Ralph,

Funny you should mention the Waterline J/24's. Waterline seems to be able to control price on them decently, but build quality is definitely suspect. Lots of problems with them measuring in at the worlds, new boats needing a bunch of correctors for weight, etc. On the other wide of the coin, there is another builder of J/24s located in Argentina that several American J/24 sailors have recently received boats from. I sailed in the East Coasts in Annapolis this past weekend and these boats were getting great reviews from the class measurer and other sailors alike. Very, very nice fit and finish. The kicker: due to Argentina's struggling economy, the rumor is that these things come with a delivered price of somewhere around $35K. Not to search the far corners of the earth for an Express builder, but....

-Jason

::
::
:: Very true. My impression from afar is that the viability
:: of the project to build Express 27s in New Zealand was
:: undermined by Bush administration economic policies that
:: led to the big drop in the value of the U.S. dollar
:: against the New Zealand dollar. This increased the price
:: of a new boat by around 50 percent, a good reason, among
:: many others to vote for John Kerry!!! :-)
::
:: J24s built by Waterline in the U.S. are currently
:: offered for sale in Port Sanilac, Michigan for $42,200
:: plus $1800 freight and $2,400 comissioning. J24s
:: displace 3100 pounds--that's 600 more pounds of material
:: than an Express 27. Allowing for a bit more labor in an
:: Express 27 to meet the Schumacher/Alsberg specs and
:: quality, somebody should be able to build and sell an
:: Express 27 in the U.S. or Canada for under $50,000
:: instead of the $60+ figure from New Zealand. Everbody
:: knows that an Express 27 sails incomparably better in
:: all conditions than a J24!!!