• Mark I (all the wooden W's plus a lot of the early and recent glass W's): full height forward bulkhead and buoyancy compartment with hatch which makes it storage-accessible and great for extended cruising. Also sounds best going through waves, since all other versions have a storage shelf under the foredeck and have a greater or lesser degree of oil drum sound effects when the boat hits a big wave or two. Four floorboards, two per side to which there are pros and cons
• Mark II (built in the US and Canada and the UK): aforementioned bow storage shelf - oil drum sounds but no discernible effect on performance, i.e. slight annoyance factor in waves but a fine motivator to sail waves efficiently! One long floorboard on each side.
• Mark III (built by Abbott in Sarnia only): much like the Mk II but has permanent floor and self-bailers on the side - good for leaving on mooring as rain water will drain out through the bailers if these are left open. The permanent floor creates a buoyancy tank under the floor that has been known to make it hard to keep the boat upright when it's been re-righted after a capsize - to see my experience with this, click here
• Mark IV (built by Hartley Boats in England, represented by Nick Seraphinoff of NP Boats) - roomier interior an d no aft buoyancy tank which enables through-transom draining after a capsize for much easier self-rescue. The "racer" comes rigged with all the belle and whistles you might want.
  

Dear Al;
 
I have my Wayfarer 8478 listed for sale with you and have received many inquiries.  Unfortunately, I accepted an offer from a 'buyer' who saw the ad on your website, but it is a fraudulent scam.  Meanwhile, I lost out on a couple of serious buyers.  My boat is still for sale. 
 
Perhaps other sellers should be warned about this scam.  The 'buyer' has a third party send a cheque for a much larger sum of money than the boat is selling for.  It appears to be a classic example of the over-billing scam, where I'm expected to send the additional funds to the buyer, who is not really interested in buying the boat at all.  I suspected this when I received the cheque and had the bank look into it, and they confirmed that it is indeed a forgery and that they are aware of this fraud occurring, especially targeting boat sales.
 
Hope nobody gets victimized by this scam.
 
Regards,
Mike Kelly.