Nicholson 31 (Rustler 31? Moody 31?)

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Babylon

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Okay, since my last thread "Do I HAVE to start looking for a larger boat?" http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209125 I've managed, after a bit of research and plenty of input from Mrs Babylon, to hone my preliminary choices down to the following:

Nicholson 31 (long keel, good accomodation 5-6 berths)
Rustler 31 (long keel, okay accomodation 4-5 berths)
Moody 31 (fin keel, pretty good accomodation 6 berths incl small aft cabin)

All three can be bought for roughly the sort of money I can sell my Vancouver 27 for plus a little premium.

The Moody is included because of the build quality and accomodation (especially the small aft cabin rather than just a quarter-berth), but I'm still really interested in the two heavier displacement long keelers, especially the Nicolson.

Any opinions?

Babs
 
If your looking at small production fin keelers... ie the Moody... then you really need to add some more modern small 30 feetish boats... While th emoody in theory is better quality, the age will give issues... and I am unsure in reality about the "Qaulity."

Anyways... how bout putting a Contessa 32 on that list if you are looking fin keel???

Saw a blue one on our pontton last night... and I remembered why they are such fabulous boat.... in the dark.. the light from the harbour reflecting in that dark blue paint job....mmmmmmm
 
We have had our Nicholson 31 from new in 1979 so I might not be very objective!
Lovely boats. The Rustler is a good boat. We even looked at a Rustler 42 once when we thought we needed more room. We soon came to our senses when we costed it all out. The build quality of the Moody might not be up to the same standard as your other two suggestions.
We recently took a Danish guy out for a sail as he thought he wanted a Nic 31 but had never sailed on one! He flew over, had an evening sail with us in the Solent and he is now buying one that is ashore in Lymington. He got hold of us through nicholson31.com

Good luck hunting!
 
OK I'm biased but don't discount a Sadler 32 which is 9.6 metres, we're having plenty of fun in ours :)

Our budget was around £25K, we looked at (from memory):

Moody 31, Westerly Tempest, Westerly Falcon, Contessa 32, Nic 32, (another Moody 31) Victoria 30, First 32, Sadler 32, Ohlson 35, and the Sadler 32 we bought

I've been on a lot of boats, and the stowage of our Sadler still surprises me, much better than a lot of modern boats, and many older narrow ones too. The accommodation just works so well, the saloon is beamy, and gives the impression of a bigger 34/35 footer, but there is no real trade off in performance/handling that you get with a big aft cabin. As we found out last week she's a great sea boat, and will happily beat well to windward in 25 odd knots true, the cockpit is safe and secure and stowage on deck is vast as well, with a full depth cavernous cockpit locker, an under cockpit sole liferaft/dinghy locker and an aft locker

The only downsides are the headroom up front is a bit low, we had to buy a plastic step to make getting into the forward bunk easier (although when I'm on my own I prefer to sleep in the saloon), and the off-set prop makes going astern interesting, and prop walk always has to be considered when manoeuvring, but if you're used to a long keel you'll find it a breeze.

I wouldn't narrow down your choice on paper too much, have a look at as amany designs as you can. one thing is certain....you will know when you're on the right boat.

Then the real fun begins!!
 
Moody 31

Capricious is a Moody 31, and I can certainly say that the build quality is very good. Mine is 20 years old, and is as solid as a rock, with only minor defects found at the survey before I purchased her 2 years ago. The interior woodwork is excellent; everything still fits well; drawers and doors close without sticking. Once we got the rig set up, she is a good, solid sea boat; she gives a great feeling of strength and solidity - but gets going surprisingly quickly under sail. She will take far more than the crew will, and puts up with my occasional mis-handling very well.

Bad news is, she's REALLY only a 4 berth. The saloon berths can be used for sleeping, but the port side one is short, the starboard side one has a trotter box to make it a reasonable length, but both are very narrow. If you look on the Moody archive pages, you'll see that Moody described the 31 Mk II as a 4 berth.

Mine is tiller steering, but others have said that the variant with wheel steering loses some space in the aft cabin.
 
