Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Dont know yet might have to Cangas and mow the finca
Older people need space
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Dellquay13
Well-Known Member
I have a 24’ boat. Yes, It gets a bit cramped with two aboard for a week or two.
For weekend sailing it is SO easy, everything is light to the hand, I barely need winches, only for the last hardening up. I can start and stop at pontoons by hand in all but the strongest winds. It flies in light winds, it’s easy to short tack in tight spaces like rias, and everything is so small the expenses are as minimal as they get in sailing. It takes so little time to prep and leave the berth, and close up at the end of the day that just nipping out for a few spare hours is still a joy.
Just saying…
Blueboatman
Well-Known Member
Ah wellDont know yet might have to Cangas and mow the finca
If you buy a 9m boat with astroturf decks , that’s one less marine area to maintain or paint ..
Comfy to siesta on too
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
According to ye olde internet the Puma 23 is a Holman & Pye design (which presumably is a good thing), and a few were sold in GB as the (earlier) Jaguar 23. (There was also a later, different, John Mullins designed Jaguar 23.)
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes I agree totally .Certainly if we stay within the Ria but outside is the Atlantic with places like”coast of death” and the famous Finisterre and unlike the channel inthe summer the north wind blows almost continuously unless you set off early and motor north
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes that is correct.The one we looked at was a Holman design and has good seagoing potential.
mjcoon
Well-Known Member
And the ship's cat would feel comfy too...Ah well
If you buy a 9m boat with astroturf decks , that’s one less marine area to maintain or paint ..
Comfy to siesta on too
Dellquay13
Well-Known Member
5 miles out of harbour for me (Milford Haven) and straight ahead I’m staring out SW across the Atlantic and the next stop is Brazil, all the way from far West Wales.
We get a lot of wind and waves here too, and when mixed with 7m tides and flows of up to 6knts, I just choose the days with care to head over the horizon.
At 24’ it will never be an expedition boat, but for 90% of my time it is comfortable and easy.
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Wansworth
Well-Known Member
sorry Your Monika is Dell quay which as you know is in Chichester harbour
Dellquay13
Well-Known Member
Misleading name on my behalf. My first boat was an ancient DellQuay dory that I took to a Greek island for 10 years.
It was a 30knot shoe box lid with a 5” draught, Bimini, a massive full width sun bed and a big outboard.
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LittleSister
Well-Known Member
[I typed this up before, but then it vanished! Grrr!]
If it's the one in Coruna that looks remarkably tidy, especially for its age.
The engine is old, judging by the look of it and the modest (traditional?
) stated power output of 5hp. Adequate for a 23 footer (I've sailed a Leisure 23 and Frances 26 (heavy long-keeler) with 7hp motors and that was OK, and rarely used anything like the full 13.5hp of my heavy long-keel 23 footer), but modest by contemporary expectations. I very much doubt it has only 100 hours, but several thousand hours would not in itself be anything to worry about. That one looks well looked after in recent times - the paint job is not to concours standards but much better looking (and easier to see what you're doing to it and any leaks) than rust, the starter motor looks new-ish, and the hose clamps, wiring etc. very tidy for its age.
The new-ish electrical installation is a good thing, including as a sign that care and money/effort has been spent maintaining and upgrading the boat.
The stern arch with solar panel is probably a good thing. Presumably it would be quite easy to rig up a sunshade between that and the cabin top, at least in harbour and at anchor?
The dinette is handy for meals, food prep, chart work, jigsaw puzzles/tiddlywinks etc. but not so good for lounging. As Maurice Griffiths so sagely observed, full-length settee berths either side (not to mention pipe-smoking!) is the ideal for that, but you won't get two of those in a mass-market 23 footer. You do at least have a choice of the forepeak, the (presumed) quarter berth and the cockpit for that: none ideal for casual sloth, but at least a choice (and you won't have to share them with the cat and dog!).
Are there no cushions for the forepeak berths?
The separate heads, despite being tight, is much preferable to one under a berth that is often used.
Strange there aren't more external photos. (We look forward to seeing one of you standing as proud skipper at the helm of this or some other boat!)
If it's the one in Coruna that looks remarkably tidy, especially for its age.
The engine is old, judging by the look of it and the modest (traditional?
) stated power output of 5hp. Adequate for a 23 footer (I've sailed a Leisure 23 and Frances 26 (heavy long-keeler) with 7hp motors and that was OK, and rarely used anything like the full 13.5hp of my heavy long-keel 23 footer), but modest by contemporary expectations. I very much doubt it has only 100 hours, but several thousand hours would not in itself be anything to worry about. That one looks well looked after in recent times - the paint job is not to concours standards but much better looking (and easier to see what you're doing to it and any leaks) than rust, the starter motor looks new-ish, and the hose clamps, wiring etc. very tidy for its age.The new-ish electrical installation is a good thing, including as a sign that care and money/effort has been spent maintaining and upgrading the boat.
The stern arch with solar panel is probably a good thing. Presumably it would be quite easy to rig up a sunshade between that and the cabin top, at least in harbour and at anchor?
The dinette is handy for meals, food prep, chart work, jigsaw puzzles/tiddlywinks etc. but not so good for lounging. As Maurice Griffiths so sagely observed, full-length settee berths either side (not to mention pipe-smoking!) is the ideal for that, but you won't get two of those in a mass-market 23 footer. You do at least have a choice of the forepeak, the (presumed) quarter berth and the cockpit for that: none ideal for casual sloth, but at least a choice (and you won't have to share them with the cat and dog!).
Are there no cushions for the forepeak berths?
