An open genereral question about boats

[Guest]

As this won't be published beyond the realms of our romer room, perhaps you might care to say what charactristics made you choose your current boat. It is presumed that you took her out for a sail in all weathers before you bought her.

But did you?

Just how many buyers ever have a sail prior to buying off the hard?

... And BTW, nobody sofar has found the real Porth Solfach yet on this BB (untenable)

 

[Guest]

Well, at our club, the only really active racing fleets

are the Flying Scots (very stable and slooooow) and the Thistles (not so stable and fast!). Seemed like an obvious choice to me, but yes, I did try sailing one before I started looking for one to buy. And I'd been crewing on them all summer.

Oh, yes, there also is a Kestrel fleet here, and while they seem like lovely boats, it's the only Kestrel fleet in North America, so no regattas, nationals, etc.

 

[Guest]

Re: An open general question about boats

I bought the builders demo boat - really on a functional spec for the boat I was looking to replace my then current boat

1. A genuine single-hander. Not just controls led back 2. Fully fitted out for cruising - shower, cooker, h&c water etc. 3. Shoal draft and able to dry out, without the handicap of bilge keels. 4. Fast and fun to sail 5. Oceangoing capability 6. Sufficient headroom for me to stand up

And yes, I sailed, usually over a weekend, every single boat I'd shortlisted before making my choice. That I was lucky is proven by my inability since then to find a boat that gives me any appreciable improvement at a reasonable premium.

Until you start looking at the Beowulf on www.setsail.com and that's US$1.5 million, but it can give a good run to an Ocean 60 or a fully-crewed maxi-rater.

 

[Guest]

There was something in the way she moved attracted me like no other............

Before buying my Starlight 35, I chartered one out of Langstone called Shearwater. Took it out over a week of blustery weather up to F7 and was sold on the boat by day 2 because of her sailing ability. On a broad reach helming the boat is pure joy. Also the previous owner had not fitted any extra's so we were able to set her up like a new boat.

My wife liked the Fridge, Wheel steering , Autopilot etc. I recommend try before you sail.

 

[Guest]

Re: Solva=Solfach ? see [url]www.mccarney.demon.co.uk/Solva.html[/url] *

.

 

[Guest]

Re: Love at first sight

My present boat is a Laurent Giles Jolly Boat. It is fat, heavy, short and lovely. It's just a little dayboat but I've driven 60 footers that were less challenging.

Trial sail before buying? No! I didn't even take all the covers off before phoning the wife to say I was in love. Didn't let the bloke selling it know I'd fallen though.

Tom

 

[Guest]

Re: An open general question about boats

What type of boat do you have?

 

[Guest]

A Mako 22" with twin 90hp Mercury outboards (14 months old and very low hours) - It was a bargain price. I knew a bit of history. Sunk twice at mooring- single bilge pump ran battery dry and left bilge too wet - both in bad weather. After the second sinking the engines (just installed) were overhauled by somebody I knew. various parts replaced eg a started powerpacks etc. The boat was repainted with awlgrip topsides by a boat yard. I had to paint the antifouling, straighten the T-top, install two batteries, clean the fuel tank, replace the rub rail, fit six new hatch covers, fit two fuel filters to replace the single obsolete filter, buy a trailer, fir hour meters, fit new electrics - tachometers, voltmeters, start switches, bilge pumps. Plus the other odds and sods -

- yep it was a bargain!?!!

Thankfully all costs were cut in half as I bought it with a partner.

 

[Guest]

No, I didn't sail her before purchase. I saw her and she met more of my ideals than anything else I had seen. I took the owners word for the condition of the sails etc. It was 15F outside and had to break the ice to get the cabin open. I sailed her last Saturday and she handles even better than expected.

 

[Guest]

Yes

Our offer was made subject to a) survey being accepted and b) a test sail being satisfactory.

We went out for an hour in a F4 (a day would be better but not possible) and ran it through everything. Reefs, points of sails, storm jib, made tea, used fridge, used toilet....

