Sailing with a pilothouse yacht.

[scruff]

I am not was not planning on replacing our current boat, but...

Browsing boats for sale and I stumbled across a Colvic Victor 40. This seems to have many attributes I was looking for in a next boat;

• Space on deck for tender
• big water tanks
• deck saloon with a view from sitting area
• somewhere dry to sail the boat from when weather turns really shitty
• Island double bed
• Usable year round on Scottish West coast, even if as a warm weekend "cottage" getaway in a marina.

This has caught me somewhat off guard to be honest in that I thought I'd need to spend nearer £100k if not more to get that stuff, not around £40k.

I presume they aren't going to be the fastest boats and likely get stuck in the light stuff. However, for what I'm after in the Hebrides and with aspirations of going North - Faroes, Norway, Lofoten (aspiration to sail into Arctic Circle) or perhaps even to the Azores - it looks eminently suitable. All be it with caveats around what quality the home fit out has been completed to, if it has been DIY'd that is.

So, firstly has anyone sailed a Victor 40 and do they sail well enough as you'd expect and comfortably eat up the miles? Are they balanced on the helm? How possible is it to sail from "inside"? - I can imagine adding an inner forestay with a self taking stay sail would help considerably.

Cheers

 

[LadyInBed]

The problems with internal sailing position are that you cant see the main to tweek it, you still have to go out to adjust sails, loss of feel in the wheel and the steering position takes up useful space.
Better IMO to ditch the internal wheel and have a remote control to a good autopilot.
The Atlanta, Countess and Victor are solidly built but not built for racing !?

 

[[2574]]

The problems with internal sailing position are that you cant see the main to tweek it, you still have to go out to adjust sails, loss of feel in the wheel and the steering position takes up useful space.
Better IMO to ditch the internal wheel and have a remote control to a good autopilot.
The Atlanta, Countess and Victor are solidly built but not built for racing !?

After sixteen years of Nauticat ownership I'd agree with most of that - though you can see the mainsail from the internal helm - hatches positioned directly above the helm and mirrored for the other side. We found that we never sailed from down below but if the weather was grotty and we were motoring then down below was pure luxury for sailing West Scotland.

 

[anoccasionalyachtsman]

I've delivered a Victor 50 on a coupe of 100+ mile trips - same hull with a 10ft infill. It sailed surprisingly well, but it was new and relatively empty of clobber. Centre cockpit though, so I can't help on the wheelhouse.

 

[Moodysailor]

We have a Moody Carbineer 42, pilot house ketch so very similar. I would tend to agree with the above that outside is for sailing, when inside you would be motor-sailing under main/mizzen or motoring. No ability to control the sails and lack of 'feel' for the weather means I find it difficult to sail from inside , and hate having the genoa out from down below.

It's a very nice smug feeling though when you are pottering along at 5/6 kts still in your T-shirt inside whilst everyone else is in full foul-weather gear though, feels almost wrong sometimes

 

[Laminar Flow]

I'll give my two bits on inside steering.
I have had a decksalon yacht(50') with an inside steering station and now we have a Colcic Watson (32) with a proper wheel house.

I sailed the decksalon some 45,000 miles; I used the inside steering twice. In the end I put a hard dodger & roof over the centre cockpit.

The Watson is steered from the wheelhouse, though we can mount a tiller in the cockpit. All sail handling, except for raising the staysail and main, is done from the cockpit. With the wheelhouse deck and the cockpit being on the same level, everything is reached in seconds. The sails can be seen from the inside helm via the hatch. Unlike a decksalon, the wheelhouse offers excellent all-round visibility. I would not have ever attempted to dock a boat from a decksalon; with the wheelhouse we do it all the time (obviously). We live in the wheelhouse, period. It offers comfort and shelter for the on and off-watch crew, we do not have to use foulies, other than for docking. At sea the autopilot steers, I play with the sails. We have upgraded her sailing abilities and we push her hard; she has not disappointed.

There is absolutely no comparison between a wheelhouse and a decksalon for comfort, visibility and practicality. IMHO, the wheelhouse wins every time. The wheelhouse, of course, has more windage. In view of the outstanding benefits it is quite easy to get over that.

I have not sailed a Victor, but it has a classic sailing hull and I should say that an appropriate performance can be expected.

 

[V1701]

I knew someone who had one & we were in a regatta with it where it came a long way behind everyone else but hey they got there and that was a fully loaded to the hilt full time liveaboard boat. The obvious advantages especially in colder climes make something like that well worth considering so if the engine is sound and you don't mind motorsailing a bit more or getting there more slowly why ever not?

 

[wully1]

I found it easy to sail the Eclipse 33 from inside. Balance the boat properly and all was well.

I dont get the “I need to feel the wind on my face” thing as once the boat was balanced there was very little input required - if I was thinking of going below to sail then I’d reduce sail first. (Usually..) From the inside helm you had a decent enough view of the main and the Genoa tell tales and leech. I had one set of TacTic wireless instruments that moved between inside and out and usually just set the onboard pilot then got the kettle on.