Isald Packet-is it worth a packet?

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ffiill

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I ask this because yesterday our local GRP repair man commented upon how he had spent the winter carrying out a repair to one of the smaller Island Packets.To be more precise a hole the size of a medium size house window giving full view of the cabin caused by the boat breaking free of its mooring and grounding on a boulder beach.

The repair man intimated that their bill to the Insurers just for glasfibre and repainting amounted to over £30,000! for a boat nearly 25 years old.
 
ffiill said:
I ask this because yesterday our local GRP repair man commented upon how he had spent the winter carrying out a repair to one of the smaller Island Packets.To be more precise a hole the size of a medium size house window giving full view of the cabin caused by the boat breaking free of its mooring and grounding on a boulder beach.

The repair man intimated that their bill to the Insurers just for glasfibre and repainting amounted to over £30,000! for a boat nearly 25 years old.
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First mate and I are fortunate in owning one of the medium size Island Packets. At the 2004 LIBS I was aboard the show boat-the new 380 IIRC-and was busy delving in the lockers under the sole and checking engine access when the sales person asked me if I would recognise something he handed me. It was a 40mm ish diameter round striped piece about 55mm long, highly polished and coated in epoxy. I was not able to say what it was. He told me it was the piece the installers of the depth transducer removed with their core drill when fitting said transducer. The stripes were from the hand lay up. They were impressed with the thickness of the hull in this area and so polished and epoxied it as a sales aid. It obviously worked, but First Mate and I could not afford a new one. Very happy with what we have though.
 
Must admit I thought the same when I saw the boat. Ultimately it's what the insurance company think, and they obliviously thought it was worth repairing. He's doing a really good job, wonder what the finally bill will be and how it compares to the boats value.
 
A friend of ours has had a couple and his current one is 45 foot. It is very much a sailboat rather than a sailing boat, ie very American. Although solidly built and decently fitted out, its design tends to be a bit odd. There is bags of space in the cabin, but little to hold on to. Getting in and out of the cockpit is awkward even for the nimble. There is massive electrical usage and the generator has to work hard. Fresh water is used to flush the heads, which, I suppose, at least helps to reduce scaling.

I find it generally rather weird, but it goes well enough when it gets going, though the crew in the centre cockpit somewhere in the stratosphere don't have a comfortable time - I imagine the aft-cockpit versions are better.
 
A friend of ours has had a couple and his current one is 45 foot. It is very much a sailboat rather than a sailing boat, ie very American. Although solidly built and decently fitted out, its design tends to be a bit odd. There is bags of space in the cabin, but little to hold on to. Getting in and out of the cockpit is awkward even for the nimble. There is massive electrical usage and the generator has to work hard. Fresh water is used to flush the heads, which, I suppose, at least helps to reduce scaling.

I find it generally rather weird, but it goes well enough when it gets going, though the crew in the centre cockpit somewhere in the stratosphere don't have a comfortable time - I imagine the aft-cockpit versions are better.
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This is an interesting thread for me as a 485 owner.

It is often said IPs are "weird" and "slow".

Now I am obviously biased.

However, they are slow, but not that slow. The 485 is a go anywhere in any weather yacht. It is not a pocket rocket and in light airs it is under canvassed. However with a reasonable breeze it will power through anything, literally anything. I cannot express on a long passage just how solid, comfortable and relaxing they are to sail literally eating up the miles. When the weather blows up it still doesn't notice. So they are built to eat up the miles in great comfort and that they do very well. In fact in consequence when others are reducing sail, exhausted and slowing down the IPs just keeping going getting there before everyone else.

Yes, they are extraordinarily well built. Like an Oyster there is no balsa core, its just solid hand laid glass fibre with a massive full length keel, over spec'ed rigging and substantial fittings. You will really struggle to break one.

I think the accommodation on the 485 is one of its best features. It is huge, comfortable and solid. I doubt you will find a better chart table area on almost any class of yacht.

Yes its heavy on power, all electric fresh water flushing loos, power winches, and probably all sorts of electrical accessories, but it is about comfy live aboard.

So the larger IPs without doubt are built for a purpose. That purpose is providing very comfortable accommodation, sea kindly passages, built to lat construction and a certain style that is different from European yachts, but not that different, a style you probably either like or dont.
 
Sounds like the repair yard are going to get rich quick with that repair. they may be well built but the hull still popped when beached. personally i think they are very old fashioned design and build, but i can understand the folowing they have .
for me its a modern beneteau or jeanneau, i cruise the med and they imo are much more suitable for that and half the price
 
Well I guess almost any glass boat will "pop" if washed up on a rocky beach - maybe even aluminum or steel.

