Linssen has very good reputation in marketing, as well in boat building. As a french, I have been very impressed the first time I visited dutch boatyards. Some are not so big like in the good old times of small companies building yachts in France and UK during the seventies and the eighties. I think in US,you still keep this kind of industry. About steel,when we left Maasbracht in the south of Holland, on the way back to gibraltar, we hit a very large piece of wood, like a table. It was near Brest,a serious playground for serious sailors with tides and currents. When entering in the marina of Moulin BLanc, the marineros said me, hello Sir, doyou need some chairs with the table. This table 3cm thick was stucked in my bulbous bow. We hear nothing, and during this passage with some rough weather, i felt nothing. That story to say that with a steel boat, we feel safe and comfortable...We only have some very minor scratch on the paint underwater.
There is many small and very professional boatyard in the NL as Tinnemans bv who built our 60 metric tons trawler. More or less 8 to 10mm of steel. Of course, sometimes, you need to use gloves, small pencils and mix comp A with component B to repare some rusty spots. Not a big deal. By the way, every 10 years, consider do the sanblasting ou high pressure water blasting of the hull. Not worst than polish a full fiberglass superstructure after ten years in Florida or Med.
One issue, may be, make business with the Dutch....you need to patient and efficient. No space for improvisation or luck, they are killers in business but very friendly people.
Anyway you can contact Jan, Tinnemans BV, he is building very professional boats and is fluent in english.
A global view on the second market: booten te koop.
One more think, never forget that Dutch are surrounded by canals. It means that most of the time, like linssen, their trawlers or powerboats are cat b or c, so not for ocean passages. You must look, from my point of view, for an Cat a with stabilization ( active or not)
