Zodiac gets way too much p.r., there are a lot of good builders out there these days, many of them building boats as good or better than what Zodiac builds, which incidentally, is way overpriced. $205,000 for a 24 ft. C-27? Gee not too expensive.... Give me a break!
Some Makers of Quality boats: Nautica, Willard, Otech, Demaree, Liquid Metal, Polaris, Titan, Northwind marine, United States marine, Wing inflatables and so on, I may have missed a few.
Oh, by the way an interesting link for those of you out there looking and sick of high prices, don't know anything about these but it is worth a look,
http://excedoboats.trustpass.alibaba...aster_600.html
IF you are looking for a boat... take your time, look around and Negotiate with the builder/dealer you might be surprised what kind of deal you can get.
Ribs might be hand built mostly but just because manufacturers haven't bothered with new manufacturing technology to lower costs that does not mean you have to pay through the nose, look around! an example
http://www.nauticaintl.com/