I currently own a 24 year old boat, and there's always something wrong with the damned thing. That's what worries me, I guess.
Here's something that bears thinking about. Just about all the stuff that breaks on a boat is
not stuff the manufacturer made. Grand Banks, Krogen, Nordic Tug, Fleming you name it--- made the hull and the decks and the superstructure and the cabinetry. Probalby the cabin floors, too. and maybe the doors. Everything else--- engine(s), door knobs, generator, toilets, batteries, fresh water pump, refrigerator, instruments, radar, rudder bearings, prop shaft(s), cutless bearings, transmissions, circuit breakers, wire, cable connectors, window glass, compass, sink faucets, light fixtures, anchor windlass-- all the stuff that actually wears out or breaks, was made by other companies.
So it's very likely that some of the things that are crapping out on your current boat will be the same things that are on a Krogen.
A manufacturer can select top-of-the-line components or middle-of the-road components or not-so-great components, and that will defeinitely have an overall effect on the reliability of the boat. But the boat's manufacturer is not a guarantee of no or minimal problems. With a used boat, partilularly an older one, the previous owner(s) of the boat you buy will have had a whole lot more impact on the reliability of your boat than what the manufacturer did way back when.
When I asked the captain/manager of a 120' corporate yacht I was associated with for awhile, a gorgeous Philip Rhodes-designed, Abbeking & Rasmussen-built steel vessel that had been built in 1966, if his vessel was harder to maintain than the brand new 200' yacht at the next pier over, he said:
"Everything on that new boat is going to wear out and break just like everything on this boat is wearing out and is going to break because it's basically all the same stuff. The only difference is that right now, everything on that boat is new. So he's got a bit of time to relax before he has to start fixing things."
As Al (Flywright) suggested some posts back, what you really plan to use the boat for should be the more important guide to what brand of boat will be best. As opposed to starting out wanting a particular brand and then forcing it to fit your plans.
Obviously if someone really wants a Krogen no matter what, they they should probalby buy a Krogen or they won't be happy. Then they'll have to fit the Krogen to their boating plans.
Sometimes--- probably a lot of times--- the desired brand of boat also fits the boating plan. The PNW is a good example of that. Up here even if all one can afford is a log, it can provide some great "cruising" adventures in the islands. So Krogen, Grand Banks, Tollycraft, Nordic Tug, Fleming, Bayliner, you name it--- they all work great. A Florida coast, tuna-towered sportfisherman maybe not so much.
I've always regarded buying a boat--- or anything really--- to be the same as buying a computer. Figure out what you want to do with it, what programs you want to run and what you want to accomplish with them, and then buy the best computer for running those programs.
As opposed to buying a computer and then figuring out how to make what it does fit what you want to do.
. That said I'm probably thinking of updating my Coastal Explorer software and Cdn charts next year. Depends whether the Haida Gwaii charts have been updated or not (there's a big revision to the WC of Haida Gwaii nearing completion). Also figuring on $1,000 for skiff maintenance.
:lol: 
