The very worst boats

[Twister_Ken]

Not, surely, the exceedingly beautiful Buckler 24 Ketch.

The epitome of yacht design:

 

[Twister_Ken]

We could add the Island Packet SP Cruiser.

 

[magic-martinh]

That's it!! Buckler 24 ketch!

 

[Keen_Ed]

Not, surely, the exceedingly beautiful Buckler 24 Ketch.
]

I would actually, seriously, like to know what the designer was thinking when he drew that. What was he trying to achieve? What was his brief?

 

[Sans Bateau]

I would actually, seriously, like to know what the designer was thinking when he drew that. What was he trying to achieve? What was his brief?

You may well find it is a design from the late 60's or early 70's. You only have to look around at buildings that were designed at the same time to get confirmation that was the 'swinging 60's' when all the designers were on drugs!

 

[Twister_Ken]

Brief:

I'd like a small boat that I can't fall out of, with a massive stern cabin and sails I can trim with one hand. Most importantly, it shouldn't look like a fecking Bavaria.

 

[Searush]

I would actually, seriously, like to know what the designer was thinking when he drew that. What was he trying to achieve? What was his brief?

Buckler 24 design brief?
My guess is that he had a fairly high emphasis on accomodation, and perhaps the "big boat" feel of a centre cockpit for "safety", plus the Ketch rig mimics big boat design.

So it would be sold on "a lot of boat for the money" with an easy handle rig & a safe dry cockpit, plus loads of room in two "private" cabins for two couples to use.


It doesn't matter what a boat looks like or what the design is for, there are always some aspects that will appeal to someone. I mean, would you consider an open dinghy like a Wayfarer as a good boat for crossing the North Sea?

Frank & Margaret Dye did. It might not have been their first choice if money was no object, but it was what they had & it did the job very well because they are such good sailors.

 

[maxcampbell]

Which just goes to show there's no such thing as a bad boat, only inappropriate sailors.

 

[Keen_Ed]

Met Bill Brockbank a couple of times - he's now a team racing umpire. He sailed to the Faeroes with Frank.

http://www.supplychaintools.co.uk/personal.php

 

[xxyyzz]

Frank & Margaret Dye did. It might not have been their first choice if money was no object, but it was what they had & it did the job very well because they are such good sailors.

Good or just willing to **** in a bucket for two weeks?

 

[dylanwinter]

Mirror Offshore

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.

My boat combines two very different boats - a slow mobo and a slow yacht.

The Slug has been okay so far and has taken quite a bashing over the past two years - but when it comes to raw ugliness I think she is hard to beat.

Actuallly hard to beat applies to her sailing abilities as well - unless beating with the tide.

thank goodness the only time I ever have to look at her is when rowing away at the end of a sail.

I find leaving the boat after the sun has set helps.

As I was rowing away yesterday I noticed that the shear line has a kink in the middle.

That is really going to bug me for the next few years.

But as a starter boat or the yachting equivalent of a clunker.... so far so good.

Dylan

 

[Wunja]

You may well find it is a design from the late 60's or early 70's. You only have to look around at buildings that were designed at the same time to get confirmation that was the 'swinging 60's' when all the designers were on drugs!

That would explain the material choice for my nomination.

I recall having a ride on a dinghy, possibly called a Puffin, it looked like any other rowing boat that could have a mast stepped in it. What made it unique, was the designer's decision to make it entirely out of expanded polystyrene, AKA ceiling tiles.

Because it was so buoyant it had no windward capability at all. The occasion I used it in West Wales, an off shore wind meant we nearly ended up in Ireland!

 

[Salty John]

It seems that no matter how ugly and absurd you make a boat there will always be someone who likes it.

The Buccaneer of a few years back was ugly as sin; those sailing/speedboat hybrids - what's that all about? And those power boats that look like a cross between the inside of a fridge and a running shoe; Yuch!

But someone buys them or they wouldn't be out there.

 

[Searush]

Poor sailing qualities are often down to the sailor - but not always. I rescued a guy on Lake Bala once in a Gremlin dinghy. He couldn't beat back because he had forgotten to put the daggerboard down. I managed to persuade him that it would help, but he still couldn't sail it! I towed him back with my Heron Dinghy, but it took a while, he was a damn big bloke in a small dinghy & the drag was mind-boggling.

BTW, Dylan is right about the Mirror Offshore, they are not a pretty boat - but they ARE damn good at what they were designed for. And Dylan is demonstarting that beautifully with his "Keep Turning Left" series on UTube. I just wish I had a better "Broadband" link so I could watch videos.

Its just Horses for Courses. Decide what you want to do & buy a boat that will do it. But then don't necesarily expect it to be that good at doing other stuff. If it looks pretty in your eyes, so much the better, but it may not look so good in the eyes of others.

 

[Woodlouse]

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.

Maybe it was me. Never had the same problems in any other boats though. Having the boat completely reefed down, and yet still rounding up uncontrollably in 20 knots of wind though is not a reassuring sign of a good sailing boat. When the wind got to 25 knots all we could do was drop the main and run downwind under the genoa. Luckily it was the right direction.

Don't see how I was trolling either. The OP asks for peoples opinions on the worst boats and I gave mine.

 

[30boat]

Maybe it was me. Never had the same problems in any other boats though. Having the boat completely reefed down, and yet still rounding up uncontrollably in 20 knots of wind though is not a reassuring sign of a good sailing boat. When the wind got to 25 knots all we could do was drop the main and run downwind under the genoa. Luckily it was the right direction.

Don't see how I was trolling either. The OP asks for peoples opinions on the worst boats and I gave mine.

I believe you ,of course,but I only read good things of this model before.Didn't somebody even make a very fast carbon fiber version?

 

[aquaplane]

I have never liked the look of the Sailfish, Newbridge Navigator, that Buckler 24 or the Warrior 35.

All boats are a compromise and usually there is someone to love any boat. For now I'm happy with the compromise I have settled on.

I was just as happy with the Jaguar 25 despite it being a bit shy in the head room department.

At the time I was delighted with the First 18, it would go all over, it sailed well, it was a bit small but great fun.

 

[Coaster]

Maybe it was me. Never had the same problems in any other boats though. Having the boat completely reefed down, and yet still rounding up uncontrollably in 20 knots of wind though is not a reassuring sign of a good sailing boat. When the wind got to 25 knots all we could do was drop the main and run downwind under the genoa. Luckily it was the right direction.

Don't see how I was trolling either. The OP asks for peoples opinions on the worst boats and I gave mine.

I've never been on a Westerly Ocean 33 but I have read this review which, whilst obviously not impartial, is a marked contrast with your experience. Presumably there must have been someting seriously wrong with the boat you were on.

I wonder if any other forum members familiar with the Ocean 33 can comment?

 

[Alfie168]

Oh, and anything with water ballast and an outboard

Which has you excluding the outstanding Dehler 22 and 25...Doh

As a D22 owner I'm not biased.

My personal votes goes to the Bez, a cheap Polish product with no righting stability to speak of.

Tim

 

[kesh]

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

Yeah, after making one of the threads you mention I thought everyone was going to praise their own particular boat. But luckily a few names seem to pop up again and again, you know the ones, so I could glean something useful.

This thread hasn't generated the sort of controversy I would have hoped though.