Jeanneau 319 for c £90k. Thoughts please.

As an owner of a 35ft twin rudder boat I can agree that they can be a little exciting in marinas with no prop wash you do learn to work around it though, however as a regular single hander it can be an added challenge, I over came this with a clever (in my opinion) stern thruster that lives above water pretty much out of sight and mind and drops down when needed, very powerful, very quiet and as its at the end of the boat maximum turning force.
Researched bow thrusters but was never convinced that modern boats below about 38ft just don't have the draught to have the thruster where you want it.
Don't be put off by twin rudders they have there advantages.
 
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A few years ago we had a Beneteau Oceanis 311 which had twin rudders and no bowthruster. We managed just fine and adapted our technique for slow speed maneuvering. The guy that did the handover gave me a bit of advice which worked well for us with that boat - pace and attitude. What he was probably trying to communicate is that as soon as you lost way with twin rudders, there was no steering, so positive action with a plan was often the answer to maneuvering.

We often used spring lines for getting out of tight spots but with a 31 foot boat, it’s still possible to pull it onto a pontoon or push it off so ’a good push’ was often part of our strategy.

Though not exactly the same, we currently have a Beneteau Oceanis 38 with twin rudders. Having sailed in the med for four years with the more varied berth types, we have spent a lot of time reversing into moorings. I can tell you for sure that twin rudder boats are much easier to manage in reverse. Steerage seems to come at much slower speed in reverse too. I wish that I had tried this more when we had the 311.

We do have a bowthruster on the 38, use it regularly, and I wouldn’t be without it, but we see lots of other boats similar to us that manage without.

As for missing Electronic equipment, especially sailing along the south coast, I’m sure that a phone and iPad with navionics would do the job just fine. That’s what we’ve mostly relied upon sailing from the UK to Greece. Bespoke installed yacht electronics have probably been the most disappointing and unreliable part of the purchase in all of our boats.

I think that if I were single handing I’d probably like in mast reefing, self tacking jib, bowthruster, and autopilot. None are essential but all would make the job easier for most of us.
 
Well, I came, I saw and I walked away. Perfectly nice chap there. Perfectly nice boat really, with good headroom, but I felt that I'd have to pay for heating to be retro-fitted, and the nav stuff, so I'd end up well over 100K. I appreciate there are compromises to be made on a 32ft boat but the galley area was tiny and the fridge space very limited. OK for opening a can of beans but no more really. (Not that I do gourmet food anytime.) TBH even if I had £100k to spare, I wouldn't go for it. Very light interior, but to me it had a somewhat odd "bare" feel to it. Maybe that was just lack of personal clutter though. And, other than the excellent lazarette, due to there being just the two cabins, not masses of internal storage I felt.

I was going to look at a 15 year old Beneteau Oceanis from Buckler's Hard brokers, but they tell me it has just come "under offer". So I think this is fate telling me to back off and I will go back to Mrs LJS's preferred option of waiting till the end of winter. (I think she is hoping I will forget about it till then.)

In the interim I shall stop bothering you folks so much.

Thanks for the advice- all is gratefully received and processed. LJS
 
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