Replacement boat

Malo37

Malo37

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I am considering moving back to the South of England after many years based in Scotland. Consequently my beautiful Regina is for sale and I hope to replace her with a smaller lifting keel boat in order to minimise cost and maximise berthing options on the South coast.
I'm looking for a quality boat of medium displacement, probably 30 to 35 ft but will consider smaller, and with a lifting keel. Better looking than a Southerly, good quality and comfort more important that outright sailing performance, and easily sailed singlehanded. (although my wife will normally be on board !!). Any ideas appreciated.
 
Think your short list is going to be very short. Apart from the Parkers most will be French - various Beneteaus, Jeanneaus and Feelings plus the rare Ovni 345.

Unless you really can't afford a deep water mooring or marina berth or are really keen on spending time in the upper tidal reaches, there is little real advantage in a lift keel boat on the South Coast.
 
Malo37 said:
I am considering moving back to the South of England after many years based in Scotland. Consequently my beautiful Regina is for sale and I hope to replace her with a smaller lifting keel boat in order to minimise cost and maximise berthing options on the South coast.
I'm looking for a quality boat of medium displacement, probably 30 to 35 ft but will consider smaller, and with a lifting keel. Better looking than a Southerly, good quality and comfort more important that outright sailing performance, and easily sailed singlehanded. (although my wife will normally be on board !!). Any ideas appreciated.
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Pros: More daylight. Can't think of anything else.
Cons: Ludicrous house prices, traffic jams, high marina berth costs, sailing congestion!

Why??

And where is your boat advertised so we can have a nose!

Rob

Formerly of london, now Edinburgh!
 
Tranona said:
Think your short list is going to be very short. Apart from the Parkers most will be French - various Beneteaus, Jeanneaus and Feelings plus the rare Ovni 345.

Unless you really can't afford a deep water mooring or marina berth or are really keen on spending time in the upper tidal reaches, there is little real advantage in a lift keel boat on the South Coast.
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Unlike Tranona, I have tried both options.

Deep water moorings are usually so far out and exposed one requires a very large tender, which requires hauling up and down a slip then storing, plus outboard and fuel tank to cart to and from the car.

Having the boat so far out means vulnerability to thieves, and much less chance of any problem in gales etc being observed and reported by local chums.

Not many deep water mooring set-ups on the South Coast offer safe car parks let alone a secure place to keep the tender; do check these.

Due to tidal considerations re harbour entrances a deep water - or marina - spot offers little if any advantage over a half tide one, especially with deep moorings as the boat might be bobbing about floating happily but one can't get to or from it as the tender is still restricted to +/- 3 hours of High Water, same goes for marinas with locks & sills...

The half-tide mooring for my lift keeler is sheltered and a few minutes gentle row from the good clubhouse, 2 old pubs serving decent food, plenty of wildlife to peer at, a fuel station, lovely long shoreside walks and a nature reserve.

I'd never try a deep water mooring around here again, and a marina would be £4,000 PA with a lot less satisfaction compared to my mooring's £400...

Long story, I tried a fin keeler in marinas and on various deep water moorings for a few years, a useful experience but I realised it was a mug's game and bought my original lift keeler back.

For a larger lift keeler I'd think Ovni, or for significantly less money a twin keel Fulmar.
 
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Malo37 said:
I am considering moving back to the South of England after many years based in Scotland. Consequently my beautiful Regina is for sale and I hope to replace her with a smaller lifting keel boat in order to minimise cost and maximise berthing options on the South coast.
I'm looking for a quality boat of medium displacement, probably 30 to 35 ft but will consider smaller, and with a lifting keel. Better looking than a Southerly, good quality and comfort more important that outright sailing performance, and easily sailed singlehanded. (although my wife will normally be on board !!). Any ideas appreciated.
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Try googling "voiliers d'occasion: quilles relevables".
 
I've always liked Regina yachts. There is a lovely one in the marina in Plymouth we use. Would be ideal for South Coast cruising and channel hoping in my view.
 
roblpm said:
Pros: More daylight. Can't think of anything else.
Cons: Ludicrous house prices, traffic jams, high marina berth costs, sailing congestion!

Why??

And where is your boat advertised so we can have a nose!
Click to expand...
roblpm said:
My Regina is advertised on YBW as below but only pops up if you search for Regina.

Regina 38 (Ad Ref: AD-009-EVO) on YBW Boats for Sale

View attachment 48626
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Difficult one requiring quality with lifting keel and then dismissing the Southerly - the 110 is not a bad looking boat - I wouldn't put the Jen/Ben in the quality camp but some might.

You may wish to look at American and other French boats as many have centreboards although not many are over in the UK let alone for sale.
 
Seajet said:
Unlike Tranona, I have tried both options.
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There you go - talking rubbish again. How do you know what experience I have, but just to make it clear I kept my boat on a drying mooring for 10 years.

The reality is that there are thousands of non lifting keel 30-35' boats on on deep water moorings and in marinas on the south coast and owners seem pretty happy with the arrangement.

However if you have a little, low value boat and can't afford anything different drying moorings have their advantages - which is why I used one until I was in a position to have something different.
 
