[Bertie]

Pues lo que dice en un e-book que me leí (Second hand boats, Andrew Simpson) , es que prácticamente son eternos. También comenta lo que se ha dicho aquí, que de todas formas los más modernos son de peor construcción.

And it did. The end of the 1950s saw the emergence of GRP (glass reinforced plastic) with boatbuilding being its first widespread civilian application. By the mid-sixties the new wonder material had really taken hold and, despite scornful sniffs from the traditionalists, it was greeted rapturously by the general public. The age of the everlasting boat had arrived!

Well, not quite. As we have since learned, GRP is not without its problems but boats moulded from it haven’t done at all badly, with the vast majority of those ever built still being around today. By contrast, almost all of those boxy plywood creations that got Britons afloat a decade earlier have long since vanished.
Now, durability is great for the consumer but bad news for manufacturers who find themselves trying to sell their wares in a market awash with used but still perfectly serviceable boats – boats that, infuriatingly, are clearly in no hurry to fall apart and make way for new.

With the exception of a those ‘quality’ builders who continue to charge bespoke prices for their products, the budget boatbuilding companies have been obliged to pare down their material costs and to adopt automated mass production methods to keep their prices as low as possible.

Although on the face of it this might seem a good thing, it does raise the question of whether or not strength and toughness has been compromised. Springing directly from this unease is the growing feeling amongst thoughtful sailors that, not only can you get a cheaper boat by buying second-hand, you might actually get a far better one – and one more generously equipped.
Makes one think, doesn’t it?