Baggywrinkle
Well-Known Member
Snobbery is a fact of life, you either care about it or you don't ...
So far on this thread, we've established that true yachts need to be blue-water capable, anything else is just built for the charter market or coastal cruising and is totally unsuitable for anything else. I don't have a real yacht because I have a Bavaria 36 which fails most of the true-yacht criteria listed below
A real yacht needs to meet the following criteria:
Massive amounts of tankage - I think 900 litres of water and around 500 litres of diesel is the minimum - no water maker because it is the work of the devil - power hungry and may fail.
A skeg hung rudder is a must (the bigger and tougher the skeg the better)
The fiberglass lay-up must be more than an inch thick - everywhere - the thicker and heavier the lay-up, the better - no foam sandwich is allowed anywhere - or indeed any internal grid structure to strengthen the hull - the strength needs to come from the thickness of the laminate.
No modern materials are allowed for the internal construction - all woodwork needs to be solid teak or something equally as nice, teak veneer on a piece of marine ply might be acceptable, but anything new-fangled like HPL or Resopal - its a form of formica apparently and that belongs in caravans.
The boat needs to weigh over 12 tons with the ballast in an encapsulated keel - bolt on keels are not to be found on real yachts - the heavier the better, weight is more important than buoyancy because weight gives the boat a more sea-kindly motion - your yacht needs to sit "in" the water, not "on" it.
High freeboard is a no-no because it catches the wind and the boat will sail round its anchor and you will need a step to get from a typical UK floating pontoon onto the boat.
It's not allowed to have a large cockpit or too much room below because having space around you when sailing is dangerous - you need to be within a foot of a grab rail or hand-hold at all times and that is best achieved by reducing the interior volume.
You also need to be physically wedged into the cockpit at all times when outside - large cockpits are dangerous.
Reefing needs to be done at the mast with granny bars for safety, none of these new-fangled roller furling main sails operated from the cockpit - they just jam and you have too many ropes in the cockpit - and as you need to go forward to set up a stay sail, you might as well reef at the mast too.
Saildrives are not to be found on real yachts, they only exist to make he job of the boat builder easier, and their seal needs replacing every 7 years at massive expense.
It needs to have true sea berths with lee-boards
... and finally, your first real yacht needs to be a small one - it's wrong to jump straight in with something around 40 ft.
Once you have cut your teeth on a small proper yacht, you then qualify to order a Swan, Halberg Rassey, Najad, Sweden Yachts or Malo ... are Malo still in business?
I think there might have been a requirement for it to be built before 1990 too but I'm not sure.
I think that sums it up. ????
Have I forgotten anything?
So far on this thread, we've established that true yachts need to be blue-water capable, anything else is just built for the charter market or coastal cruising and is totally unsuitable for anything else. I don't have a real yacht because I have a Bavaria 36 which fails most of the true-yacht criteria listed below
A real yacht needs to meet the following criteria:
Massive amounts of tankage - I think 900 litres of water and around 500 litres of diesel is the minimum - no water maker because it is the work of the devil - power hungry and may fail.
A skeg hung rudder is a must (the bigger and tougher the skeg the better)
The fiberglass lay-up must be more than an inch thick - everywhere - the thicker and heavier the lay-up, the better - no foam sandwich is allowed anywhere - or indeed any internal grid structure to strengthen the hull - the strength needs to come from the thickness of the laminate.
No modern materials are allowed for the internal construction - all woodwork needs to be solid teak or something equally as nice, teak veneer on a piece of marine ply might be acceptable, but anything new-fangled like HPL or Resopal - its a form of formica apparently and that belongs in caravans.
The boat needs to weigh over 12 tons with the ballast in an encapsulated keel - bolt on keels are not to be found on real yachts - the heavier the better, weight is more important than buoyancy because weight gives the boat a more sea-kindly motion - your yacht needs to sit "in" the water, not "on" it.
High freeboard is a no-no because it catches the wind and the boat will sail round its anchor and you will need a step to get from a typical UK floating pontoon onto the boat.
It's not allowed to have a large cockpit or too much room below because having space around you when sailing is dangerous - you need to be within a foot of a grab rail or hand-hold at all times and that is best achieved by reducing the interior volume.
You also need to be physically wedged into the cockpit at all times when outside - large cockpits are dangerous.
Reefing needs to be done at the mast with granny bars for safety, none of these new-fangled roller furling main sails operated from the cockpit - they just jam and you have too many ropes in the cockpit - and as you need to go forward to set up a stay sail, you might as well reef at the mast too.
Saildrives are not to be found on real yachts, they only exist to make he job of the boat builder easier, and their seal needs replacing every 7 years at massive expense.
It needs to have true sea berths with lee-boards
... and finally, your first real yacht needs to be a small one - it's wrong to jump straight in with something around 40 ft.
Once you have cut your teeth on a small proper yacht, you then qualify to order a Swan, Halberg Rassey, Najad, Sweden Yachts or Malo ... are Malo still in business?
I think there might have been a requirement for it to be built before 1990 too but I'm not sure.
I think that sums it up. ????
Have I forgotten anything?
