No Katabalic, as I stated, the only connection I have to Novus Composits is that I own one of their boats. And I will happily continue to suggest to those who are interested that they at least take a look at these great boats.

I'm glad your friend found a boat that satisfies his desire.

At the risk of starting an argument, I would opine that Valley's roto-molds are no better, nor worse than any of the other polyethylene boats that come from the better known manufacturers. Don't take that to mean that I have anything against poly boats. I have two and I love both of them.

Again, I do not mean to be overly critical of Valley's poly boats, but what is it about the plastic they use that makes them any better than any other builder. One of the tests I use to evaluate a design and the material used is to place the boat on the floor and very slowly lift the boat from the stern while observing the the deck and hull. On all of the Valley boats I have tested, the hull and deck very clearly bend when lifted in this manner.

I showed this to a very prominent Valley dealer and his reaction was, "well, ya get what ya pay for." He also mentioned to me that they had a real problem with those same boats and some others during a very hot period last summer. The boats they had stored in racks wilted like wet noodles. Neither one of my poly boats had any problem at all during that same heat wave.

My intention is not to get into a peeing match over this, but I do think that potential buyers should do some real testing on any boat they might be interested in and not just take for granted that a brand name (not just Valley) is an automatic guarantee of anything. Rigidity to me is an important element and is one thing that will get a boat crossed off my list. But that's just me.