[Scott]

Your welcome .....and on another note Welcome to the site !!!!

Thats a loaded question (new vs old) as I have a 76 23 Center console. Yes I have heard the quality concerns but when you think about it I'm sure back in the day there were boats that had their share of " problems”. My feelings and personal opinions are that I feel a factor that may lead to a decline in quality today is a consequence of mass production and rushing processes that shouldnt be rushed (improper lay-ups, shortened cure times etc). I’m inclined to think the "smaller" builders tend to put a little more TLC into it building it right the first time. Again I may be way off base ...but its just food for thought as I don’t think that was the case years ago. I do know that several builders , if asked, will take you through the floor while boats are being built.

I have only been in the new ones on land .... and not really seen too many late models to assess wear and tear. The hull shape is the same ... some of the materials are different (better resins, Bi and Triaxial cloths, and Nida and Divinacell?? foam coring). As far as “old” goes …. the problem you would have is there is no "classic" 21. That was recently brought into the lineup so you would need to look for a 20.

This is really funny as this is the same process I went through prior to getting the 23. I was NOT happy with the 20-21 foot boats out there, looked at a 21 and almost fell over when I heard the list price( I must have been right in thinking he, the dealer, was high as he is no more!!)...then went on the hunt for the 23.

But who knows as I recently played around on the new 24 Regulator and I'm still in awe as the boat listed in the high 70's with a single 250 HPDI (Its a 22-23' boat with a euro transom and it needs more power than that!!) Again nice boat ...but a tad too much for what your getting IMHO
Hope this helps

Scott