Vagabond 42

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Number7

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Anyone had experience with a Vagabond 42? They look like a nice blue water cruiser but i have never sailed one and would like to aks the board if anyone has had any experience sailing these long distance, i.e.

  • Maintenance Costs
  • Speed
  • General things to look out for
  • Recommendations

Planning on using it around the Caribean for an extended period ( 2-3 years).. living on board etc.

Cheers
 
I don't know a huge amount about them, but saw one in the Caribbean last year. Lots of space and look like little ships. Not the fastest cruising boat and a bit of a plodder. Older one likely to need maintenance in the woodwork area.
 
Welcome

No direct experience of sailing one, but if you like the style a good example. Built in Taiwan so dripping in teak. Heavy so needs a lot to get her going. Limited accommodation given length compared with more modern designs. Potentially high maintenace costs as lots of equipment, probably now getting old and a laid teak deck - always a potential problem on older boats.

This sort of design has fallen out of fashion recently and there are probably better designs for swanning around the Caribbean!
 
Number7 said:
Anyone had experience with a Vagabond 42?
  • Maintenance Costs
  • Speed
  • General things to look out for
  • Recommendations

Planning on using it around the Caribean for an extended period ( 2-3 years).. living on board
Click to expand...

We have a Young Sun 43 we lived aboard for 2 years incl. about 15k ocean miles. Similar vintage and construction although canoe stern. Echo other posters comments about space / speed, you would certainly get more of both from other designs. People with Vagabonds generally love them and they can be very good value for money. If I'd found a
good Vagabond 47 in Europe for a sensible price I'd have bought it.

We love our boat though - safe as houses in any weather and comfortable, oh so comfortable at sea.

These designs are getting old so maintenance is certainly an issue. We upgraded quite heavily before leaving (electronics, batteries, rig upgrades) but benefited from the fact she has been a live-aboard all her life so has many of the long-term systems.

If you are willing to do lots yourself, they are a good buy, if you call in the pros for most stuff, it's a money pit. Being Taiwanese, the woodwork is outstanding and the engineering merely OK. They compensated by oversizing everything but layouts, wiring runs, piping etc can be intriguing at best.

One of the best things - the boat makes friends. She's so different from the AWB that everyone wants to say hello with a smile. That really counts in live-aboard life.

PM me or check our website for lots more thoughts.

That Vagabond 42 for sale in Baltimore looks pretty good though! Offer him $80k and spend the rest on electronics and a through service of the engine..
 
shamrock said:
We have a Young Sun 43 we lived aboard for 2 years incl. about 15k ocean miles. Similar vintage and construction although canoe stern. Echo other posters comments about space / speed, you would certainly get more of both from other designs. People with Vagabonds generally love them and they can be very good value for money. If I'd found a
good Vagabond 47 in Europe for a sensible price I'd have bought it.

We love our boat though - safe as houses in any weather and comfortable, oh so comfortable at sea.

These designs are getting old so maintenance is certainly an issue. We upgraded quite heavily before leaving (electronics, batteries, rig upgrades) but benefited from the fact she has been a live-aboard all her life so has many of the long-term systems.

If you are willing to do lots yourself, they are a good buy, if you call in the pros for most stuff, it's a money pit. Being Taiwanese, the woodwork is outstanding and the engineering merely OK. They compensated by oversizing everything but layouts, wiring runs, piping etc can be intriguing at best.

One of the best things - the boat makes friends. She's so different from the AWB that everyone wants to say hello with a smile. That really counts in live-aboard life.

PM me or check our website for lots more thoughts.

That Vagabond 42 for sale in Baltimore looks pretty good though! Offer him $80k and spend the rest on electronics and a through service of the engine..
Click to expand...

Many thanks for the feedback and your view on things, yes i like the design, looks comfortable and yes they do turn heads,...id need a Pirate hat me thinks... the comments on engineering are what i am after, i really dont want to spend an arm and a leg on maintenance and upgrading old ratty systems and... yes the Baltimore was the one i was initially looking at.


@ Tranona .." Better designs for swanning around the Caribbean" let me know what you would term a better design..im really after a solid pilothouse.. good speed, cheap maintenance, seaworthiness, good engineering ....well the whole wish list really...be interested in what other viewers with long terms at sea would buy if they knew what they knew now ;)
 
to give you a picture on engineering...

in 2 years live aboard our 'unexpected' maint. costs amounted to one new alternator ($350), reseating of the injector valves ($150) and replacing a halyard winch ($150 used). Everything else was small stuff or planned e.g. antifoul, anodes etc. Varnish isn't cheap either. But given that I'd expected 5% of purchase price per year as breakdown repair we were delighted.

Lucky, but we like to think that we made our own luck by careful prep and not having complex systems (no genset, ac or watermaker). The Ford Lehman has 12,000 hours on it so that Baltimore boat with 1500 has a lot more to go despite the scruffy appearance of the block.

