Gibsea 77 and 84

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LORDNELSON

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I am thinking of buying a Gibsea 77 or 84 (centreboard version) for sailing in the Solent/Poole area. It would be crewed by my wife and myself (senior citizens), any comments about these boats construction/problems/performance would be much appreciated.
 
I am the owner of a Gibsea 77. It has a fixed fin keel. It sails well, that is, it is quite nippy. I haven't found it to have any alarming tendancies that would make it scary or difficult to handle. It is, of course, a rather light boat, rather like a big dinghy. I have sailed her across the North Sea to Belgium and to Calais via Ramsgate. She is very lightly built, but seems to have looked after me OK so far. Can't think of any specific problems. Useful information can be found from the gibsea association website www gibsea.org.uk.
 
We have a swing keel 84 and sail it as just the two of us. She likes to have a reef quite early (force 3 or 4) but its still not too hard getting over 6 knots. We have a friend who had a fixed keel 84 that weathered the '88 hurricane on a swinging mooring and the only damage was that the cleat itself had twisted a bit so they can't be badly built.
The only problems we've had is with the swing keel mechanism. It seems they can be neglected and ours is very stiff despite spending a lot of money on it on purchase.
 
I have an 84, the lady I bought it from had recently been widowed and I think she was well into her in her 70's. They are light, and early reefing is advised. The accommodation is very good, and they are not over priced for what you get Regards build quality they certainly seem quite robust.
 
They are very robust I sailed quite happily on just a fully reefed main while caught out in a force 11 severe storm in the channel.

They are incredibly tough and the two bunks in the main cabin are amongst the widest you'll find in any boat.

They sail well up to their length and generally keep up with 32 footers in club racing.

As standard they came with a twin burner cooker with the gas cylinder screwed on underneath. Some insureres require you to replace it and it's quite easy to make a gas locker in the cockpit locker - if I can do it it must be easy!!

The longest cruise we did in ours was 10 weeks with the four of us aboard.

Don't listen to the ignoramuses who say she doesn't stand up to her sail. She stands very well to her designed sail and her designed reefing speeds and is not supposed to be sailed with the gunwhale under water.

If you don't have a roller on the forestay we made do quite happily with a genoa, a working jib and a storm sail for the fore triangle and we had a third reef added to the main(great in an F11!!)


Have fun
 
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