New Swift 18

[salinia]

Having owned and sailed a Swift 18 for many many years it is good to see a brand new one back on the market!
No connection just pleased to see someone having a go at bringing it back to life.
www.sonaryachts.com

 

[Skylark]

+1
I had a lot of fun in a Swift 18 many moons ago. Great little boat; delighted to see her reappearance.

 

[dylanwinter]

tough competition

I think that there are so many great little immortal fibreglass boats around that the market for new ones is tiny

if you are strapped for cash you will buy second hand

£3,000 would buy you a cracking little 18 footer

£5,000 would buy you one with a great trailer

if you have the money to buy one of these new then you will be able to afford a 30 foot lozenge and your wife will take will one look at the inside of the 30 footer with its velour upholstery and proper bog compared to the inside the swift and that will be that idea parked in a solent marina

but I agree - great boats and the max size for viable trailer sailing

Dylan

 

[Lakesailor]

I think there was a thread on this when first mooted.
Great idea. Little chance of breaking even for the reasons Dylan lays out.
If you want to go racing (they are to Micro rules) you'll get a sport boat.

 

[rwoofer]

I hope the tide is turning with new small boats. I'm just in the process of buying a Sun 2000 and the money I will pay could have got me an old 30 footer. The problem is that the hassle factor ramps up considerably, which with a young family I don't want.

I just want something cheap to run, good cockpit space for day sailing and sails well. I might do the odd weekend, but no more, so the internal requirements are small.

 

[Lakesailor]

Why not buy a used Sun 2000? If it's just for day sailing secondhand does fine . That's my motto.

 

[Chrusty 1]

Why not buy a used Sun 2000? If it's just for day sailing secondhand does fine . That's my motto.

I used to have a Swifty, great little boat, but for me being a bit on the humungous side, she was very cramped down below. The worse feature was the lack of room between the keel box and the bunk edges, I was always getting me foot jammed and twisting me knee, quite painful it was.

I used to chat regularly with the bloke who had the moulds, (Mike he was called) can't remember his surname, they were up for sale for quite a long time. He built himself one for his own use. I know a bloke on Windermere that has one, you might have seen her, she is called "Fancy Free" cream with a red stripe, he has had her for some time, and seems to get on very well with her.

I think if I was just into day sailing mine would have dome me well, but for anything more, not for me. They used to hold their value well, but they are getting on a bit now, so prices have now started to come down quite a lot, the current economic climate hasn't helped either, so there could well be some second hand bargains to be had.

I think that mostly they were popular because even though they were small, they looked like a proper little yacht, very nicely styled I always thought.

 

[rwoofer]

Why not buy a used Sun 2000? If it's just for day sailing secondhand does fine . That's my motto.

Exactly what I've done, but the 30 footer would be 30 years older and hence the maintenance issues will be mounting....

 

[Lakesailor]

They seem to hold their price well (don't know if that will continue).
A guy on our mooring bought one 9 years ago for about £13K and they seem to be selling for similar sums now.

 

[Chrusty 1]

They seem to hold their price well (don't know if that will continue).
A guy on our mooring bought one 9 years ago for about £13K and they seem to be selling for similar sums now.

Swift 18s???? There is loads about for 2.5k - 4.5k or were you talking about something else?

 

[Lakesailor]

Sun 2000. My answer followed on from RB Stretch in post#8

 

[aquaplane]

When I was looking Swift 18s seemed to be dearer than the other 18 foot boats too, the Swifts were £4,500 or so and most of the others were about £3000, that was about 5 or 6 years ago. Obviously condition of the boat and trailer if there was one made a difference.

I liked the look of them but the First 18 I ended up with was better of course.

 

[salinia]

We bought our Swift 18 in 1991 for £5500.00 and sold it in 2011 for £4000.00 losing £1500

Just a minute £75.00 per year depreciation that's not to bad is it?
Who said boating was expensive

 

[dylanwinter]

deluded sailors

We bought our Swift 18 in 1991 for £5500.00 and sold it in 2011 for £4000.00 losing £1500

Just a minute £75.00 per year depreciation that's not to bad is it?
Who said boating was expensive

I go through the same self delusional processes

what about the fall in the value of the money

and the other costs of keeping and towing a boat

Dylan