The very worst boats

[ff_nick]

Reading this thread:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=230351

this one:

http://www.ybw.com/forums/showthread.php?t=229037

and countless others like it, together with numerous magazine articles, it occurs to me that you can always find some enthusiast prepared to swear that production boat X is jolly good, very capable, seaworthy and, my favorite, faster than average.

Ignoring the absurdity of the latter, which boats do the esteemed forumites think are really cr*p then? And why? Post them here please, I think we should be told

Your starter for ten: Seadog 30

Runs and hides

 

[ff_nick]

Oh, and anything with water ballast and an outboard

 

[Sandyman]

Ignoring the absurdity of the latter, which boats do the esteemed forumites think are really cr*p then?

Anything made out of GRP.

 

[Romeo]

The Swift 18 in our harbour was either a hopeless boat, or badly sailed over a number of years.

However, the truly bad boat is the one that tries to combine the great points about two very different boats, say a fast motor boat and a small yacht. Hmmm, wonder what boats might fall into the category.

 

[Twister_Ken]

I suspect the really bad ones don't sell more than a handful, so most of us just don't get to hear about them.

 

[V1701]

Right here we go then...

I think Westerly's, well the old ones anyway, look really cr*p...

 

[V1701]

I suspect the really bad ones don't sell more than a handful, so most of us just don't get to hear about them.

They'd be the boats with a "cult" following maybe?

 

[30boat]

Right here we go then...

I think Westerly's, well the old ones anyway, look really ****...

Have to agree.The early ones are scary ugly.I own a Fulmar and love her to bits but nobody in their right mind can say she's pretty!

 

[Woodlouse]

For a bad boat, with an honest judgement. The Westerly Ocean 33'. I did my yachtmaster aboard one. The rule of thumb was force 3, 3 reefs. Truly a shocking sailor. It had a fully battened main as well. It didn't improve the sailing characteristics at all, but it made it impossible to depower the main. All in all it was dreadful. The fact that the engine packed in due to weed in the head exchanger was just the final nail in the coffin.

 

[Coaster]

For a bad boat, with an honest judgement. The Westerly Ocean 33'. I did my yachtmaster aboard one. The rule of thumb was force 3, 3 reefs. Truly a shocking sailor...

I expect that the person you refer to is "a shocking sailor". However I simply don't believe your claim that the boat is a shocking sailer,or that it needs 3 reefs in a force 3.

Nice attempt at a troll though...


P.S. - for more effective trolling in future "sailor" = a person that sails and "sailer" = a thing that sails e.g. a boat.

 

[Kelpie]

For a bad boat, with an honest judgement. The Westerly Ocean 33'. I did my yachtmaster aboard one. The rule of thumb was force 3, 3 reefs. Truly a shocking sailor. It had a fully battened main as well. It didn't improve the sailing characteristics at all, but it made it impossible to depower the main. All in all it was dreadful. The fact that the engine packed in due to weed in the head exchanger was just the final nail in the coffin.

ST did a review of one which had me drooling.

 

[FullCircle]

Given that the famous Kenneth Grahame quotation:

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.


and that one should never criticise another fellows mistress, I would say that I don't care what boat I am messing about in

Think of all the little project boats, most of which will never touch water again, which people are pottering over year after year. They may not be attractive to you, but are the gleam in the eye of the ower.

I can only offer those boats which are actually dangerous, and have been proved as such.

In my recent memory, that leaves the Bez 2, which capsized and sank in quite benign conditions, and was withdrawn from the market.


Can someone send me their horribly ugly, non sailing, yucky to look at Galion 22 for about a tenner please?

 

[Sans Bateau]

Such wise words Mr FC, wise words.

 

[Twister_Ken]

Well, I'd hesitate to call it a boat, but I once spent a day trying to sail something called a Clovelly Picarooner. Thank heavens it had a small outboard, or I'd still be trying to beat back to the dock.

In this picture, it's headed straight at the camera!

 

[LONG_KEELER]

Given that the famous Kenneth Grahame quotation:

There is nothing - absolutely nothing - half so much worth doing as simply messing about in boats.


and that one should never criticise another fellows mistress, I would say that I don't care what boat I am messing about in

Think of all the little project boats, most of which will never touch water again, which people are pottering over year after year. They may not be attractive to you, but are the gleam in the eye of the ower.

I can only offer those boats which are actually dangerous, and have been proved as such.

In my recent memory, that leaves the Bez 2, which capsized and sank in quite benign conditions, and was withdrawn from the market.


Can someone send me their horribly ugly, non sailing, yucky to look at Galion 22 for about a tenner please?

Wise words indeed...............

I suspect that no one starts out to make a bad boat.

Thanks god there are people still willing to put their arse on the line and give it a go.

 

[Kelpie]

Has nobody mentioned the 'M' word yet?

On another note, I see why the OP is asking this question. Every description or review of a boat tends to praise its performance. The Observer's book of Small Craft claims that the Centaur has 'racing potential'. I think it would be much more useful if such sources just quoted the PY number, at least that's fairly objective.

 

[Twister_Ken]

You certainly can race Centaurs.

Against other Centaurs.

Or Clovelly Picarooners.

 

[FullCircle]

I think it would be much more useful if such sources just quoted the PY number, at least that's fairly objective.

Not really, as the PY takes no account of the carbon rig, sails, modified keels, rudders, removal of interior, and other weight and go faster money spent on the boat. Its just an average, and most often not on a big database of class results and ability.

If the PY data from a particular boat is from club racing in Mudd Marshes by a crew of old buffers using ancient tan sails and a Corinthian attitude to competitiveness, then the PY will not reflect the boats potential.
On the obverse of the coin is the super zealot who has got the PY to such a level by a cost of billions that no other class boat in the world can match its performance.

 

[flaming]

The Observer's book of Small Craft claims that the Centaur has 'racing potential'. I think it would be much more useful if such sources just quoted the PY number, at least that's fairly objective.

Better yet an IRC number, as that actually is objective...

Surely though, every boat must not be judged so much against other boats, but against its design criteria.
Hence a cruising boat that is nasty to live on, or is uncomfortable and difficult for a couple to manage might be considered "bad", and a race boat that is incapable of winning races may also be considered bad.

I would suggest that there are actually relatively few of the former in production today, but the supply of the latter does not seem to have dried up as completely!

 

[magic-martinh]

What was it? very ugly small centre cockpit yacht with short dolphin like grp snout up front and possibly even Ketch rigged??