Tranona
Well-known member
They are all skeg hung but partial skeg rather than full. The problem with full skeg hung is that you can't get any balance area forward of the pivot point which is desirable to reduce loads and provide directional stability. The dropping of skegs is just part of the development of hull forms with shorter keel, flatter bottoms and wider stern quarters that in turn (apart from improving sailing performance) give you the hull volume to enable sub 40' boats to provide the accommodation you require! As I said once you go over 40' these constraints become less of a problem and you can get the accommodation with more traditional hull forms like the Oyster 46 I was looking at just today, or the HR 42 that was alongside it.
Perhaps you should reconsider your prejudice against spade rudders - although with your other brief it does not widen your choice very much except you can then add the Bavaria Ocean 38 and 40 plus the Beneteau 36CC and Dufour36CC to your list, all of which take you into the "modern" era in terms of interior while retaining the features that made the Moodys etc so popular. The late 1990s Moodys are also close in style to modern boats, but few built as pricy.
You don't say what your budget is , but you can get 1980s boats of the type suggested for less than £50k in reasonable nick, but to fully meet your requirement with "modern" interior and systems you are looking at probably double that as a starting point. BTW you will have to look hard to actually buy a decent example of any of the boats mentioned simply because many people like them so good ones are used and many that do come up for sale require significant upgrading because the owners have had their fun and probably can't face the thought of all the work required to keep them in good cruising condition. So the purchase price of many is just the first down payment. As you might have seen from my recent posts I have just bought a boat that would be on the bottom end of your size range but otherwise fit many of your criteria (except of course accommodation). At some point I might post my budget spreadsheet which will frighten anybody who is thinking of doing similar if the objective like mine is to get a boat equipped to the same basic standard as a modern boat, but in an old style hull. Just reinforcing what I said earlier, every single boat I looked at was owned by somebody giving up sailing because either they had to (2 were in homes and I was dealing with relatives), or were giving up before they were forced to. Most were in reasonable working order, but had last had money spent on them 10-20 years ago when their owners were in their prime. Had similar experience today looking at a one off 46' Bluewater cruiser being sold by the original owner builder. State of the art 1980s and widely cruised over the next 25 years or so, but there is nothing more recent than 10 years old in gear and just about everything in the systems needed replacing or overhauling (without even thinking about the teak deck!) My mate and I thought the total bill to bring it up to scratch would be 3 times the asking price.
