[Fr. Frank]

Bayliner got a bad reputation in the late 70's and early 80's for poor hull quality during a time when AMF was making them with only two layers of lightweight fiberglass mat: one inner and one outer layer, and two layers sprayed with a chopper gun between. In 1983, I watched a 24' Bayliner Victoria hull split wide open just from rocking on the padded forks of a marine forklift I was operating.

In the late 80's, they added a third layer of mat, sandwiched between the two layers of chopped glas, giving it a stronger hull, but still had occasional catastrophic hull failures, particularly in the larger 23'-28' Trophy line of fishing boats.

In the late 90's Bayliner reassessed their construction technique, and went to all laid-mat hulls, retaining mostly chopped glass construction on liners and decks. Since 1998, Bayliner has not had a single catastrophic hull failure from poor quality materials or construction technique on any hulls manufactured since then.

But their finish and furniture quality is still pretty piss-poor. Sloppy finishing and "el cheapo" furnishings, yes; but the hull quality is 1000% better than what it was.

I still prefer my 40 yr. old SeaCraft