How old are the boats?
You don’t want a holiday on an old and tatty boat; but nor do you want a holiday on a cheap and nasty new boat. There are, indeed, two ways of building a hire boat. You can build quickly, using shop-fitting methods and lots of MDF. Advantage: you can say the boat is newish for a few years. Disadvantage: after that it starts falling to bits, the MDF swells up in the damp atmosphere, and doors and drawers stick. You do this if you think your hirers will wreck the boats anyway. Or you can build carefully, with much forethought as to ways of making things strong enough to last, and attention to detailed ways of making things nice to use. Advantage: the boat is easy to maintain in good condition. Disadvantage: after a bit you can’t claim the boat is new – though getting your customers to spot which boats are the oldest can be tricky, because they are so well maintained. You do this if you think your customers will look after the boats carefully, and take pleasure in using things which have
