PabloPicasso
Well-Known Member
Hanse 301 from 2001/2? Wing keel.
Is that an "avoid" yacht?
Is that an "avoid" yacht?
It was the boat that started Hanse.Hanse 301 from 2001/2? Wing keel.
Is that an "avoid" yacht?
"HanseYachts AG is a yacht group that includes the brands Hanse, Dehler, Moody, Fjord, and Sealine. HanseYachts AG develops and builds sailing and motor yachts at their shipyard in Greifswald."
Wouldn't say worse or better than Beneteau Group or Bavaria, all can produce workmanlike quality, all can turn out a lemon. The standard of local dealer will probably be the main differentiator for whether you have a good ownership experience, or never again. All will sell you a lot of boat for your money, with pretty big depreciation. They all sail like barges, but that's what the market likes. If you like the style of Hanse, don't be put off by anyone except a surveyor, they're fine, but with any modern volume boatbuilders, I don't think I would consider one more than ten or fifteen years old for serious sailing, as they can start feeling a bit flimsy, and difficult to repair and maintain, compared to heirloom brands. Deck gear screwed to aluminium inserts into the laminate, with no access to below, the egg box keel reinforcement difficult to inspect and impossible to clean, electronic power distribution systems, much of the wiring and plumbing hidden under interior mouldings, aluminium rudder stocks and brass thru hull fittings are all things the first owner probably won't be troubled with, but the second or third might have cause to regret.
I have always liked the style of Hanse, and they do sail well, if I had to choose a reasonably priced production boat, it'd be a close run between Hanse and Jeanneau, Hanse have better exteriors, but Jeanneau are nicer indoors, Hanse sail better upwind, Jeanneau sail better downwind. But might take an older X yacht or Dehler over either.
So, agree 4-6. Oyster / Grand Soliel 7. X yachts / Arcona / HR / Malo 8. Swan 9? 10 would imply perfection, hasn't happened so far, maybe Royal Huisman?
What a load of rubbish. Thousands of 20 and 30 year old boats from the mass producers giving excellent service all over the world in all kinds of situations."HanseYachts AG is a yacht group that includes the brands Hanse, Dehler, Moody, Fjord, and Sealine. HanseYachts AG develops and builds sailing and motor yachts at their shipyard in Greifswald."
Wouldn't say worse or better than Beneteau Group or Bavaria, all can produce workmanlike quality, all can turn out a lemon. The standard of local dealer will probably be the main differentiator for whether you have a good ownership experience, or never again. All will sell you a lot of boat for your money, with pretty big depreciation. They all sail like barges, but that's what the market likes. If you like the style of Hanse, don't be put off by anyone except a surveyor, they're fine, but with any modern volume boatbuilders, I don't think I would consider one more than ten or fifteen years old for serious sailing, as they can start feeling a bit flimsy, and difficult to repair and maintain, compared to heirloom brands. Deck gear screwed to aluminium inserts into the laminate, with no access to below, the egg box keel reinforcement difficult to inspect and impossible to clean, electronic power distribution systems, much of the wiring and plumbing hidden under interior mouldings, aluminium rudder stocks and brass thru hull fittings are all things the first owner probably won't be troubled with, but the second or third might have cause to regret.
I have always liked the style of Hanse, and they do sail well, if I had to choose a reasonably priced production boat, it'd be a close run between Hanse and Jeanneau, Hanse have better exteriors, but Jeanneau are nicer indoors, Hanse sail better upwind, Jeanneau sail better downwind. But might take an older X yacht or Dehler over either.
So, agree 4-6. Oyster / Grand Soliel 7. X yachts / Arcona / HR / Malo 8. Swan 9? 10 would imply perfection, hasn't happened so far, maybe Royal Huisman?
After 8 years of 5 month/year liveaboard and many thousands of offshore and coastal miles in my now-17 years old Hanse 400 I'd respectfully disagree. Yes, the IKEA-like furniture is more flimsy than that in the vessels described above but we've easily managed to maintain it in good condition. The statement that it 'sails like a barge' had me laughing loudly, recalling last season when we sped through a fleet of 'quality' Dutch vessels off Dungeness in a F4/5, later zooming past a HR40 hobby-horsing off Alderney. I've certainly had some challenging maintenance issues but no fewer and no less challenging than with previous boats, which included an HR, Moody, Westerly and Morgan Giles. Indeed, when the keel had to be removed to check for grounding damage (sustained in a previous ownership!) the very experienced repairer commented that the keel was 'the toughest b@..... he'd ever had to remove". The Surveyor was highly appreciative of the strength of the hull/keel matrix and fastenings."HanseYachts AG is a yacht group that includes the brands Hanse, Dehler, Moody, Fjord, and Sealine. HanseYachts AG develops and builds sailing and motor yachts at their shipyard in Greifswald."
Wouldn't say worse or better than Beneteau Group or Bavaria, all can produce workmanlike quality, all can turn out a lemon. The standard of local dealer will probably be the main differentiator for whether you have a good ownership experience, or never again. All will sell you a lot of boat for your money, with pretty big depreciation. They all sail like barges, but that's what the market likes. If you like the style of Hanse, don't be put off by anyone except a surveyor, they're fine, but with any modern volume boatbuilders, I don't think I would consider one more than ten or fifteen years old for serious sailing, as they can start feeling a bit flimsy, and difficult to repair and maintain, compared to heirloom brands. Deck gear screwed to aluminium inserts into the laminate, with no access to below, the egg box keel reinforcement difficult to inspect and impossible to clean, electronic power distribution systems, much of the wiring and plumbing hidden under interior mouldings, aluminium rudder stocks and brass thru hull fittings are all things the first owner probably won't be troubled with, but the second or third might have cause to regret.
