Info on Feeling 720

[penjack]

I am interested in the Feeling 720 with aft cabin layout, but can't find any information on it, can any one help?

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[Joe_Cole]

I've got a Feeling 720, but not with the aft cabin layout. Lovely boat.

What do you want to know?

I have various leaflets etc. which I could let you have.

Joe

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[penjack]

Hi, could you tell me what year the aft cabin layout was introduced? What does the Feeling 720 sail like? How is she for pointing to wind? Does she sail better healing or flatter? Do you stay in her for any period of time? How are the keels for drying out moorings (mud)?

Regards

Christine

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[Joe_Cole]

I think it was introduced in 1985.
The Feeling is a good little sailer, very well balanced and we frequently get her up to 5-6knots, which isn't bad for her size. I had new sails on her this year and it transformed the handling (much more so than I had expected.....wonderful!). Ponting seems to be OK, but I've never bothered to work out exactly how close she gets to the wind. I have been surprised at how little leeway she seems to make (with a relatively small keel I had expected more leeway)

I tend to sail the boat with as little heel as conditions allow (it helps gain browning points from SHMBO) so I can't really tell you how hard she can be pushed.

We stay in her most weekends and she passes what I call "the harbour test" (i.e. what is she like just to sit in a chill out....well, sometimes that's all we want to do) very well. She's quite beamy for her size and is therefore reasonably comfortable. This summer we had three weeks holiday on her, no problem. Usually there's just two of us on board, but we've had up to 5 and then it gets a bit cosy. Four on board is more realistic.

It's a single stub keel with lifting fin so she doesn't dry out too well on mud! (We've got legs for ours, but I've never needed to use them. I wouldn't expect any problem with the legs, so long as the bottom was OK.) We've dried her out alongside several times without any difficulty (Just remember to lift the keel and the rudder) The lifting fin is useful when there isn't much water beneath you.

For us she has been an excellent boat. I suppose that eventually we will go for something bigger, but we've had 4 seasons great fun with her so far.

Is the one which you are thinking of the one which is currently being advertised in the South West for £16,500?

Let me know if you want any more info. If you want to have a look at ours you would be more than welcome.

Joe

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[quaelgeist2]

We owned a F720 for 4 seasons, kept it on Medway and later in Holland.

Relatively stable and seaworthy, we crossed the channle on several occasions, up to 7+BFT (nor quite voluntarily with young family) and she performed well, also with some heeling.

With a set of new sails (and the bottom epoxied and VC17m treated) she performed very well, both in terms of speed, no problem to reach hullspeed of 6.5 kn then, and against her yardstick in club races. Occasionally with the help of a small/medium wave, she willingly surfed longer stretches up to 7+kn.

We found the keel weight good and sailed her regularly with the centerboard up, though it does improve the leeway. Generally, she is not a racer thus not pointing so high, but 5deg off and she wings it through increased speed.

Our boat sat happily on a mud berth for 2 full seasons, occasionally needed 10-20min through the water before the centerboard would move - but never had a problem with that. (the centerboard has a straightforward mechanism and even when the line was chafed at some stage, it was no problem to get it in and fixed again!)

We had an outboard in a well (9.9HP) totally sufficient for us and giving a lot of storgae space where else the engine sits. Only reason to sell was the lack of sperate berths, we wanted one cabin for us and one for our son (who had slept in the cabin with a lee cloth in the beginning). The bow cabin got a bit small for us also. As you may have deducted we had no aft-cabin layout, but just a (large) quarterberth which also took the sliding charttable.

I have never since seen a small cruiser using the space that effeciently! It is in my view the best you can get in that class.

good luck
christian

If you have time, have a look on the continent, prices are better for smaller boats, there. Also, look for First 24/25, they come from the same or almost same moulds.

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