style and cost. the answer is simple realy. contemporary thinking
calls for beamy high volume boats. most of which will never see deep
sea. the original design shows its age and the conventional wisdom
on seaworthiness changed due to market demand. "bigger is better"
also a factor. most people want a dock sailor for week end cocktail
parties and an occasional "daysail" with sails properly furled and
covered while going around the bay using the iron genny. I am not
saying that all sailors are like that, but the majority is due to
the fact that everyone must work to buy things. also, ironically, to
be able to pay for the "tub 46" or "Dockornament 44". brokers and
glossy sailing magazines managed to sell the idea that you can only
go to sea in a huge boat to be safe. Having said that, cost is also
a major factor. you can use the hull mould, but the deck and coach
roof would have to be redisigned to make it more attractive to
buyers. that is costly. she would still be a boat with 8 foot beam.
you can't put a wide screen plasma TV in it. cost of labor and
material would put it in the $100000+ (US) range. I owned a Pacific
Seacraft Flick before, and a new one of those would be about $95000.
the Vega is 27 feet versus the Flicka's 20 foot. boat manufacturers
don't even build many boats under 32 feet, unless it is a plain
trailerable boat. and even those are expansive. boat production in
this day in age is only profitable if you can maintain a high level
of production.
I have thought of finding the moulds and perhaps try to make hull
and deck kits and a limited number of finished boats in Central
America, where labor is inexpansive, however, the cost of material
in a limited production and the cost of shipping the product to
buyers is prohibitive. I am sad to say, that producing and old
designe, however good they are is just not feasable. For us, sailors
on limited budget, I am affraid it is the used boat market that
saves the day. I am in the middle of a complete refurbish on my Vega
hull No. 3211 Delfini and enjoy every minut of it. its like buiding
a new boat. Unfortunatly there are only a precious few of us who
appreciate a good design and enjoy the simplicity of a small boat.
In my humble opinion given the economies of the world perhaps we
have the right idea?
Capt V
