Yes. It wasn't personal, it was intended to illustrate a point. If one prizes quality of execution as per your original post then a production line approach would be a safer bet, hence the question. Your answer shows you understand that; and the world of manufacturing knows it. Somehow though it's a general opinion that the opposite applies to narrowboats. Maybe that's because collectively we really prize aesthetics and probably have a far greater understanding of that aspect than we do of the engineering details.
Cost in a shell comes from the time required to cut, bend and weld complex shapes. A cost driven approach may lead to simpler shapes and ones that perhaps aren't quite so hydrodynamically advantageous or as pleasing to the eye, but that has nothing to do with quality of fabrication from the point of view of correctness of the metalworking or indeed the structural design. There is an argument a simpler standard shell is less likely to have defects because there's less risk in the volume and complexity of fabrication required. I would be very surprised if there aren't plenty of simple, relatively cheap but well constructed shells out there and more than a few lovely designs that are poorly executed.
The use of the word 'quality' in these threads is hugely ambiguous.
JP