on ice

Another specialty yacht builder has reportedly thrown in the towel, this time after 36 years of building some pretty special cruising boats.  Though it hasn’t hit their website yet, Texas-based Valiant Yachts emailed customers and vendors on Friday with the news that they wouldn’t be building sailboats anymore, blaming the economy, though they’re also a good example of a boat builder that had a tough time keeping up with the times both from a marketing and product perspective.  Valiant designer Bob Perry as well as a handful of former Valiant owners and other bystanders have started an interesting discussion on the subject in the Cruising Anarchy forum…check it.