Today's Taiwan imports no longer enjoy the huge price advantage over their U.S. counterparts that they had in the 1970s and 1980s. While it's true that many of the boats imported from Taiwan during that period were cheaply built and suffered from poor quality control, others were surprisingly well built and represented long-term excellent values. The Taiwanese unquestionably had the skills to turn out a first-rate product, but most of their clients were U.S. importers whose only objective was a fat profit back home. Asked to turn out cheap boats in volume, the Taiwanese responded by flooding the market with waves of inexpensive trawlers and sailboats, usually with an abundance of interior and exterior teak woodwork.

[More:]

The big price advantages Taiwan products had in the American market began to dry up a few years ago and today their exports must compete on a level playing field with our own domestic yachts. There's been a big shake-out in the boat-building business in Taiwan in the past decade and many of the smaller, less productive yards have shut down. Those remaining are generally experienced boatbuilders with modern facilities, state-of-the-art technology and highly skilled, well-paid workers. Many of these yards have successfully sold their products into the European market.

The 1970s and '80s were the heyday of the trawler-style Taiwan import. They were affordably priced (thanks to a very favorable U.S.-Taiwan exchange rate) and their handsome all-teak interiors and economical operation appealed to North American boaters tired of plain-Jane fiberglass interiors and/or the high operational expenses associated with gas-powered motor yachts.(Remember, there were the days of oil embargoes and increasing fuel costs.) Trawlers are still in demand, but the Taiwanese dollar has increased dramatically in the past decade and the cost of today's Taiwan-built trawler is comparable to what an American-built model might cost. Consequently, those imported during the seventies and eighties have held their resale values as well or better than their U.S. counterparts — a good indication of their continuing popularity on the used market. Many of the Taiwan motor yachts currently being imported into this country are completely modern boats with plenty of high-tech construction and customer appeal, and practically all of today's
trawler style boats are being produced in Taiwan. We can think of no reason to avoid them.