Saltram Saga 36

[Solwaycruiser]

Anyone any information on this boat. Fibreglass hull but epoxy sheathed marine ply deck, would this have any problems to look out for? I know it,s a long keeled double-ender and would expect it to be excellent long distance offshore but are they a bit slow and cumbersome for coastal sailing? Would appreciate views from anyone who has sailed one. Also it was in the second hand boat review in YM recently with a guide price of approx. £45K any ideas on this?

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[jamesjermain]

Epoxy sheethed decks can lead to problems at some point but it depends on the quality of the workmanship at the outset whether this will be sooner than with GRP decks, or later.

The Saga 36 is an excellent long disance cruiser and, as you suggest, is slow but stable with an excellent motion. Coasting will be no problem except that marina mooring might be more difficult as control astern is limited. You will also have to accept that a lot of modern bubble-boats will sail past you as if you were a half tide rock.

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[longkeel]

I owned one of these yachts for over 10 years and sailed many miles single or short handed. They are superb cruising boats, with a steady and predictable motion at sea. They are actually quite fast particularly on a reach, but will not point as well as a fin and skeg type. In part they make up for this by being stiff, well able to hold on to working sail in F5 without heeling more than 20 deg. In light airs they are surprisingly good, in common with many heavy displacement yachts, as these types usually have better wetted surface/sail area ratios than modern flat bottomed boats.

Try not to go into marinas!! Or at least make sure you go for an end berth!

I think they were well built and very strong. I had no real problems but you need to check that the sealant round deck fittings is intact - otherwise the plywood deck can quickly get saturated. (The correct way to install deck fittings with a sheathed deck is to drill the fixing holes oversize and fill with epoxy, then re-drill. Mine was not built to this standard, relying on sikaflex). There is however no problem with the actual hull/deck joint which is through bolted on to a glass shelf and is both watertight and very strong. The hull is supposed to be laid up with isopthalic resin.

My 1988 one sold for quite a bit more than £45K in 2002 - obviously much depends on condition and inventory. I think I can truthfully say that her new owners (ex Dehler 34) are well pleased with her (including performance!).

You may notice I have a slight bias in favour of this type.

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