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Old 06-14-2013, 12:43 PM   #5
Capt Kangeroo
Senior Member
 
City: Great Lakes
Vessel Name: NONE
Vessel Model: NONE
Join Date: Jan 2013
Posts: 448
I too looked at both the Albin and Present, among a few select others before we bought. The guys above are dead on, in a nutshell it really comes down to condition and personal appeal of the specific boat notwithstanding who made it. At a glance there does not appear to be much difference between the two excepting minor variations in layout, hull shape and overall style. Personally I found the Present to lean too much toward motor yacht styling than suited my taste. Both were indeed built in Taiwan but one thing that swayed me toward the Albin was that they used mostly North American built components, fittings, hardware, engines and systems and maintained on-site US parent company supervision during construction. I was also swayed toward Albin because they are/were the oldest boat builder on the planet and have been building boats since the days of the tall ships. (Present Yachts lasted about 20 years.) My thinking was surely Albin learned a thing or two over their 100 or so years in business, mostly this has proved to be true in terms of construction and quality but like all the rest of the Taiwanese built boats, Albin was not adverse to cutting corners where they could. As far as resale values go, the Albin has it hands down over many similar trawlers, at least at the time we bought they did. I suspect however this is more because of their long established name than it is any "real" advantage over other similar boats.

Interestingly, both the Albin and Present later models share some identical high end quality features such as the same upgraded aluminum framed windows, extensive use of the same modern heat shield/soundproofing and aluminum plate flooring throughout the engine room. In fact, sitting in the salon or engine room it would be difficult to know which boat you were on. Generally speaking I found that from the late eighties onward, the construction & quality of all the trawlers we looked at was so similar that the manufacturer is much less an issue than how well the vessel was maintained.

My two cents worth, Cheers
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