When I was looking for a boat with my father, he had his heart set on a Nicholson 31 because of the build quality, reputation and heavy weather abilities. We viewed several and they all had a similar theme - they needed a refit!!Many Nicholson 31's will have done galactic mileage, because that's what people bought them for. A good one, needing not much work would in my opinion command a much higher premium and be quite hard to come by. You must consider the type of sailing you do as well. As you will be aware from your Vancouver, long keelers tend not to be too marina friendly and are positively feral in reverse. If you primarily do offshore, longer distance stuff then the long keeler is an advantage. If your sailing is mixed, then a standard fin keeler may suit your needs better. We settled on a Moody 31 in the end and have never regretted our choice. The boat is a bit of a jack of all trades and is well capable of handling the rough stuff. A ballast ratio of around 40% makes her stable and quick, 7 knots under sail being fairly easy to achieve when you have a decent blow. They are a well laid out boat and could carry 2 cruising couples quite happily for a couple of weeks. The original engine was probably over specified for the size of boat so pushes her along nicely with plenty in reserve for headwinds or motoring into seas. Their other major advantage is that there are usually a few for sale so it is easier to compare and contrast, so you know you are paying the right price when you come to make an offer. My choice would be a decent Moody 31 and avoid expensive refit bills on the other boats you have listed.
 
I'm inclined to agree that a good Nic 31 or Rustler 31 is likely to be more than the OP is budgeting for. And though I have owned a Rustler 31 for 20 years I'm also inclined to agree that for general coastal pottering with a family and the occasional cross-channel trip somethink like a Moody 31 might be better, it will certainly have more room, but again a good one is going to cost. I love my Rustler and will probably keep her 'till I drop off the perch. She is a supurb sea boat, comfortable and weatherly, but she is heavy and her power-handling characteristics, espcially in confined spaces are interesting to say the least. She was fine for two plus a couple of small kids, but now the kids are full-size, definitely a bit snug. 16 yr old daughters do not like to share the fore-cabin with their 14 yr old brothers!
 
AustrAntarcticPilot said:
Capricious is a Moody 31......
Bad news is, she's REALLY only a 4 berth. The saloon berths can be used for sleeping, but the port side one is short, the starboard side one has a trotter box to make it a reasonable length, but both are very narrow.
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I agree that the port berth is short but the stbd one is fine - I use the lee cloth to hold the side back rest cushion to widen the berth and it is plenty wide enough and very comfortable.

However the aft 'double' is cramped for 2 - the inboard berth is under the cockpit sole and getting out over the other person is a challenge!

Definately a good family boat.
 
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Eccles said:
I agree that the port berth is short but the stbd one is fine - I use the lee cloth to hold the side back rest cushion to widen the berth and it is plenty wide enough and very comfortable.

However the aft 'double' is cramped for 2 - the inboard berth is under the cockpit sole and getting out over the other person is a challenge!

Definately a good family boat.
Click to expand...

I agree that the aft cabin would be challenging for larger people than I - I am only 5'7" and haven't spread too far yet! But I find it the most comfortable berth on the boat, with plenty of space - and I didn't expect that to be the case when I bought her. And it tapers a lot less than the V berth in the forward cabin. It just goes to show that tastes vary!

I was looking to see where I got the "4 berth" designation from - I've certainly seen it somewhere related to Moody, but it isn't on the pages I thought it was. I've certainly seen Moody 31s described as 4 berth.

Personally (not having to accommodate a lot of people), I am very happy to regard the saloon as a non-sleeping area under normal conditions - it means that sleeping and eating areas are separated.
 
Can I add a Sadler 32 to the list?

Babylon said:
Okay, since my last thread "Do I HAVE to start looking for a larger boat?" http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=209125 I've managed, after a bit of research and plenty of input from Mrs Babylon, to hone my preliminary choices down to the following:

Nicholson 31 (long keel, good accomodation 5-6 berths)
Rustler 31 (long keel, okay accomodation 4-5 berths)
Moody 31 (fin keel, pretty good accomodation 6 berths incl small aft cabin)

All three can be bought for roughly the sort of money I can sell my Vancouver 27 for plus a little premium.

