back when the Rinker was
new) the corporate "puff statement" (normally supplied by or
influenced and approved by the builder) empasizes that the company
"builds a series of affordably priced models".

The lead sentence on the 260/265 Fiesta Vee reads, "The Rinker 260/265
Fiesta Vee is an economy-priced mid-cabin family cruiser with an
attractive profile to go with her relatively narrow 8-foot, 6-inch
beam." The fact that economy pricing is used as a preface for the rest
of the description is seldom a good sign.

The third sentence on the 266 Fiesta Vee reads "Like all Rinker
models, the 266 is a fairly straightforward boat, affordaby priced and
conservatively built on a solid fiberglass deep-V hull"

The lead sentence on the 280 Fiesta Vee reads, "Like all Rinker
models, the 280 Fiesta Vee is a budget-priced, no-glitz package."

The lead sentence for the Rinker 300 Fiesta Vee reads, "The Rinker 300
Fiesta Vee is a sporty and affordably priced express cruiser......"

etc, etc etc,

That wouldn't give a lot of folks much reason to expect better harware
and workmanship than found on a Sea Ray.

The only other boat brand that comes to mind that makes such a point
of crowing about affordable pricing starts with a letter very near the
beginning of the alphabet.

It may well be that Rinker boats are different now than they were in
1998 and that the company is trying to market from a quality, rather
than a price standpoint. However, as the original poster is looking at
a 1998 model it's more useful to see how the company viewed its place
in the market back then, as opposed to what they may be trying to do
in 2007. "We build cheaper boats" isn't the world's most encouraging
mission statement.

Not to say that an individual, nine year old 1998 Rinker couldn't be a
better boat than an individual, nine year old 1998 Sea Ray, of
course... but I'd be surprised to learn that they were generally
better boats when new.