Views on small bilge keelers requested

Slow_boat

Slow_boat

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Well, we've just had a fantastic few days around the East Coast on the Vivacity 20 I spent the last year re fitting. (steak in the Green Man, Bradwell particularly reccomended)

The trouble is, the management in the shape of wife and daughter have announced that the boat isn't big enough for a 2 week cruise, so a bigger is to be sought.

We need; standing headroom, seperate cabin for teenage daughter, seperate heads compartment, at least one reasonable double berth, bilge or swing keels for drying mooring and reasonably 'stiff'. 24 foot loa maximum for the mooring.

I've been on the web and Vivacity 24, Snapdragon 24, and Seamaster 23 seem to fit the bill and are affordable (maximum £4,500 but hopefully less)

Any comments on those boats or other suggestions?

Anyone want to buy a good Vivacity 20?
 
If you could live with a woodenboat then an Eventide could suit you.Not fast but strong and seaworthy with loads of room for the money.

Any of the ones you mentioned would give you more space than you have now with similar sailing performance.

A Tomahawk 25 would be ideal but probably not available in the budget.
 
[ QUOTE ]
The trouble is, the management in the shape of wife and daughter have announced that the boat isn't big enough for a 2 week cruise, so a bigger is to be sought.

[/ QUOTE ]

Oh dear, too late now you are now an addict!

The Seamaster 23 will not have standing headroom I think, the Vivacity and Snapdragon will. We had friends with Snapdragon 24 many years back and remember it was very roomy and quite tidy below with interior mouldings, there are a couple of nice looking ones in Poole so they are still around. Sailing performance is not brilliant but no worse than most similar sized bilge keelers, the more modern ones will be outside of your budget. The Westerly Pageant would be another possible but maybe too expensive, or there was an early Westerly 25 if it would squeeze on your mooring. We had a Trident 24 which is good, not quite standing headroom for a 6 footer but a better sailer than the others and does have the other features you list, available with fin, bilge (centre + 2 plates) or centreboard.
 
A client-broker of mine was waxing lyrical about the accomidation on a V24 when I was discussing it with him last week, although you'll do well to get standing headroom in anything of the required length. In terms of accomidation, the Vivacity 650 has great accomidation for the length, including the forepeak and seperate heads which you have already mentioned..

...and yeah, I might be interested in your V20...
 
Pity you cant squeeze 25 foot....
Westerly 25

but...
Snappy 24

The quart into a pint pot starts to compromise the sailing performance of course, but you cant have everything. Pity you cant stretch to a Leisure 23SL, they really fit your bill.
 
Just the boat for you but a bit expensive, I had one for 16 years.

1515845_1_thumb.jpg
22ft Swin Ranger
at www.clarkeandcarter.co.uk
 
I'll second the Snapdragon. The 24 has a very useful lazarette and a good dinette arrangement, which I prefer to the later layout. SWMBO can stand up, but my posture suffers noticeably after a few days on board! (I'm 5'11")

Mine goes well off the wind, but is best treated as a motorsailor if wind and tide conspire against you!

Good hunting
 
I did find (and then lost) a website on which an American designer proved that bilge keelers were better on a broad reach than a fin keel,(a search on Bilge Keel on YBW may find it as I posted the article). My own bilge keeler did echo that as it made prodigious leeway when close hauled and stopped dead in the water on a run, but was very fleet on a broad reach.
I prefer a fin, but then again we don't have tides.
 
Leisure23SL ideal for what you want. I have one although she's laid up in Mersea at the moment and I may have to sell her one day sadly. Four of us went on cruises up to 10-12 days in her no probs, lovely boat, very solid. I'm 6ft 1in and only have to stoop a bit down below, about 5ft10in headroom. Beds nice and long, main dinette 7ft long and about 4 wide, V double up for'ard and a long quarterberth. Loo, galley, inboard diesel, all mod cons. I liked sailing her, hung on to a Sadler 26 all the way up the Orwell once but they were ex-Enterprise sailors and we learnt on GP14's which is obviously worth at least 3ft of waterline length /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif Great owners association. You may be able to get an older (78-80) L23 rather than SL perhaps with outboard for your price or just a tiny bit more. Check www.leisureowners.org.

East Coast great place to sail, loved hopping over to Bradwell Friday night, only 40 minutes and a world away from work.

Good luck

Neil
 
Leisure 23...just a long shot.

We overwinter at Flag Wharf Boat Yard at the very top end of Brightlingsea Creek. Sitting looking VERY forlorne in the yard is a Leisure 23. She has been sitting in the yard deteriorating for about the past 7 years. apparently the owner is still paying his yard fees, but has no interest in doing anything to the boat. We were placed alongside her last season, and other than a layer of grime and gunge on the topsides and decks, and most of the woodwork rotted, she could I would think be bought back to shape with a bit of elbow grease and TLC. It might be worth speaking to the yard manager to get a contact number for the owner. As she stands, I doubt that she would fetch more than £2500, but with a bit of work would be worth a hell of a lot more.

If you want the yard managers number, PM me.
 
Yes, leisure 23SL sounds perfect but out of my price range.

Leisure 23 is now on the list of possibles, though.

I'm looking for something that is a goer now, rather than a restoration. I don't want to miss another season doing up a bargain and we've got a fortnight off to take the new boat away end July/begining of August, so need to be sorted by then.

Thanks for all help and opinions
 
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