Unknown boat type - help needed

[Bernie Walsh]

Hi Guys,

My first post on this forum, please forgive me if it's in the wrong place.

I am a complete novice looking to buy a project boat and have been offered an abandoned boat at a local yard. I have been told it has been standing on it's trailer for something like the past two years and is looking sad and very shabby. It is of bilge keel configuration and fibreglass construction and by my best guess 22 - 26 feet in length. It has a tiller control and this was all I could see standing on a ladder from outside. I didn't want to risk stepping into the cockpit as all the wood work (bench tops looked rotten)

I want to make an offer but I want to know more first, if anyone can recognise this boat make or model please let me know.

 

[Sniper]

It looks like a Macwester 26 to me. They are not a popular boat and don't sail particularly well. If it is complete and has decent sails and a working engine it may be worth considering but it really won't be worth more than a few hundred pounds in that state and there are better buys out there

 

[Seajet]

Bernie,

sorry your welcome to the forums is not more positive. Sadly I agree with all the above; move on, there are lots of much better boats in need of TLC out there going for peanuts or even free.

It would also be useful for guidance if we could tell roughly which part of the country you are based please.

 

[daveyw]

Or a macwester 27. I have one. Not sure what the difference is between the 26 and the 27. A foot?!
Solidly built. Not fast. If it is in good nick with a decent engine it might be worth about £4000. If not, £2000 tops. I paid £8000 about 15 years ago so will take a considerable hit even though I have re engined, fitted heating, hot and cold pressurised water, roller head sail...,
...

 

[Tranona]

Definitely a Macwester 26. Leave it where it is so it is someone else's problem. As said, not the best of boats in the first place if you are interested in a sailing boat and not worth spending anything on it. Plenty of better boats for very little money available elsewhere. A project boat of that size will eat you out of house and home and never be worth anything. Better to buy a functioning boat if you want to go sailing.

 

[Hadenough]

Or - ask them how much they will pay you to take it away?

 

[Bernie Walsh]

Hi Guys,

I really appreciate all the advice, it's a shame that the boat is not a different model as all other parts of the deal seemed good. The yard owner was willing to offer me a great deal on hard standing for a year to allow for working time to prepare for cruising. So I am still looking for a boat that needs work that I can buy for little money in my area (South Glos/Glos) that would be suitable for a novice sailor who likes to spend weekends dreaming of the hotter parts of the world. I am open to suggestions of a good boat to search for or leads to a boat for sale that needs works worth carrying out.

 

[Tranona]

Hi Guys,

I really appreciate all the advice, it's a shame that the boat is not a different model as all other parts of the deal seemed good. The yard owner was willing to offer me a great deal on hard standing for a year to allow for working time to prepare for cruising. So I am still looking for a boat that needs work that I can buy for little money in my area (South Glos/Glos) that would be suitable for a novice sailor who likes to spend weekends dreaming of the hotter parts of the world. I am open to suggestions of a good boat to search for or leads to a boat for sale that needs works worth carrying out.

If you have no experience of boats or sailing then suggest you don't look at a project. The reason boats are in the state that you see there is because they are worthless, whatever you do to them. There are plenty of usable boats in the 20-26' or so range that can be bought ready to sail and suitable for a novice for less than £5k - and you won't get a similar size run down boat, particularly if it has a dodgy engine or poor sails up and running, up an running for that amount of money.

Where you are located is not the best place to look for boats because it is not a really popular (or easy) part of the world to sail. One of the best ways of finding what it is all about is to join a club where you are likely to find opportunities to crew on other members' boats. Also helpful to take a week's ;earn to sail course as you will learn the basics (even if it is on a bigger and posher boat) that will first give you an idea whether you like it or not and secondly useful skills to be a good crew member.

A year or two of that and you will have a much clearer idea of what sort of boat to look for rather than asking others to tell you what boat to buy.

 

[Wansworth]

Having sailed on Macwester 26 I can report that it is not scintillating sailing but given it does not sail to windward in all other aspects it’s a great little boat for ditch crawling keeping on a cheap drying mooring etc.Many people I have known find them quite adequate for their needs.Depends what you want

 

[Wansworth]

The important bit is if the engine works....especially with macwester 26

 

[Impaler]

Looks like a money pit to me. Take a look around Apollo Duck and you’ll be amazed at the variety of cheap decent boats on the market.

 

[jwilson]

Agreed definitely a Macwester 26 - the 27 has deeper keels. Quite solidly built but very old-fashioned, and not a very good performing boat to windward - look at the shallow keels. If it has a decent engine and you enjoy working on boats it might be OK but dont ever expect to sell it for much no matter how much work you put in. If engine U/S is effectively worthless.

