Jim Taylor, is the designer of the entire line of Precision boats, as well as many others. An early sales brochure for the Precsion 165 quotes Mr Taylor as saying - "The Precision 165 is intended to provide the most performance and fun possible within her builder's mandate for a low trailer weight and an especially reasonable price. This cannot be done with smoke and mirrors, so it must be done by focusing exceptionally hard on developing her most vital "fun features" while trimming away anything not truly essential"

The cockpit is drawn large and deep for comfort and security, but the freeboard is kept low for reduced weight and cost. The interior features comfortable berth space for two, a portable but cleverly concealed head, an ice chest and dry storage, but she makes no specious claim to have "full standing headroom." The computer-modeled keel has an "end-plate effect" lead bulb for stability and efficiency to windward and shoal draft for easy trailering and launching. Her rig carries plenty of sail area for sprightly performance, but a simple three-stay rig for low weight, low cost and easy assembly.