Wow; crusin spirit alive and well on this board!!
With 25 % of all responders dreaming of bluewater cruising and nearly 2/3 planning long trips manufacturers of production vessels better start paying attention to this potential market for better sea berths, larger anchor lockers, real toerails, strong handholds, and so on and so forth. An important question is, of course, whether the responders were somewhat representative of the total group of cuisers frequenting this board or whether the responses came primarily from a subgroup already interested in cruising. Even then, however, there were several hundred potential or actual cruisers who responded. If manufacturers could be made to believe that many if not most of these potential cruisers would readily pay a bit more for their vessels in order to get a more seaworthy vessel without months, if not years, of back- and/or wallet-busting upgrades, perhaps some of the missing features might be provided as an option. I am not much of a businessman and perhaps my own preferences are not representative for most (potential) cruisers on this board. However, if Hunter Marine -- for example -- were to offer "offshore versions" of some of their larger models I would think that the response could well be surprisingly strong. Flying Dutchman PS The Beneteau results are puzzling in their outlier behavior for nearly all categories. Could it be that only 30 or so Beneteau sailors responded thus far?
