I had a fin keel one once. Excellent well designed accomodation and a comfortable cockpit. Quality of build good.Only negative side is sailing ability - it's doesn't point high and is sluggish. But plus points certainly outweigh negative.
My advice is dont.
One of my sailing friends used to have one.
A bilge keel version. very roomy for its size, but it does not sail well to wind. needless to say he got rid quick. Others out there might think me being unkind however my philosophy is that you better know now before you part with your hard earned spony!s
Kind regards
Bluebeard
horses for courses. i have one, we love it. loads of room, very well built. it wont win any races but if you want to race buy a racing boat. excellent owners association and website.
Looks like you've you've got a bit of a mixed bag of opinions. The boat isn't to my taste but it might be ideal for your father. His best bet is to get a thorough look over one and see if it's what wants. Follow it up with a test sail to see if it's performance suits him.
We used to have one. We replaced it with a Westerly Konsort. The Westerly is much better build quality, much faster, much more comfortable, and much more expensive!
A couple of points to look out for is the saloon table height adjusting mechanism - the original was not really strong enough for the purpose.
The very comfortable rear double is not an ideal sea-berth. But very good in a marina / at a mooring.
The open plan arrangement gives lots of light and space, but little privacy.
We had a weakness on the cabin roof somewhere - when walking in bare feet across near the mast you could feel it moving and giving way beneath your feet - but that could have been just one boat.
We sailed ours for 3 years, including trips from Poole to Harwich, across the North Sea and Channel, and in and out of the various estuaries. We were VERY careful on weather forecasts, because cruising in a Voyager should only be done down-wind!
er i dont think you had a voyager. the voyager has no rear double etc etc. i think you may have had a newbridge pioneer. we went out and into littlehampton in one of these recently in a force 6 and felt very safe. westerly centaur came in and broke its keel. i think its a bit unfair to say build quality poor. especially compared to westerly.
We have a Vergo Voyager and yer performance is not racing boat standard. But we changed sails this year and thing we have added about 3/4 to 1 knot to speed.
We have also been in a 6 which was uncomforable for us but we felt no problem for the boat. Over easter we had 5-6 winds back from Hawich to Maylandsea and as aresult of that have added a 3rd line of reef points. The boat was OK in the 5-6 but we felt there was a need to have the ability to depower moor if the strength increased to cut healing.
Over all its not perfict but if you are large, as we are, there are few boats in the size/price range o tuch the Verg Voyger.
