Cole Boats

[little rowe boat]

why is that
Howard and Hallett were one of the few boat builders that had molds for their open bow boats,so when they came out of the mold there was no cutting involved. Whereas Cole boats would come out as a closed bow and then they would take a jig saw to it and cut out an open bow, which meant it had to be reinforced a reglassed for strength. Howard and Hallett offered lifetime hull warranties and Cole offered a 10 yr hull warranty. Before I purchased my Howard I had it narrowed down to these 3 boat builders.

[al cole'holic]

Thanks!
I called Eric and he is emailing some photos to me.
Apparantly it was the last Cole 25 built.
Would you consider COLE in the same category as Howard and LaveyCraft?
...if you are interested I would not hold them to any asking price, and I would grind the hell out of it. From what I recall he wanted a pretty penny for a boat (for that matter any Cole) that is no longer in production nor ever will be...that is of course unless you want a 280

[Kilrtoy]

Howard and Hallett were one of the few boat builders that had molds for their open bow boats,so when they came out of the mold there was no cutting involved. Whereas Cole boats would come out as a closed bow and then they would take a jig saw to it and cut out an open bow, which meant it had to be reinforced a reglassed for strength. Howard and Hallett offered lifetime hull warranties and Cole offered a 10 yr hull warranty. Before I purchased my Howard I had it narrowed down to these 3 boat builders.
I figured that is where you were going, and they are probably the only ones that still have seperate molds...

[Beer-30]

Keith Sayre just had a nice 250 for sale not too long ago at Conquest. I haven't seen anything on it for awhile, probably gone. Don't recall if it was closed or open.
Stick with the open bow. They are built just fine. Better resale in the family boating community.

[little rowe boat]

I figured that is where you were going, and they are probably the only ones that still have seperate molds...
You are probably right, but I don't know for certain.

[Beer-30]

Well, they still show it in the used boats section of their site:
http://www.conquestboats.com/boats.php?boatid=20
Pictures don't work, though.

[plaster dave]

Thanks!
I called Eric and he is emailing some photos to me.
Apparantly it was the last Cole 25 built.
Would you consider COLE in the same category as Howard and LaveyCraft?
I would but like others have said Cole is no longer in the boat buisness.

[Fast Freddy]

25 foot boat with a mid cabin? the howard is the fastest but the nordic looks better.

[BADAXE]

Thanks!
I called Eric and he is emailing some photos to me.
Apparantly it was the last Cole 25 built.
Would you consider COLE in the same category as Howard and LaveyCraft?
The Cole 250 is my favorite boat of all time and I spend a lot of time talking to Jim about buying one. I shopped Cole, Schiada, Hallett and Howard extensively before buying. I had narrowed it down to the Cole 250. Unfortunately just before I was ready to place my order Cole went out of business. When comparing Cole with the others their quality was very good, on a par with Hallett but a notch below Howard and a few notches below Schiada.
So to answer your question, no Cole is very close but Howard wins in the quality department. The big difference for me is that Howard used a cored fiberglass floor system and the Cole was resined wood. Also Howard’s bulk heads and stringer reinforcement were better.
All that said I’d still rather have the Cole, for me the looks would over weigh the very slight quality difference. I just wanted you to get the real story from someone who knows that boat well.

[Throttle]

Cole, great boat...
I remember looking closely at them several years back.