Feeling 720

[surekandoo]

I have the opportunity to buy a Feeling 720. The boat has had 1 owner from new in 1984 and appears to be in excellent condition.

Before purchase I'd like to know more about Feeling 720's, pros & cons, sailing performance, build quality etc.

I'll be upgrading from a Limbo 6.6, and the new boat will be moored on a half tide marina berth in Essex. A fair amount of sailing will be single handed.

Thanks

 

[quaelgeist2]

one happy owner

We had a FDeeling 720 with lift-keel for some years.

Fast and spacy boat for its outer size. Ours had extra storage as we had an outboard in a well and thus the engine bay as storage for stroller and nappies ;-)
There are some with a one cylinder inboard, but it is squeezed in then and usually reduces the size of the quarterberth.

The lift keel sheet has snapped from the centerboard once, but was easily fixed with a lift out. The centerboard set sometimes due to our drying mud-berth. Other wise very handy to crawl the rivers and rivlets of the East Coast.

Fast boat that goes well upwind and downwind, even with lift keel.

Not so good/needs attention
Chainplate support insufficient, we strengthened ours with s/s plates from inside - deck had started to flex after 13 years (ours was a 1984, too)
The massive rudder was very stable, but drew some water through paint cracks (massive mahogany). I dried during winter at home and epoxied with glasfiber cloth - never a problem again.
The rudder fixing bolts had tiny washers from the inside - I epoxied padding in place from hardwood. That stopped the flexing of the stern and fixed a drip leak in strong winds.
The keelbolts were glassed in, no checking possible - but no trouble either.
The windows are screwed onto the GRP only and will need replacing if they are still the originals. Tedious but DIY job.
You will never get repair gelcoat in the right beige color.
We upgraded our asins to foot pump and that helped significantly. Had we kept it, the flex tank would have been replaced with a firm built in model. The boat is fairly well balanced.

Enjoy it, a nice boat. I contend one of the best ever built in that size.