2004 Doral Monticello with Volvo Penta KAD300 285HP & UK Trailer - SOLD

A common question I get from customers is how a boat brand ranks against the competition. And I’m asked to benchmark these brands against something they’re more familiar with, like car brands.

I’m sure you’ve probably heard this type of chat before; often from the mouths of boat dealers.

It usually goes that Bayliner is your ‘entry level’ brand (which perception I reckon is more to do with the sheer number of them sold than anything else), like a Kia. But if you want the BMW of the boat world then you need to buy a… ‘insert brand name of boat that’s being flogged today here’…

As you may have gathered I think the whole conversation is pure claptrap, for a number of reasons…

First of all, I’ve been going to the boat shows for years and I’ve heard this twaddle spewed out so many times, that I know that it’s all total tosh!

Indeed, in the ever-changing boat dealer landscape I’ve even heard the same salesman refer to a plethora of different boat brands as the one true ‘BMW- quality’ product. And you guessed it, it just so happens that it’s always whatever boat he happens to be peddling that particular season.

You might not even like BMW but that is definitely the favourite association that is wheeled out during these particular ‘sales pitches’.

The other reason that this talk is rubbish is because, despite the temptation to look for similarities, the marine industry bears virtually no resemblance to the automotive industry whatsoever. It just doesn’t compare.

These boats have not been built by an army of robots in a clinically clean environment. The build process is not exactly uniform from one boat to the next, and at some point along the line a BIG Hammer has probably been used to persuade a particularly reluctant component to comply with the design requirements.

So, I hate to burst anyone’s bubble, but BMW, Ford or even Kia, it ain’t.

And when you actually think about it, all this is totally understandable given the relatively tiny volumes of boats being produced every year and the proportionately small R&D budgets.

Indeed, given the harsh realities of the industry economics, it’s a true credit to the boat builders that the general quality they manage to turn out is so good.

And you may think that it should be possible to rank these builders on that quality relative to others, but there’s just so many factors at play that it can prove really tricky. I mean, I would say a good 80% of big-name boat builders have changed factories, workforces, and owners in the last 5-10 years alone; so how can you say that Brand ‘X’ is, and always has been, better than Brand ‘Y’ – it just can’t be done.

No, I find a much better approach is to take an objective look at each individual boat in its own right and judge it on its merits…

Which brings us nicely along to the Doral Monticello you see presented here before you.

Now this is one boat that stands up very well to a cool, objective, appraisal.

It was clearly built by a yard who at the time was on top of its game, both in design and production.

How do I know this?

Well, given the plethora of neat design touches throughout the boat and the fact that she still looks and feels stunning, it’s obvious that she was designed by people who knew what they were doing (who actually spend time using boats like this), and that she was built to a very high standard.

Now, I’m not saying that this Doral represents the BMW of the Sports Cruiser market (’cause that would be ridiculous), but I reckon that it stands up to any competitive comparison you care to make.

To see for yourself you’ll have to watch our full length video tour.

To watch the full 45 minute long video tour complete with lots of water test and engine footage, just leave your details below to get Free VIP Access.