Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 26

[steveej]

Had a look at one of these yesterday, nice boat.

A few questions for the informed...........

Displacement is about 2700kg and has a lifting centre plate (100kg) swing keel and twin rudders. Where is the rest of the ballast? It has 2 mini bilge keels but I cant believe they are that heavy, the keel bolts are very rusty but look like mild steel, may be ok, may need to be replaced.

Needs a new main sail.

Didn't even look at the engine properly but would do so on potentially the next viewing, but it is original. Believe it is a Yanmar 2GM20. Common issues?

How often do the swing keel bushes need replacing?

Real world problems....

where did you store the dinghy, outboard, kedge anchor and spared anchor rode?

There didnt seem to be a bobstay on the bowsprit, any advice on setting this up for kites etc?

Cheers
Steve

 

[Tranona]

The ballast will be moulded into the hull bottom. The Yanmar 2GM20 is an excellent engine, but comes in a different forms - some seawater cooled and some fresh water. Easy to work on, spares readily available so you just have to assess the specific engine for condition and evidence of being well looked after.

Bushes will need replacing if they are worn. Doubt there is an "average" life for these. always difficult to find stowage on a small boat like this particularly for a dinghy, but kedge and rode in a cockpit locker and outboard on a bracket on the pushpit.

Doubt the sprit needs a bobstay. If it is properly installed it will be strong enough to take the chute - although some tend to bend a bit if flying a chute in strong winds.

 

[Channel Sailor]

When I had a 24ft yacht I kept the dinghy in heads, then moved onto the deck out the way when in harbour. Though most of the time I avoided taking it on board and instead worked my sailing around not having it. Outboard was ok on the pushpit. By keeping the dinghy, oars and outboard weight off meant the yacht was more fun to sail and less clutter on board.

The kedge (Fortress) with a few metres of chain and a shackle I kept under a saloon bunk, the warp (with an eye on the end ) was with the other mooring warps, doubling as a long warp for rafting out. Kedge was rarely used.

It’s a good engine in my view. I have owned two yachts with a 2gm20. Assume at some time the exhaust elbow will need to be changed and the fuel tank inspected/cleaned. I would suggest in your survey you pay a marine engineer to look it over and start it, one who knows this type of engine well. It would be money well spent. If it has a Volvo prop shaft seal then it might need replacing at some time.

The keel bolt rust is could be just surface rust. I would be more interested to understand why they are rusty. Check for rainwater leaks from hatch seals, companionway, window seals. Or seawater leaks from around the keels.

New mainsail on a new to you yacht is a good idea anyway, sometimes it avoids sailing on your ear unessarily when you don’t need to with a blown out old sail. Suggest spend decent money on a sail custom designed to suit the yacht and your needs. For example ht of the boom to clear your head, number of reefs, range of draft to suit range of mast bend and plenty of Roach for light air days when a 26ft light boat would be in its element.

 

[steveej]

Thanks both, I'm going to look at two more this weekend.

 

[steveej]

The ballast will be moulded into the hull bottom. The Yanmar 2GM20 is an excellent engine, but comes in a different forms - some seawater cooled and some fresh water. Easy to work on, spares readily available so you just have to assess the specific engine for condition and evidence of being well looked after.

Bushes will need replacing if they are worn. Doubt there is an "average" life for these. always difficult to find stowage on a small boat like this particularly for a dinghy, but kedge and rode in a cockpit locker and outboard on a bracket on the pushpit.

Doubt the sprit needs a bobstay. If it is properly installed it will be strong enough to take the chute - although some tend to bend a bit if flying a chute in strong winds.

Tranona, what would you think would be top wind speed for this to sail in and actually make some way without damaging the boat? 20knots?

 

[steveej]

The Yanmar, would this really be raw water cooled on a 2001 boat?

 

[Tranona]

Raw water cooled was still available and other examples of the boat seem to fit it - probably for cost and simplicity reasons.

As to your performance question, have not sailed the boat but it is a light sporty boat and 20 knots would be well past first reef wind speed.

 

[steveej]

So I went and had a second look at the one nearest me and checked the engine and all looks good.

I have seen all of them currently on the market, the one that is nearest me has very rusty keel bolts, whilst the others have nice shiny stainless bolts. It is not a traditional keel shape in that there are mini bilge keels that appear to be connected to each other that make up a grounding plate and form the ballast. It then has a swing keel centre plate that swings up and sits between the two mini bilge keels when drying out.

My issue now is that the 4 keel bolts that are in more of a square shaped configuration have deteriorated as there has been water in the very shallow bilge. It might be surface rust, but to prepare for the worst case scenario can anyone give me a ball park figure for replacing these. When the boat is lifted and placed on the hard the grounding plate and hull will be in compression. Can I simply remove the bolts, squirt sikflex in the holes and then replace with new bolts? How would I find out about the torque settings?

The other one is missing the transom bridge so I am struggling to make the right decision.

 

[hotcoder]

Did you come to any conclusions regarding the SO 26? A few months have passed since your post on the subject, I've recently looked at one which is missing the transom bridge so presumably the same boat. I have been sailing a smaller, lighter swing keeler (Hunter Sonata) which is fun and practical on low tides but not a stable confidence building boat...

 

[steveej]

Did you come to any conclusions regarding the SO 26? A few months have passed since your post on the subject, I've recently looked at one which is missing the transom bridge so presumably the same boat. I have been sailing a smaller, lighter swing keeler (Hunter Sonata) which is fun and practical on low tides but not a stable confidence building boat...

Well, I ended up with a Sun Odyssey 32. The internal filler between the liner and hull is a factory job on all of them regardless of size.

I wouldn't bother looking at the one in Christchurch as it is just sitting there rotting.

I don't think it would be too difficult to make a new transom bridge for the 26 as it is quite a boxy configuration, just a case of laminating some ply, fill, fairing and paint.

In the end, they all wanted too much for them as they were only 28k brand new and are now nearly 20 years old, which I guess is why they are still for sale.

The 32 in contrast was a 2003 boat, 58k new and secured for £30,500, so in my view was a much better deal with straight line depreciation on what is now a 16 year old boat.

Having said that, I have had the swing keel off, blasted and nylon bushes replaced, all seacocks replaced, and it was bare. No charts, lifejackets, nothing. So by the time I do the re-rig, fit a life raft to the transom plus the keel, the life jackets etc I expect total costs to be coming out at 37k there or thereabouts. That is to make the boat operational and it will be very good then.

Point I'm making is, make sure you have some money left over as it will take 12 months to sort all the teething problems out.

 

[hotcoder]

Thanks for your reply, very interesting and most helpful. I had arrived at the same conclusion regarding value/age but as there are few on the market it's not so easy to tell what they really sell for. Good point about the original cost though, something I had not been considering.

Carl.