Guys, thanks for your responses. Appreciate all the good insights. Allow me probe just a little bit further...

Sounds like a lot of experience and maybe some inside knowledge would be very helpful thing for someone planning to invest in a new boat, in order to know who the quality designers and builders are. What's a novice to do? Is anyone prepared to share opinions about particular manufacturers of production cats? Or are there other ways that the reasonably intelligent buyer can form opinions about these things?

Are hard facts about construction techniques of different builders, or their quality assurance systems generally available (I'm guessing not)? Are there any established industry standards (e.g. ISO) that manufacturers can be measured against?

Thanks in advance,

Mark.