That boat looks like a nicely kept, prof painted and probably maintained by the yard. I suspect hard times have bitten and he can't afford the marina fees anymore. With a saturated market it's costing him 15k to moor, maintain and insure each year. Low ball offers are the only offers. There's a lot of it about on this side of the world. And recovery is a long way off.
 
Number7 said:
Many thanks for the feedback and your view on things, yes i like the design, looks comfortable and yes they do turn heads,...id need a Pirate hat me thinks... the comments on engineering are what i am after, i really dont want to spend an arm and a leg on maintenance and upgrading old ratty systems and... yes the Baltimore was the one i was initially looking at.


@ Tranona .." Better designs for swanning around the Caribbean" let me know what you would term a better design..im really after a solid pilothouse.. good speed, cheap maintenance, seaworthiness, good engineering ....well the whole wish list really...be interested in what other viewers with long terms at sea would buy if they knew what they knew now ;)
Click to expand...

I think you will find that the trend is towards modern lighter, more spacious designs, including catamarans. It is the same in the Med where I have my boat. In warm climates you live outdoors most of the time so priorities are different - and to my mind a pastiche of country cottage and a design more at home in rough cold northern waters seems to be a bit out of place.

I know all the arguments about better seakeeping etc and the benefits of weight and substance, but people who have the kind of money required to buy a boat like that new, mostly don't - they buy very different kinds of boats to do exactly what you want to do. They always seem very satisfied with their purchases.

The only real advantage that I see is low initial purchase price, which in itself tells you a lot. It reflects the low demand and particularly potentially the high maintenance costs. To my mind these are boats to look at and be thankful that somebody else owns. Little bit like old cars really. Functionally a modern boat like my Bavaria will do everything you want - you just can't wear a pirates hat, but you are spared the constant stream of people asking how you manage to keep your boat going! And you can waste your spare cash making it better rather than stopping it from falling apart.

So, apart from the Pilot House bit an ex charter 38-40 footer from Beneteau, Jeanneau or Bavaria will suit you fine. Wont get one for $80, but wont be a lot more. Any boat (like mine) that can stand up to several years of chartering and still be in good working order sems to meet all your criteria.
 
I had a boat more or less the same size and weight wth bowsprit,as mentioned always drawas attention but a pain to fiddle about in harbour,heavy gear, etc and great in straight line sailing but heavy to bring back on course.If I was ever to own a larger boat it would be light displacement.Probably the whole heavy diplacement working boat look alike s stems from that was all there was for yachtmen without means. Undoubtable great seaboats but unnessarily heavy.....unless youre young and fit!
 
Number7 said:
..be interested in what other viewers with long terms at sea would buy if they knew what they knew now ;)
Click to expand...

Have a look at the Jeanneau 43 Deck Saloon on my site. Used as a Family cruiser from Holland to the Caribbean and up the east coast of the USA.The owners were extremely pleased with it.
 
I feel that in the years to come these older, beautiful, classic and traditional examples will be in very high demand as they are so unique, and so few. The market will probably be flooded by the light displacement boats so popular these days.

A Vagabond 42 would be my boat of choice should I be able to afford one and wished to move up from our 35' William Atkin cutter. The visual appeal is as important as the sailing quality to me. Check out the motion comfort numbers too. These heavy boats go to weather fairly well too and do it without all of the pounding. I am too old to be in a hurry and like a hull which will hold a course, without an autopilot, or vane, while I go below to find a cold one. he
 
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I sailed one last year - fell in love with it - always felt safe, very comfortable, very attractive, bags of room and stowage. Ideal for long distance live aboard cruising

It was blowing a 5-6 and she was plodding along at 10 -11 knots on a reach.

Most were fitted with Ford Lehman 85hp i believe which unless extremely lucky maybe coming to the end of their natural use

Having done some research the areas to look out for are poor electrics, poor plumbing, masts (wooden), rot in the bow sprit. leaking decks, corroded water and fuel tanks, poor quality S/S fittings, osmosis, hardware (winches etc.) manufacturers for availability of spares etc. The more expensive ones will have bills to show all the potential issues have been dealt with.

There's no doubt they are beautiful but I'd imagine the maintenance costs are high and you'd need to be prepared to spend lots of time looking after all that lovely wood etc.

If you find a good one and they are out there - Go for it ! I'd be envious !
 
Not called a leaky teaky without good reason. Good looking boat inside and out but most if not all came with teak decks that were not well done and some came with wooden masts.

I would only consider one if the decks had been redone preferably in resin and with Ali masts and booms.

Also have a very close look at all the interior wood as the leaking decks often leads to rotten interiors. The tanks may be mild steel and ready for replacement too.

This design was on my short list when I was looking for a Caribbean liveaboard.

There is a cheapie in Bradenton where they are asking 30 something and I am pretty sure would take less if you fancy a project.
 
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