Hi everyone,
As many of you know, I'm at work on a book examining the (nearly) sixty-year history of the Boston Whaler company. I recently interviewed a host of Whaler executives from the late 1980s through the sale to Brunswick in 1996 (Van Lancker, Doug Fonte, Barry Culkin, Joe Wilk, etc.) and one of the stories that came up is the 31' Whaler designed by Bob Dougherty and released in 1990.
By all accounts, it was a troubled and deeply flawed boat. The details, however, are thin. If anyone owns a 31' Whaler or can shed some light on the subject, please reach out to me so I can write a more accurate and nuanced account of Whaler's first foray into a hull of this size.
I know there was a thread about this model on Continuous Wave in 2003, but the one member (JEvans) doesn't appear to be active anymore.
Thanks,
Matthew Plunkett
Email: thewhalerbook@gmail.com or matthewdplunkett@gmail.com
Web: www.thewhalerbook.com