Found quite a few things like catches, hoses, etc not spotted by survey and got them fixed FOC before purchasing.

 

[Guest]

Port Solfach ....

Solva (Solfach)

......was a small port as far back as 1300 AD, and grew to become the main trading port in the area. The original Smalls Lighthouse was built here in the 1770s and shipped to the Smalls Rocks some twenty miles off the coast. The village was also the main lime-burning centre for the peninsula, and some of the lime kilns are still visible if you walk along the bayside. Nowadays, the little bay is filled with small yachts in the Summer, but I always preferred it here in the Autumn when the tourists (I'm one now!) aren't there. Solva has so many happy and sad memories for me. A beautiful place.

Nige .... do I get the pint ??

Kind regards,

John S

 

[Guest]

I've always trial sailed yachts as part of the contract "subject to satisfactory trial sail" One yacht when I got on the water the owner said that he was not prepared to take the sails out unless I'd already bought the boat.

I went and bought another which was subject to the trial sail and a good thing too. When the owner put her in the water he discovered little things like the batteries had gone duff and someone had stolen the mainsheet fittings. Saved me £250.

Current yacht I sailed a sister ship in a gale in the Baltic (which made me always want to buy ine eventually) and also did a trial sail. Fair winds Ken

 

[Guest]

No

Ow could I before I built Her?

 

[Guest]

Trial sail? - hardly!

She was lying in her winter mud berth with her cover on, exposing just a tantalising length of counter, yet I recognised her as a boat that I had coveted for 14 years, since I had first sailed up the river that she lay on, when she was 33 and I was 17.

She had been advertised for sale in YM the previous year, but I could not afford to think about her. The owner had not liked any of the buyers. I guessed that she had not sold, hot footed round to the broker, was interviewed by the outgoing owner, who had had her for 33 years ("This is like meeting a prospective son in law, you know!") and, being approved of, wrote a cheque for the deposit. Then I started wondering where I would raise the rest of the purchase price, as I had just emptied my account with the 10% deposit!

Yes I had a survey, not that it would have made any difference.

That was the start of a passionate affair that has lasted 17 years....

Owners of "production" boats have no idea, absolutely no clue, of the depths of passion involved in being owned by a beautiful, capable, docile, classic yacht of the Golden Age.....

 

[Guest]

Beat me to it!

Very curious, Charles

 

[Guest]

Same here

Took the hull we could get (not much choice in them thar days) at the price we could afford (not much money either) And we have remained faithful.....

 

[Guest]

Of that I can be sure

And there is something of the same passion in being owned by a boat less inspiring, perhaps, but still the unique, "ab initio" product of one's own designs and labour over many years. "A poor ship, but mine own...."

 

[Guest]

Parker 31*

*

 

[Guest]

Characteristics

Main considerations: Long keel classic plastic 31ft loa., pretty looking (to me).

I could afford the negotiated price and was accepted by the previous owner as a worthy candidate to take good care of her - boat's now 34 years old.

Of course I have spent the purchase price more than once again what with new engine, new sails etc.

Yes I had sailed her 4 or 5 times as crew before buying.

 

[Guest]

I'm going through the process at the moment to select a new boat. What I'm looking for is: 1. Fast and fun to day sail but capable of doing a longer passage e.g across Biscay. 2. I accept that beauty is in the eye etc. but she must look right to me. 3. Practical and comfy down below. No matter what the old salts say, most people spend more time tied up than sailing so the interior must be both practical at sea and comfy when tied up. 4. Good sailing manners. I don't mean having the sea kindly motion of an old gaffer but more to do with the boat doing what I tell it e.g not griping when sailing to windward in a gusty wind. 5. All weather sailing performance. The ability to ghost in a whisper of a wind and behave in a near gale.

I think I've found the boat I want - all I need is the money.

Yes I've test sailed it and other boats. I've tried to test them all in similar conditions - wind F5 and above. I'd never dream of buying a boat without at least one test sail. You can learn a lot about how a boat will sail from it's spec e.g ballast ratio, displacement etc but you can't tell the practicalities of a boat until you sail it.