 

[{151760}]

If you are really short of money, there are plenty of better boats that could have you sailing very quickly as others have said. If you enjoy the prospect of working on them, don't worry! Any boat you buy will have plenty of scope for improvement. They always do!
Some types to look for:
Achilles 24
Anderson 22
Hunter Sonata
Other Hunters
Sadler 25
Javelin 30
Leisure 23
There are many others.

 

[Wansworth]

The fact that it’s in a local yard and your on friendly terms with them counts for a lot. If your going to be getting fixer upper
Have a closer look and don’t forget the state of the engine

 

[Seajet]

Not worth countenancing even if they pay you handsomely - even with a superb engine it would put a novice off sailing for life - nb people commenting negatively about the Macwester are not saying so from a hot-shot racer point of view, I'm afraid you have homed in on a boat which was not well regarded by sailors even in her time.

Tranona made an excellent point in post #5, as you are new to sailing, don't buy a boat at all, find the nearest / least far club from you and ask around, there are always cruiser sailors looking for crew, usually for company rather than sailing skills.

This way you would learn a great deal about sailing and different boat designs pretty quickly, and have a lot of fun in the process; you may have to travel a bit to get to such clubs ( you don't need to be a member by the way ) but it is definitely the way to go.

I'm sure a lot of people here would be happy to take you for a spin, I would on my boat when she's re-launched in the spring but I'm sure you can find plenty of offers closer than Chichester Harbour !

 

[doug748]

I can't disagree much with anything that has been said.

However, high rollers are sometimes guilty of imagining you have as much cash as themselves. If you want a cheap boat a few quid could get you on the water, provided you are handy and don't mind getting them dirty.

Here is the Salford Wild Bunch with a Macwester 22:

Mind you the 22 is at the performance end of the Macwester fleet.

 

[Tranona]

I can't disagree much with anything that has been said.

However, high rollers are sometimes guilty of imagining you have as much cash as themselves. If you want a cheap boat a few quid could get you on the water, provided you are handy and don't mind getting them dirty.

Here is the Salford Wild Bunch with a Macwester 22:

Mind you the 22 is at the performance end of the Macwester fleet.

Think you have missed the point of most of the comments. No suggestion that he should spend large sums of money (although he probably would if he took this boat on). The point is that for a novice there are much better boats available that are up and running for small amounts of money. There is a big difference between a simple 22' boat and the 26' he is looking at - never mind the fact that the bigger boat is a bit of a dog.

Just trying to save him the heartache of taking on something that is unlikely to work out well.

 

[doug748]

"There is a big difference between a simple 22' boat and the 26' he is looking at"

Is there? I am sure you won't mind telling us what the big difference is.




With this sort of thing you do have to be very certain of your ground though, I hope the OP comes back soon to tell us more.

 

[Tranona]

"There is a big difference between a simple 22' boat and the 26' he is looking at"

Is there? I am sure you won't mind telling us what the big difference is.




With this sort of thing you do have to be very certain of your ground though, I hope the OP comes back soon to tell us more.

What sort of thing do I have to be certain about? You have exactly the same information as me, and nothing in my advice (or any others') is unreasonable based on what is available.

Guess you have never renovated either type of boat, but you might like to consider the difference in volume and range of gear that goes up according to the size of boat. Some simple differences. If the inboard is past it the 22 can use an outboard as the bracket in the video suggests. The mast of the 22 can be raised manually (even if those idiots on the video cocked it up) whereas the bigger boat will need a crane. Sail area is probably 50% greater, as will be the cost of replacements. Need I go on?

The consistent advice from a number of people is the same. Avoid this type of project, particularly as he is a novice, and if he does want to buy a boat spend the money on one that works.

Of course he does not have to take that advice, and one can see why he might find it attractive. Equally I can see why the yard owner is anxious to get a new owner responsible for it rather than having to dispose of it himself.

10 years ago it might have been a good deal to take on such a boat, particularly if experienced but things have changed somewhat.

 

[Seajet]

Indeed; the cost of everything like rigs increases exponentially, so say the standing rigging for my 22' might be £500, that for a 26' well over twice that; antifoul 3-4 tins instead of my one, the sails will be well over double the price of those for a 22' and so on.

The Rowan was indeed at the speedy end of the Macwester range, it could almost go places without leaving the arrival to the next generation born en route like a sub-lightspeed starship !

Have a look at the design and construction of the main hatch in the OP's photo for instance; does that look like any thought has gone into headwind resistance, let alone the force of green waves coming over ?

Combined with a heavy tubby hull and uninspired keels, it's a recipe for ' sailing ' downwind only, and now a true money pit.