Lack Of New Bilge Keelers Keeps Used Prices High...Maybe?
- Thread starter Zagato
- Start date
Findhorn
Member
chwarae
Member
Not many twin keeled Fulmars about and when they come on the market they tend to be silly money, loved or unloved.
Mainly £30K and upwards.
Mainly £30K and upwards.
Nicholas123
N/A
Only when the ground is "bumpy"View attachment 28064
A very nice viable alternative to a bilge keeler it seems to me.
Seajet
...
Zagato,
soft mud drying moorings are fine; indeed in my experience far preferable to deep water moorings...
For drying any boat of any keel configuration on a hard bottom like sand though I completely agree, horribly cruel !
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-known member
Trends, fashion and economics dictate a lot of things including demand for yacht keel configuration. Up to recently a lot of people had the spare cash to pay £3k ~£5k for marina fees. Yachts nowadays can not take the ground hence unable to use low cost tidal mooring or moorings suitable for low draft yachts.
At present its not "cool" to have a yacht with tween or bilge keels, the trend is to have fast yachts capable of going close to wind and keel configuration has a lot to do with this. However, there a lot of people who are willing to sacrifice sailing efficiency for the convenience and cost efficiency of a yacht that can utilise low coat moorings. The old tween and bilge keelers are still in great demand.
At present its not "cool" to have a yacht with tween or bilge keels, the trend is to have fast yachts capable of going close to wind and keel configuration has a lot to do with this. However, there a lot of people who are willing to sacrifice sailing efficiency for the convenience and cost efficiency of a yacht that can utilise low coat moorings. The old tween and bilge keelers are still in great demand.
Seajet
...
Ahem, there are such things as lift keelers too, which dry upright in mud and still sail well !
Nicholas123
N/A
Ahem, there are such things as lift keelers too, which dry upright in mud and still sail well !
Yeah but you can get the keel jammed & maintenance is more of a problem?
Seajet
...
Well my keel doesn't jam; largely I think because the ballast bulb is veed on top to fair in with the hull, so stones don't get trapped in the casing.
Maintenance is no problem, I have the boat craned on and off trestles ( I supply the trestle plans free in the case of the A22, they're easy to make ) - so the keel plate can be painted, same as twin keels are - the craning is just as any other boat.
The only problems with lift keel maintenance come when people leave boats on trailers every winter with the keel retracted, which I feel is frankly a sign of laziness and / or lack of imagination !
Nicholas123
N/A
With my previous boat I only had it hauled out the water in a yard once in the fifteen years I owned her & then only because I had a serious fault with the keels to repair.With my present boat I have no plans to ever have her hauled out the water if at all possible.
That's got to be a saving of at least a £1000 a year compared to what most people spend on their boats I reckon.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-known member
Ahem, there are such things as lift keelers too, which dry upright in mud and still sail well !
Agree, give me Southerly any time.
Seajet
...
Well I prefer to maintain her ashore every winter, but my costs are absolutely nowhere near £1,000 PA, I do have a Father from Aberdeen and a reputation to keep !
Zagato
Well-known member
Recently read an article about an 80 year old architect who bought a brand new 30+ foot Southerly as he can sail it single handed and it has a lifting keel to get himself up to Wareham. This thing is the price of a nice house and I laughed when he said it was ugly and he had a stripe painted down the side to try and improve it's looks. I used to do that with my old SAAB's when I was a teenager
Good for him to keep sailing at his age. I was shocked when he said they take the channel marker buoys up during the winter... er that's not so good
, glad I didn't find that out the hard way (I'm 3'6" draft so may not get up into Wareham anyway!)Laurie
Member
Am I correct in thinking that they too have now called in the administrators.................???
Lakesailor
New member
The reason secondhand (Third, fourth, fifth, etc) bilge keelers are being offered at highish prices is the same as the rest of the used boat market. People are unrealistic and greedy.
A 20 or 30 year-old boat is getting into "everything needs replacing" territory and owners seem to think they can pass on their maintenance costs to the next owner
If nothing else (and there are other benefits) the current financial situation will bring some realism to the boating market. The simple truth is that lots of people who have boats are really stretching to be boatowners.
There isn't the market there was. Boats at the cheap end are difficult to sell, as has been mentioned, because the mooring and ongoing costs have become burdensome. It may be that trailer-sailers become popular again.
A 20 or 30 year-old boat is getting into "everything needs replacing" territory and owners seem to think they can pass on their maintenance costs to the next owner
If nothing else (and there are other benefits) the current financial situation will bring some realism to the boating market. The simple truth is that lots of people who have boats are really stretching to be boatowners.
There isn't the market there was. Boats at the cheap end are difficult to sell, as has been mentioned, because the mooring and ongoing costs have become burdensome. It may be that trailer-sailers become popular again.
CoVianna
Well-known member
You only need to keep an eye on ApolloDuck to see the same bilge keel (and other smallish) yachts cropping up time after time. Some are slowly bringing their price down, some are not. As lake sailor says "People are unrealistic". But each to their own sales strategy.
CAPTAIN FANTASTIC
Well-known member
Zagato
Well-known member
Talking to someone yesterday who suggested it maybe more of an accountants move e.g. he said something like "they could keep the yard and one name and sell off the other name, to gain instant cash whilst still operating". I don't know Northshores set up but got the gist of it...
Searush
New member
Well, that depends on the relative shelter doesn't it? I use a lot of drying harbours round N Wales (10+m tides) and the best ones are as smooth as glass when the boat settles & rises, usually due to sandbanks across the entrance. I quite often sleep thro overnight groundings & lifts & even in daytime I have to try rocking her to see if she has settled or not.
CC@GTY
New member
Although we're not marketing it explicitly, the GT35 can be specified with bilge keels.
Conrad.