Tranona said:
Think your short list is going to be very short. Apart from the Parkers most will be French - various Beneteaus, Jeanneaus and Feelings plus the rare Ovni 345.

Unless you really can't afford a deep water mooring or marina berth or are really keen on spending time in the upper tidal reaches, there is little real advantage in a lift keel boat on the South Coast.
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I agree with the first sentence but not the second. Much of the french coast that you would day sail to from the uk is shallow with drying small harbours or bars.

Think twice about the French lift keelers. A French Beneteau salesman once told me that their lift keels were intended for shallow draft sailing not for drying out on a drying mooring . Not only that but most of them have very laborious ways of raising the keel which does make them impractical for regular sailing from drying moorings - I've heard tell of 100 winch turns to raise the keel.

My recommendation would be a bilge keeler or a multi. I have had both in my time and the late production bilge keelers l;ike moody336 or hunter 30 sail almost as well as cruising type fin keelers ie your malo
 
Tranona said:
...if you have a little, low value boat and can't afford anything different drying moorings have their advantages - which is why I used one until I was in a position to have something different.
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No need to be uppish, Mr T. Your size of boat is rarely seen with twin or lifting keels...more's the pity. I'm sure you'd have more fun more often, if your draft wasn't restrictive.

All my big-boat sailing has been fantasy in recent years...but even dreaming, when I could have anything, I never wish myself aboard a boat that couldn't dry-out upright.

"Most people seem pretty happy with the arrangement"...of berthing in noisy marinas (at jaw-dropping expense)? Surely they're far from happy, but obliged to put up with it?

Most of the south coast's prettiest, most unspoilt tidal harbours and rivers are terribly short of deep-water mooring space - so bilge/lifting keelers are by far the most convenient style, unless one is resigned to paying swingeing bills for anodyne, carpark-style berthing and limited access to the nicest inshore spots.

Perhaps it's worth the OP deciding where exactly he'd like to keep his next boat, before he decides what he wants it to be.
 
There is very little choice in the 30-35 ft range for lifting keels. I am assuming the OP is looking for something either new or recent secondhand, not an old boat. I know the OP has a dislike of Southerly, but his only real quality lift keel boat in that size range is the Southerly 32. This is a relatively modern design by Stephen Jones and is certainly a heavier displacement at 7½ tons, also no slouch under sail either. http://www.southerly.com/yachts/southerly/32/dimensions.html It certainly looks a lot more modern than the orginal Southerlys and should certainly fit the bill.

The larger 35RS could also be a possible choice and designed by Rob Humphreys.http://www.southerly.com/yachts/archive/35rs/dimensions.html Surprisingly this is lighter than the 32 at 7 tons.

I fear the suggestion of a Fulmar twin keel is not what the OP is looking for, but Westerly did build 6 with lifting keels out of a keel stub.

An even older suggestion is the Trapper 700, a 35ft lift keel yacht.

Certainly agree the Parker 31 would be a good sailing choice, but would lack the accomodation of the Southerly 32.
 
Tranona said:
There you go - talking rubbish again. How do you know what experience I have, but just to make it clear I kept my boat on a drying mooring for 10 years.

The reality is that there are thousands of non lifting keel 30-35' boats on on deep water moorings and in marinas on the south coast and owners seem pretty happy with the arrangement.

However if you have a little, low value boat and can't afford anything different drying moorings have their advantages - which is why I used one until I was in a position to have something different.
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' There you go, talking rubbish again '; I think that's my line when you decry lift keelers, I remember you said the same about outboard wells as you had no real experience with them either.

You might do well to actually read what I said before jumping in with both feet, I am ' in a position ' to be in a marina, and not all small boats ( when I started sailing 20' was considered large ) are cheap, unless you have titanium and other mines handy; I sold my 30' fin keeler for my 22 through preference as a sailor, apparently a difficult concept for you to grasp.

Meanwhile I hope the OP finds my recollections useful, they are genuine without any malice or snobbery.
 
Malo37 said:
I am considering moving back to the South of England after many years based in Scotland. Consequently my beautiful Regina is for sale and I hope to replace her with a smaller lifting keel boat in order to minimise cost and maximise berthing options on the South coast.
I'm looking for a quality boat of medium displacement, probably 30 to 35 ft but will consider smaller, and with a lifting keel. Better looking than a Southerly, good quality and comfort more important that outright sailing performance, and easily sailed singlehanded. (although my wife will normally be on board !!). Any ideas appreciated.
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Why limit yourself to a lifting keel? A bilge-keeler can be kept in a tidal river at reasonable cost. Westerly or Moody between 30 and 35 feet are ideal cruising boats with adequate performance and should suit with plenty on the market. I have kept my bilge keel Moody 346 on the Exe for 10 years.
 
I had a Westerly Konsort bilge keeler many years ago (bought new in 1985 for £28k). Great boat and did a trip to Norway and circumnavigated Scotland etc. But thinking back I don't know how I managed with no heating, no hot water even, no shower and only a compass and clockwork echo sounder. Must have been tougher in those days.
I think there may be some interesting Dutch lifting keel boats.
 
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