Best ketch on a budget

T

Tom Murray

New Member
Joined
28 Jan 2014
Messages
5
Visit site
I sail on the south west coast of Ireland and I am looking for a good strong ketch or yacht with a dog house / wheelhouse for cruising this coast and beyond where inclement weather and strong winds are the norm. I would have cruising aspirations to head north to Scotland and the Faroes so the boat needs to be a good sea boat. I have a limited budget circa €25 to €30k and would ideally require a 30 to 40 footer. I am considering a barbary ketch or neptunian 33. If I could find a good example of a Nicholson 38 within my budget I would go for one but they are in short supply and possibly beyond my budget. I would like to know from sailors with experience of these vessels or other vessels they may deem suitable and in particular how well they sail and any comments re accommodation and living space.
 
Why restrict yourself to ketches? With the relatively low cost of sail handling hardware for larger sails and the better efficiency of a sloop, not to mention the decreasing popularity of ketches, why set out to buy a ketch?

I should qualify this by saying that I've never sailed a ketch. My opinion is based on a blink-of-an-eye passing interest in sail plan theory but don't try to change my opinion with facts or other rubbish :D
 
Last edited:
Why ketches? Because unlike many fashions they still make sense. We recently bought our first one due to anno domini and have no regrets whatsoever. Big winches, big sails .................no thanks.
 
Thanks Bill
Ideally I am looking for a boat with a dog house or wheelhouse for comfort when punching into big seas. Have a sloop currently and enjoy its sailing characteristics. For my budget most boats with what I am looking for are ketches
 
My boat-a coaster 33-centre cockpit ketch-with dog house with zip in panels side rear and rear.Based in nw Scotland and available to buy?
 
>not to mention the decreasing popularity of ketches

The decreasing popularity is because ketches cost a lot more than sloops. We bought a ketch for two reasons: the three sails give a greater number of options for balancing the boat in heavy weather and for the wind vane; Because three sails are smaller than two Jane could handle them easily.

If you fit a mizzen staysail a ketch will beat a sloop of the same size in speed terms, we couldn't use one because we had a wind generator on the mizzen mast.
 
KellysEye said:
>not to mention the decreasing popularity of ketches


The decreasing popularity is because ketches cost a lot more than sloops. We bought a ketch for two reasons: the three sails give a greater number of options for balancing the boat in heavy weather and for the wind vane; Because three sails are smaller than two Jane could handle them easily.

If you fit a mizzen staysail a ketch will beat a sloop of the same size in speed terms, we couldn't use one because we had a wind generator on the mizzen mast.
Click to expand...

Some interesting comments there!

As a child of the 50's, my heroes were Sir Francis, Sir Alec and Sir Robin.

So I was a big ketch fan, way back then, and have owned two myself, and sailed several others.

I think the decreasing popularity of ketches is more to do with the almost universal fitting, nowadays, of (generally) reliable roller reefing on genoas, and the fitting of bigger sheet winches. So, quite simply, there's no need to split the rig up, and have all that wire everywhere (though the mizzen's standing rigging does make the cockpit feel very secure).

Do you find the mizzen affects your vane steering?

I think you're being a bit generalised, and optimistic, about the performance benefits of a mizzen staysail, as a sloop will be able to fly a bigger spinnaker.
 
Tom Murray said:
I sail on the south west coast of Ireland and I am looking for a good strong ketch or yacht with a dog house / wheelhouse for cruising this coast and beyond where inclement weather and strong winds are the norm. I would have cruising aspirations to head north to Scotland and the Faroes so the boat needs to be a good sea boat. I have a limited budget circa €25 to €30k and would ideally require a 30 to 40 footer. I am considering a barbary ketch or neptunian 33. If I could find a good example of a Nicholson 38 within my budget I would go for one but they are in short supply and possibly beyond my budget. I would like to know from sailors with experience of these vessels or other vessels they may deem suitable and in particular how well they sail and any comments re accommodation and living space.
Click to expand...

At the smaller end of your requirements, have a look at a Marcon Claymore 30.
 
Have a look at one of these... www.victory40.co.uk

The ultimate cruising boat...er...45 years ago....Built like a monument to posterity......pre first oil crisis...so generally not suffering the osmosis problems that 1980`s boats had... Their owners generally keep them for a very long time....and they can now be `very affordable`. Built in many different internal layouts
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Other threads that may be of interest

J
Volvo Penta MD5a
Replies
2
Views
172
JohnBeck
J

Share this page

Top