I have always liked the style of Hanse, and they do sail well, if I had to choose a reasonably priced production boat, it'd be a close run between Hanse and Jeanneau, Hanse have better exteriors, but Jeanneau are nicer indoors, Hanse sail better upwind, Jeanneau sail better downwind. But might take an older X yacht or Dehler over either.
So, agree 4-6. Oyster / Grand Soliel 7. X yachts / Arcona / HR / Malo 8. Swan 9? 10 would imply perfection, hasn't happened so far, maybe Royal Huisman?
Something wrong with your terminology here. AWB is the term normally used to describe the boats you are slagging off. I assume you are talking about the features of the 30-50 year old boats that you claim are superior.Look at your 20 - 30 year old AWB, it had bronze seacocks, stainless rudder stock, thru bolted deck gear, small hull windows if any, and a simple switch panel with one wire per function, a very different proposition to maintain. Like a 20 - 30 year old car, we did much of our own maintenance and fault finding, now it's straight to the garage, everything is hidden under covers and behind shrouds, it's been designed to be built quickly, not to be user maintained.
Really easy to get caught by this and think that its a current discussion rather than one 15 years old., but this thread was started in 2010 and focused on under 40' boats which at the time were still simple and easy to maintain.
Have you actually seen instances of MDF being used by the mainstream yacht manufacturers- I have no experience of MOBOs so just stick to yachts pleaseforced boatbuilders to cheapen particularly the internal fittings. MDF rather than solid hardwood for example.
Made a bit more complicated because the thread was revived with a question about a completely different type of Hanse from the original question.Really easy to get caught by this and think that its a current discussion rather than one 15 years old.
I dont generally subscribe to the idea that everything is worse than it was - if anything it seems to me that many things are better. Cars and clothing for example. And food. But in the case of sailing yachts there is little doubt that the drive to make boats ever more affordable in the face of ever rising costs has forced boatbuilders to cheapen particularly the internal fittings. MDF rather than solid hardwood for example. Perhaps they are recognising, as is obvious in our marina and I am sure many others, that most boats are rarely occupied and even more rarely sailed.
Same with my Bavarias, However the doors had composite cores with wood frames. Many newer boats have composite bulkheads as ply is heavy and expensive. The latest Hanses have very little in the way veneered panels now except for the flat pack type interior furnitureHave you actually seen instances of MDF being used by the mainstream yacht manufacturers- I have no experience of MOBOs so just stick to yachts please
If you have, can you tell us how exterior grade MDF performs any worse than hardwood, bearing in mind that hardwood moves with moisture & MDF exterior grade does not. The cores of my panels & table of my Hanse are all plywood. As are the bulkheads
I think you will find that hardwoods are no longer available in the quantities required by mass produced products, and where they are available they are extortionately expensive, so much so that even superyacht builders are being fined for where they source hardwoods from. That ship has sailed, literally, and mass produced hardwood interiors are a thing of the past.Really easy to get caught by this and think that its a current discussion rather than one 15 years old.
I dont generally subscribe to the idea that everything is worse than it was - if anything it seems to me that many things are better. Cars and clothing for example. And food. But in the case of sailing yachts there is little doubt that the drive to make boats ever more affordable in the face of ever rising costs has forced boatbuilders to cheapen particularly the internal fittings. MDF rather than solid hardwood for example. Perhaps they are recognising, as is obvious in our marina and I am sure many others, that most boats are rarely occupied and even more rarely sailed.
They are stiff, structurally for sure. It’s one reason for their above average performance. Our boat is totally outside the normal box, but of the usual run of cruising boats, Hanse are the ones that take us longest to overhaul. It’s quite noticeable. Nothing short of a 40ft grand prix mono has a chance of staying ahead of us, and then they’d need luck with the course, but Hanses ate always moving well. Again, the rather pared back interior helps them. You can’t have it all with any boat. The 3 important factors of comfort/quality (in the sense of plushness) performance and price are interrelated. Quality in the sense of good engineering and design can be cheaper in the long run for both builder and owner.After 8 years of 5 month/year liveaboard and many thousands of offshore and coastal miles in my now-17 years old Hanse 400 I'd respectfully disagree. Yes, the IKEA-like furniture is more flimsy than that in the vessels described above but we've easily managed to maintain it in good condition. The statement that it 'sails like a barge' had me laughing loudly, recalling last season when we sped through a fleet of 'quality' Dutch vessels off Dungeness in a F4/5, later zooming past a HR40 hobby-horsing off Alderney. I've certainly had some challenging maintenance issues but no fewer and no less challenging than with previous boats, which included an HR, Moody, Westerly and Morgan Giles. Indeed, when the keel had to be removed to check for grounding damage (sustained in a previous ownership!) the very experienced repairer commented that the keel was 'the toughest b@..... he'd ever had to remove". The Surveyor was highly appreciative of the strength of the hull/keel matrix and fastenings.
If I had shedloads of money I'd probably have a Sirius 40 - but I don't; every boat is a compromise in so many different ways. When I had the vessel surveyed before purchase the Surveyor remarked that while money had been saved to make them affordable, "Hanses are very strong where they need to be". One look at the well-engineered (and easily accessible) chainplates would confirm that.