The reason these boats sell well is not because they are made of plastic, it is because they are simple and robust. The reason they are made from plastic is that it is a cheap process, when the boats can be sold in large enough numbers. They can be sold at a similar price to a GRP boat and can therefore be sold at a higher profit. With the big companies profit is important.

The majority of sailors don’t care about performance. And certainly performance doesn’t sell in large numbers. You could make a rotomoulded boat of equal performance to a GRP boat but the complexity required would not make it popular and it wouldn’t sell in large enough quantities to make it financially viable.

As for reparability, they can be repaired, its not as easy as GRP, but you don’t have to do it that often. In fact has anyone ever seen a damaged rotomoulded boat?

So to answer the original question



I think the answer is probably no.

Gareth