GL: Albin Vs Marine Trader

[jmanley909@aol.com]

I owned an Albin 33 back in 1979. It was of course a Taiwan built boat as were the Marine Traders. Back then various of each brand were built in various yards with some yards building both brands side by side. Quality varied from OK to awful. Mine was awful, maybe was the worst boat ever, and got exactly zero warranty backing from Albin. With both brands, as with most other Taiwan built boats, you can have good or bad luck. The problem is with most of the boats of the vintage you are referring to, you can count on nothing, and I do mean nothing, as regards quality control. The newer Albins are somewhat different, many being built in the US, but I believe that many of the recent trawlers are still foreign builds. The best of the "old" Albins was the 36' Trawler, which seemed to have fewer problems than the others.  There are also a lot of them around at good prices, but be prepared to tinker!