Fit and Finish on a 2009 31 TE

[alicetrent]

We're in the market for a new boat and just looked at a 2009 31 TE. We like everything about the boat, but the interior fit and finish, especially the woodwork, was really substandard. Doors and drawers wouldn't even close properly. Is this common? Otherwise it's everything we want...

[jcollins]

Welcome to AOG. I think it would be common for that year. 2009 would have been end of life for Albin Marine or it could be one of the few from Shamrock. I saw a Shamrock Albin at the boat show in Annapolis. It was terrible. What little wood that is in the interior was rough and needed to be stripped and refinished. The joints were just not good at all. Headliner was not smooth. Just a bad job.
If you post the HIN we can try to figure out who built the boat.
Your choice would be to negotiate the price to include fixing things or look for an older model.

[alicetrent]

That is very good info, thank you. Would you have any concerns with the quality of the rest of the boat?

[jcollins]

That is very good info, thank you. Would you have any concerns with the quality of the rest of the boat?

You have hit a personal sore spot with me. It always amazes me how a high-end manufacturer can ever let a product out of quality control with very obvious defects. A boat or other luxury item is not something you throw together and shrug your shoulders when it doesn't come out looking perfect. It's one thing if the previous owner let things go. That's his prerogative. The one I saw was brand new. At the time I made very little comment about it because the owner of Shamrock was a member here. When I see things like that it always makes me think about what I can't see. What else did the guys building that boat skip or not worry about? In answer to your question, I have not read about mechanical or serious structure problems with the newer Albins. I'm sure others will jump in here if they have more information about that. Additionally I don't remember anyone joining that owns a C&C Albin. (Northcoast boats) The latest Albin owner. I have contacted C&C many times to join our group but they have not done so. I can tell you that they (C&C) recommend AOG if you contact them.

Bottom line? Would I have concerns? Short answer - yes. But, a good survey would put those concerns to rest. Now, I'll get down off my soap box and get back to putting up the Christmas tree.

[KathyN]

We have a 1997 31TE which we are very pleased with (are actually considering moving up to a 35TE, only because we are thinking of some long term cruising, and possibly to the Bahamas and would like more storage). It's a terrific boat that handles all kinds of conditions well and we consider it a terrific all around boat. When we bought it in 2009, the broker who helped us had been an Albin dealer for years. He told us that he had quality issues with the last year or two of production. One example he gave us was a boat that had been delivered to him without any bedding under any of the stanchions and he only discovered it when it rained and water came in all of them. Before he sold the boat he had to completely re-do all that. Bottom line, I think I would be concerned about other issues as well.

KathyN
SeaKeeper
1997 Albin 31TE

[JackK]

I know there is at least one C & C 28TE out there now. Standish Boat Yard sold their demo boat a couple of months back. I've been on the boat a couple of times and I didn't see anything that would concern me. I think their build quality was certainly better than the last one's built by Albin directly. I'm just not a fan of the Newport edition which seems to be the only one they are building at this point.

Jack