All Scandinavian yachts are not created equal, but both HR and Sweden Yachts are considered to be high quality
boat manufacturers. I would not rank one over the other quality wise given two equally old and maintained boats.
The S.Y. Comfort 34 is not a S.Y. design, btw. It was designed and originally built by the Swedish
boat builder Comfortbåtar AB ("Comfort Boats Ltd", roughly translated), but S.Y. bought the design and built it as the S.Y. Comfort 34 until their own design S.Y. 340 (I think the name was) was ready some 6-7 years later. I'm not sure if this fact influences the design or build quality of the C34 in any way, though, but Comfort Boats were not quite up to the same standards quality wise as the HR and S.Y. If HR and S.Y. were the BMWs and Mercedeses of their time, the Comforts (and Comfortinas) were the VolksWagens.
HR has a very good reputation for the quality craftsmanship in every detail. Everything was hand made and if you had a question regarding the interiour on your boat, you could actually call the company and talk to the very same guy who built your spesific boat. That's quite special. Even today, some of the same guys are still around, and I have heard of owners that got help from the guy who built the boat even today! That is impressing!
The difference in
price for the two spesific boats in question could be due to differences in
equipment,
maintenance and
engine age, not only reputation. If the S.Y. has the original
salt water cooled
engine and the HR has a newer sweet
water cooled engine, that could count for a large part of the price difference. Here in Scandinavia (I'm Norwegian) we consider a 30 year old
salt water cooled engine to be close to it's end of life due to corrotion and wear.
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Sent from the restaurant at the end of the universe, probably using a PC, an
iPhone or an
iPad.