True I suppose
But I’m not so sure it’s not a local thing and or what’s on hand. Kevlar prices have gone up dramatically and I’m sure shipping overseas is and has been a consideration in just what gets used and where. I’ve looked at all these boats and truthfully I don’t see U.S. boats being made to any higher standards than the Euro boats. Older boats seem to always looks better to me.
Only the small one man no production line shops still build from the finest materials and their prices reflect it.
Which Brit’s are you referring to?
“it makes the super strong bombproof flexable hulls the Britts are famous for”
Don’t you really mean “super-heavy, overly-rigid, puncture-and-fracture-prone hulls built with cheap materials”? While that’s no longer true of current P&H and VSK boats, it was up until recently and it’s still true of NDK.
changes over time
I have no idea,I saw/paddled one P&H Sirius 5yrs ago that did not impress me with it’s construction, the deck was made with glass mat and the internal footbrace mounts were too close together for the Keepers causing them to bow in,not that it wasn’t ok,just that it looked crude. Saw a different P&H last year that looked much more refined.
So the problem is we’re working with a very small data base from which to draw conclusions.
On my friends Sirius a 3/8" thick chunk of gel coat chipped off the stern when it got dropped on the curb, on my first year production Chatham 18 the gel coat on the ends is so fine/brittle I’ve gone through to the glass from one bump on the dock edge.