The Moody is included because of the build quality and accomodation (especially the small aft cabin rather than just a quarter-berth), but I'm still really interested in the two heavier displacement long keelers, especially the Nicolson.

Any opinions?

Babs
Click to expand...

Thanks peeps for all the really informative feedback so far. In my haste to post (tut tut) I forgot to originally add the fin-keel SADLER 32 to my list, so any thoughts there?

BTW took Mrs Babylon and the nipper to see a rather grimey 1988 Moody 31 this morning, which the owners seem to have got bored of and neglected and want stupid money for (£35k) considering there are no electonics at all and the rigging at least needs total replacement, and that's before digging any deeper. But it was good nevertheless to get a sense of the space below and something of the feel on deck and in the cockpit.

As regards the modern beamy fin-keeler versus the narrower older long-keeler debate, the jury is still out. No I'm not (yet) planning on spending a lot of time offshore, but I still need to keep Mrs B comfortable and reassured on coastal passages in moderate weather plus. Also I've handled our long-keeler in all sorts of tight marina spaces as well as on an exposed river trot-mooring for three years now so I'm not fazed (phazed?) by the challenges of going astern.

I agree that age is an issue for any boat older than say 1990. Of course older boats will need a serious refit unless I can find one which has been well-maintained on a running basis - for which I'm prepared to pay a reasonable premium - which is what I did when we bought our Vancouver.

Babs
 
petehb said:
You might just get an early Nic 32 for the money, better than all you list.
Click to expand...

Pete

In what way would an early Nicholson 32 be better than its replacement the Nic 31?

I certainly like the look of the Nic 32, but didn't include it originally on my gradually-getting-longer shortlist because of its age.

Also, as I understand it, the later 31 has the advantage of more beam and freeboard and therefore more room (at the expense of seakeeping/performance? is it dryer?), as well as being relatively younger than the 32.

I'd welcome some elaboration.

Thanks

Babs
 
I lust after a Nicholson 31. I used to admire the Rustler 31 as well but I recently discovered that the Rustler 31 has one side shorter than the other side making it a slight banana shape. OK it is such a small difference but to me it spoils the concept of perfection we all strive for. The info comes from the Rustler 31 club which states that the bow pulpit must be handmade to fit the offset twist at the bow. Funny isn't it? Only an inch or so but I wish I had never read about it.

I have owned a boat, not a Moody 31, with an aft cabin for four years. I thought that the compromise in the smaller main saloon was a high price to pay. However, It came very useful in the tropics because, at anchor, the aft cabin could be closed off during the day to keep the mossy's out and opened up after dark at bunktime. Actually priceless.

Edit about Rustler 31. Also from the same club source, the Rustler 31 suffers from very serious prop cavitation caused be the thick "deadwood" around the prop space. Lots of vibration and a hassle with selecting a good prop.
 
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I would trust your own intuition on this one, and stick with your original short list.
Of the three, the Nicholson 31 is the stand out favourite to replace a Vancouver 27. The problem will be getting a good one at the right price
 
I am obviously biased because of the vancouver connection I rate the 32 over the 31 in terms of its seakeeping having sailed a number of times in a 32 found them deceptivly quick, dry and with all the attributes of a long keel, the 31 I have been on once only but was dissapointed (sorry all you 31 owners) and she just did not perform as well as the 32. I prefered the headroom in the 32. The 31 has a more modern feel about her but on a very limited comparisson I just prefer the 32 subjective may be but all comparissons of boats are. I also competed against one in the 2007 AZAB and she was no slouch almost winning on handicap.
 
I looked at a Nich31 and confess my bias as I plumped for a Moody31.I have been very happy with the boat and she has looked after us sailing to Holland etc.I have added new sails,canopy,stackpack,Kiwiprop and other bits and pieces.The fin keel version is no slouch & according to Byron Software handicaps the Nich31 is 1031 and the Moody31 is 996,the Moody being slightly quicker.She is a joy to handle and goes well in reverse.I like the stern cabin as there is only me in it.
 
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