Oh dear, did you pass her on to me or did I go first..?
The design folk at B-N are nice guys, and whilst there are certainly things you could do to improve on the original design (flush rivets not being one; it cost performance), I suspect that over-complicated regulation which made life difficult for small manufacturers was at least equally to blame.
One thing about the Islander: it won't ever let you down, nor frighten you. More than can be said for high-tech European aircraft...