The separate heads, despite being tight, is much preferable to one under a berth that is often used.
Strange there aren't more external photos. (We look forward to seeing one of you standing as proud skipper at the helm of this or some other boat!)
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes that’s the one.The good thing about the Albin Vega was precisely that two settees[I typed this up before, but then it vanished! Grrr!]
If it's the one in Coruna that looks remarkably tidy, especially for its age.
The engine is old, judging by the look of it and the modest (traditional?
The new-ish electrical installation is a good thing, including as a sign that care and money/effort has been spent maintaining and upgrading the boat.
The stern arch with solar panel is probably a good thing. Presumably it would be quite easy to rig up a sunshade between that and the cabin top, at least in harbour and at anchor?
The dinette is handy for meals, food prep, chart work, jigsaw puzzles/tiddlywinks etc. but not so good for lounging. As Maurice Griffiths so sagely observed, full-length settee berths either side (not to mention pipe-smoking!) is the ideal for that, but you won't get two of those in a mass-market 23 footer. You do at least have a choice of the forepeak, the (presumed) quarter berth and the cockpit for that: none ideal for casual sloth, but at least a choice (and you won't have to share them with the cat and dog!).
Are there no cushions for the forepeak berths?
The separate heads, despite being tight, is much preferable to one under a berth that is often used.
Strange there aren't more external photos. (We look forward to seeing one of you standing as proud skipper at the helm of this or some other boat!)
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Wansworth
Well-Known Member
The dinette arrangement is the work of the devil!
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Yes, the GRP fin-keel Puma is not up to that sort of job. You need an 18 foot plywood Caprice, like Shane Acton, for that!
Like Dellquay13, I've sailed similar sized boats - 22 and 23 footers - in exposed waters: from Devon out to the Scilly Isles (including drifting off the Lizard for the night on my return when I ran out of both wind and petrol), and Devon across to Brittany more than once, etc. etc. (not to mention off Sherkin Island and Cape Clear, SW Ireland (but not quite as far off as Brazil!) in a 15 foot sea kayak!). And I would have done far more of that sort of thing had being back at work Monday morning hadn't been such a constraint. The boats weren't the constraint. (Except once, when the insurance company opined that 22' was too small for crossing the Channel. I pointed out that other Hurley 22s had raced across the Atlantic. I can't remember now whether they relented, or I changed insurers.)
Most of the 'mortes' off that costa will have been from ships and fishing boats that didn't have the benefit of an engine, modern weather forecasting and choosing when to go (and some couldn't make to windward, unlike a Puma 23).
And if the summer north wind blows almost continuously unless you set off and motor north, then set off early and motor north!
What are you, a big girl's blouse?
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Very tidy. Decks (and hull?) painted?
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Yes…the previous owner had been a marine engineer which explains the neatness
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
I am a cowardYes, the GRP fin-keel Puma is not up to that sort of job. You need an 18 foot plywood Caprice, like Shane Acton, for that!
Like Dellquay13, I've sailed similar sized boats - 22 and 23 footers - in exposed waters: from Devon out to the Scilly Isles (including drifting off the Lizard for the night on my return when I ran out of both wind and petrol), and Devon across to Brittany more than once, etc. etc. (not to mention off Sherkin Island and Cape Clear, SW Ireland (but not quite as far off as Brazil!) in a 15 foot sea kayak!). And I would have done far more of that sort of thing had being back at work Monday morning hadn't been such a constraint. The boats weren't the constraint. (Except once, when the insurance company opined that 22' was too small for crossing the Channel. I pointed out that other Hurley 22s had raced across the Atlantic. I can't remember now whether they relented, or I changed insurers.)
Most of the 'mortes' off that costa will have been from ships and fishing boats that didn't have the benefit of an engine, modern weather forecasting and choosing when to go (and some couldn't make to windward, unlike a Puma 23).
And if the summer north wind blows almost continuously unless you set off and motor north, then set off early and motor north!
What are you, a big girl's blouse?
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
. . . The good thing about the Albin Vega was precisely that two settees
And the other good thing was the prop behind the rudder, which made a man of you?
And the extra cost of a 27 footer was only money you would have frittered away anyway?
Need we put it quite that strongly? Let's just say a mixed blessing. They are not an entirely bad thing - they definitely have their merits, I can say having tried them. It's the opportunity cost of foregoing settee berths.
When i come up on the pools I might have a 38 footer with a custom interior featuring both a dinette and twin settee berths (and a pipe stand)!
LittleSister
Well-Known Member
Yes, that makes sense.
Though I did once have my heart set on a boat (a Mirror Offshore, since you ask) who's vendor/refurbisher claimed to be a marine engineer, but when I got to actually view it it was obvious that this was not a job title protected by UK law. Various unsatisfactory/annoying 'improvements' put me off.
Wansworth
Well-Known Member
Before I bought the Vega I had looked at a few yachts as you do most were finished by the owner and like my father fitted a dinette which has two results the settee berth is too narrow and difficult to access although the idea of making it into a double berth promising nights of rampant thingy meant the bed had to be made and unmade ,as I say a work of SatanAnd the other good thing was the prop behind the rudder, which made a man of you?
And the extra cost of a 27 footer was only money you would have frittered away anyway?
Need we put it quite that strongly? Let's just say a mixed blessing. They are not an entirely bad thing - they definitely have their merits, I can say having tried them. It's the opportunity cost of foregoing settee berths.
When i come up on the pools I might have a 38 footer with a custom interior featuring both a dinette and twin settee berths (and a pipe stand)!
