ALL-WEATHER BOAT

When I was a small boy, my grandfather explained to me that, as you get older, so time speeds up and the years become shorter.

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He explained why - it's because when you are five years old, a year is 20% of your life, but when you're 50 it's only two percent. And, as with most things, he has been proven absolutely correct. When you're five, something happening the following year is so far over the horizon that it doesn't merit a single thought. When you're 50, you're eyeing up a five-year extended warranty and wondering whether it's enough.

However, the thing that's never been explained is the elasticity across 12 months - why summers seem to flash past and the September boat shows are taking place again, but the winter seems to take a millennium - two millennia if you're a boater. That's why we always find ourselves perusing all-weather boats at this time of year. So we've scoured the market to bring you these four highly flexible vessels...

HARDY MARINER 25

BUILT: 2001 PRICE: £ 39, 950

Hardy is far from alone in this (see Sunseeker, Fairline and Princess for full details), but if you want to see how the boating landscape has changed in the last 50 years, compare the current line up with what a builder was making in the 1970s and 1980s.

Today the Hardy range starts at 45ft and extends to 65ft - a far cry from the 18 Navigators, 20 Pilots, 22 Fishing Pilots and 24 Fast Fishers of the past. You can't blame them. It's simply where the market seems to have gone, with mass-produced Merry Fishers now filling in the blanks at the bottom end. But in amongst those smaller models, the Hardy Mariner 26, was a fine looking compact motorboat.

INTERIOR