I was helping new owners of a 260 rig their boat the other day. Some sloppy rigging of a slightly bent mast(one strut an inch longer than the other for starters) and rudder line improperly rigged so the rudder wouldn't go down which I spent correcting. Looking underneath the boat, which as sitting on a boat lift. I discovered a larg crack in the hull just inside the water ballast fastening line. Looking closer, I noticed how thin the fiberglass was in this area. As a person with 30 years experiance correcting engineering screw-ups, I had written hunter about this problem 3 years ago when I bought my 260 (first year out). I don't know if this is incompetent engineering or sloppy factory work, but obviously the problem continues. Trailer boats usually sit on bunks, weather trailer or boat lifts when they are not in use. This creats higher point loads than a boat sitting in water. It's a shame that an otherwise well built boat would have such a huge engineering mistake or factory quality take it down. This couple will probably be without a boat for a 1/3 of our short summer. Jeff Peltier