Re: 1989 Marathon Good or Bad
A common mistake when asking this question is to assume that brand matters as much as it does with a car. Yes, there are bad builders, but there have been literally 1,000s of boat builders and they all kind of make the same thing. In the case of fiberglass, it is a molded blob of goo and glass. Attached to that blob is a bunch of components. Most of these components are generic and used across many many boat lines. typically the biggest and most costly component is the engine and drive package and there is no difference between boat builders on this piece.
Sooooo, the difference between boats of similar types without regard to engine stuff is the quality of the glasswork, the fasteners and their installation, and the quality of the wiring, gauges etc. Everything except the blob itself can be improved on by experienced owners. Good maintenance can keep a decent boat almost as good as new, and the engine package as well. There are some really bad engine packages and this may be the most important piece of info. as ezmobee has noted.
You'll find that manufacturer brand means less to those of us here than most of the other stuff. Exceptions? Of course. Cobalt come to mind as a boat that I consider above most others. And there are some boats that are often abused due to their "entry level" type pricing, Bayliner comes to mind. But you can find disaster Cobalts and awesome Bayliners, so this is more complicated than just "what's up with this brand?"
Take a look at some of the stickies, especially this one:
http://forums.iboats.com/showthread.php?t=300510
Good luck!
