anybody own/sail and Gib'sea 43?

[quee]

anybody own/sail and Gib\'sea 43?

We are seriously thinking of buying a 2001 Gib'sea 43. As owners of a 20 year old Gib'sea, we know they used to be excellent boats, both in comfort and practicality and also great to sail. However, we have never sailed any of the newer 'Dufour' Gib'seas and wonder if any of you can tell us what they are like to sail.

 

[Sailorsam101]

Re: anybody own/sail and Gib\'sea 43?

Neverowned one but spent a few weeks over the years on a charter gib 43 and older 41.

Good boats...nice inside. Aft cabins are bad for headroom and not that comfy. Cockpit is nice and roomy and feels safe.

Build quality is OK but not great.. remember toy get what you pay for.

Fast as well. F4-5 on a beam reach will give about 8-9 knots.

They can slam a bit when going into a rough sea but not more than others of the same size of design.

Big engine is usefull and will give 6 knots at a good cruise.

High topsides make it difficult to get on form low pontoons but a gate in the wires does help.

Single line main reefing thing is rubbish as they often can be.

In all a nice big comfy boat and if i could afford the mooring i'd have one.

 

[Norman_E]

Re: anybody own/sail and Gib\'sea 43?

I looked at one and had a test sail, but decided on an older Jeanneau 45.2 instead. I also took advice via this forum on the relative merits of the two boats, which favoured the Jeanneau.
My impression of the Gibsea was that although the particular boat was well equipped and well maintained the design was flawed in respect of the "convertible" forward cabins, where conversion to a single master cabin still leaves awkward partitions in place. The boat also has a rather low ballast ratio. I know the owner of an older Gibsea 454, which is an altogether better boat. It is perhaps significant that after producing the dolphin nosed Dufour/Gibsea range for only a few years, Dufour seem now to have abandoned the Gibsea marque. I do not think that the recent Gibsea boats compare at all well with the older ones.

 

[quee]

Re: anybody own/sail and Gib\'sea 43?

thank you both very much for your input- most helpful and appreciated.
My husband is dashing off to look at the boat in Turkey this weekend- it is a very good price and we will be sailing the boat in Greece, so hopefully she will do the job.
many thanks again, Quee