Comar Comet

[Guest]

Does anyone have any experience/opinion on the Comar yachts Comet range?

I'm looking at new 37-40ft performance cruisers, and looked at the Arcona 400 and New Dufour 40 at SIBS. The Arcona's lovely but

* No decent standard anchoring provision (honestly... no bow roller whatsoever)
* No reasonable draft option (2.00 metres or more only)
* Oooh, the cost.


The Dufour doesn't have these problems, but the forecabin is a design nightmare and the interior is plastic & tacky in comparison to the Arcona.

The unexpected surprise was the Comar Comet 38, which has a lovely wood interior, good cabin space, a shoal draft option and good anchoring provision.

Looking around on the web there's not a lot of info around about the Comet range. Does anyone have any opinions on build quality etc. of Comar boats? Apparently the smaller Comets were quite successful in the 80s...

 

[Roberto]

Comar is possibly the boatbuilder which accompanied more than any other the development of popular sailing in Italy during the 70/80s. One of their (the?) first boats was the 910, a 30ft which after winning the middle sea race had a huge development, you can almost find one in any Italian port. None of them ever reported any major default, very strong built.
A couple of economic downturns later the boatbuilder was in less than ideal (financial) conditions, they went under industrial restructuring and now are more or less back to former standards.
As a rough idea, among other small/medium series production boat, I would put them same level as say dufour, bit higher than bavaria or beneteau. Purists pse don't kill me for calling these boats boats.
On the other hand I still do not understand why for ex grand soleil are still deserving the overvaluation they have at mom, except if you are willing to pay huge sums for italian design style and sail in a shrieking machine where the smallest wave opens all of your doors.

 

[adrift]

I'm afraid I don't have anything to add but I seem to have a similar shortlist and did the same rounds at the boatshow.

I thought that the Comet looked to be well built and well spec'd. Did you manage to find any further info? If so I would be grateful if you would pass it on.

Thanks.

 

[Guest]

Haven't found out a great deal more.

There 's a bigger rig to go with the deep draught keel if you want, and the shoal keel is lead, rather than the iron which most builders seem to use for shoal options.

Heating's not standard. And I don't think there's much of a UK commissioning and delivery package... more a question of 'how do you want it'.

There's a new example with deep keel and bigger rig (infact the boatshow boat) in Hythe marina, and the UK agents have it available for test sailing. No sign of reviews anywhere on the web (Italian yachting press, anyone? All adverts from what I've seen).

Figures wise, it's a heavier displacement boat than most of the other Performance Cruisers, at around 220 Disp:WL. So not an ultralight 150ish number. SA/Disp still quite respectable though not up with the 407 gs40 and Duf40.

Looks good to me. May even try and arrange a test sail.

Hmm. I hope it has a proper bilge sump.

 

[Roberto]

Here is an Italian mag review

http://www.farevela.net/barche/com38.shtml

or about a few other comets

http://www.velaemotore.it/edisport/vela/Prove.nsf/HElencoProve/VelaCD?OpenDocument

do not expect reviews to be any near UK magazine standards, boatbuilder/advertiser bla bla usually works wonders in Italy

 

[adrift]

Thanks for the further info. Do you know anything about the Lombardini engine?
I know they're big in Europe but don't think there a many dealers over here.

My other concerns were lack of cockpit locker space and no wet locker below but there again I haven't found the perfect boat.

 

[Roberto]

Try

http://www.lombardinimarine.it/inglese/homeing.htm

there is one distributor and quite a few resellers in the UK.

They generally have a good to very good reputation. I do not know which base engine is the Lombardini built from, it may be worth investigating as spare parts may be identical to other engines.

 

[jamesjermain]

The Comar Comet range has not been available in the UK for many years until the new agency, Calibra took them on earlier this year. The Italian builders had financial problems a while ago but are now back at full speed producing a range of 14 boats. Expect Italian flair, good design and generally good quality but check the detail. We hope to arrange a trial sail in the near future but a report is unlikely to appear before next year.

JJ

 

[Guest]

Re: Testing times

I understand that YM were out testing the Comet 38 yesterday in the Solent... nice weather for it (15-25 kts, cold, clear & sunny). The testers should just about have defrosted by now...

I was out on the demo boat on Sunday (in about 10-15kts, grey & drizzly. Bah). She performed well, averaging about 6.5 kts during the test, and getting up as high as 7.5 in the puffs when reaching. Good performance, but not with madly light displacement feel.

I'd be interested to know what the differences are between the tall rig (on the test boat) and the standard in terms of mast height & sail area. Deck layout & cockpit are nice, although single-line reefing would seem a sensible addition to the boat. Down below, she's gorgeous.

Any idea when the YM report is liable to be published, or first impressions from the testers that you'd be prepared to divulge (hopeful, I know... PM me?)


Mike

 

[jamesjermain]

Re: Testing times

Test went off OK in conditions as you describe.

Overall impression is good. She is finished to a higher standard than the usual suspects, and appears to be strongly and comparatively heavily built. The woodwork is superb; though, from a purely personal point of view, I find it all a bit too much. The interior is quite small by today's standards and headroom significantly less than I would expect of a boat of this size and type.

Performance was average for the type. The big rig was not at its best in the conditions but she punched along well once we had a reef and a few rolls in.

Full report appears in the March edition of YM, on sale mid-February

JJ

 

[Guest]

Wood, wood, everywhere...

Thanks James. Look forward to the full gen in February!