I am not sure why you think Beneteaus and Jeanneaus are any more suitable - good yachts as they are. If you are living aboard and want comfort, huge amounts of storage, and don't want to worry too much about weather you might get caught out in then an IP will do very nicely.

One of the things that did it for me on the 485 is the aft lazarette. You climb down into it on a ladder. You can pop a couple of full sized bikes, a water maker, a compressor, an air conditioning unit, a pressure washer, a couple of diving cylinders and outboard and all the ropes, tackle and odds and sods you care to wish and still swing a cat. It is a great feature.
 
ffiill said:
I ask this because yesterday our local GRP repair man commented upon how he had spent the winter carrying out a repair to one of the smaller Island Packets.To be more precise a hole the size of a medium size house window giving full view of the cabin caused by the boat breaking free of its mooring and grounding on a boulder beach.

The repair man intimated that their bill to the Insurers just for glasfibre and repainting amounted to over £30,000! for a boat nearly 25 years old.
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The person who sold me my boat bought a couple of Sun Legende 41's which were written off after the 1987 hurricane hit Concarneau. As he said to me fibre glass is like plasticine and in one months time you wont know that they had been damaged!
 
We decided to use the Sealift at Haslar Marina last March to have our Island Packet 350 antifouled and the hull polished. The Sealift team did a great job in a day and a half. When we returned to the boat the polishing team guy said he was a bit dissapointed with a couple of patches on the Starboard side of the hull. First mate told him not to worry-it was 12 years old after all and had spent most of its life under the Florida sun. The guy was gobsmacked-he was under the impression it was a two year old boat! An easy assumption to fall into-the build quality and quality of the materials used speak for theirselves. The boat has been hard used-the engine has in excess of 3000 hours on it. I have yet to see a high volume production yacht with the same level of use and the same age that bears comparison. It is slow in light wind-unless we have 8 knts true it is not worth putting the sails up. But-when it pipes up above 25 knts we roll in a bit of headsail and put in first reef and we fly-with a steady and comfortable motion without slamming. Island Packets are not perfect-no yacht is-but for the sailing we do and intend to do in the future it is spot on. As ip485 said they are great on the hook or alongside as liveaboards,
 
toad_oftoadhall said:
I wonder if these two facts might be related in some way? :D
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I am afraid I cant work your question Toad. Perhaps you might explain how the conditions that SUIT our boat for sailing have a connection to the hours on the engine. I could understand if the statement I made " unless we have 8 knts true its not worth pulling the sails up" was in your reply. Island Packets love 20 to 25 knts on the beam with full sail. Apart from a bit more leeway than a deep fin yacht under these conditions they are doing what they were designed for-Blue Water passage making. As I implied earlier, not perhaps what is required for day sailing in the Solent but it is what we have chosen and are happy with.
 
rotrax said:
First mate and I are fortunate in owning one of the medium size Island Packets. At the 2004 LIBS I was aboard the show boat-the new 380 IIRC-and was busy delving in the lockers under the sole and checking engine access when the sales person asked me if I would recognise something he handed me. It was a 40mm ish diameter round striped piece about 55mm long, highly polished and coated in epoxy. I was not able to say what it was. He told me it was the piece the installers of the depth transducer removed with their core drill when fitting said transducer. The stripes were from the hand lay up. They were impressed with the thickness of the hull in this area and so polished and epoxied it as a sales aid. It obviously worked, but First Mate and I could not afford a new one. Very happy with what we have though.
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I can't understand why anyone would be impressed by a company that has no understanding of the strength of materials. My house doesn't have walls like a medieaval castle and my car doesn't have cast iron bodywork. And I don't want the equivalent in my boat. The amazing thickness of the hull didn't stop the boat in the OP getting a big hole in it.
 
trapezeartist said:
I can't understand why anyone would be impressed by a company that has no understanding of the strength of materials. My house doesn't have walls like a medieaval castle and my car doesn't have cast iron bodywork. And I don't want the equivalent in my boat. The amazing thickness of the hull didn't stop the boat in the OP getting a big hole in it.
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Of course the medieaval castle is still standing but your house wouldnt be if built then, on the other hand it was probably never a good idea to build a car out of cast iron which is why they arent.

I take your point being serious but oyster, hbs and the like have a place and have a following. Will a 20 year old beneteau look as good as a 20 year old oyster; i very much doubt it.
 
Horses for courses

No point arguing about this, it depends what values one seeks from a yacht. I've an 11.8m LOA Nauticat pilot house, she was weighed yesterday at 15tonnes. I have a mate who has a similar sized Hanse which he races round the cans, he thinks the Nauticat weight to LOA relationship is hilarious. That suits me fine, I've no intention of ever racing Hanses around the cans!
 
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