Becky
Well-Known Member
and were somewhat surprised at what we saw.
Not your average AWB's, but some really serious yachts; a Moody 47 and 49, and an Oyster 55.
The Moody 47 was one of the Princess built boats from Plymouth, and was pretty good. Spacious, nice interior, good layout, and quite nicely put together. So we set off to examine the Halmatics-built 49 with some degree of excitement; to be quite disappointed. The finish wasn't as good, the hand-hold in the centre of the saloon was flimsy, and this was the main handhold for this part of the yacht. There were no really comfortable sea berths. Superficially the boat was very nice, if one wasn't already used to the older yachts, with good quality joinery, nicely finished joints and corners, and wood used in construction instead of MDF.
As marina boats these were very good, if somewhat built down to a price. And what prices, the Moody 49 was £400000, the 47 a mere £270000. Just a couple of years older and a different manufacturer.
Then we went on the Oyster 55; and wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was a tired example, been on the market for ages and needed a lot to bring her up to scratch. But what features! A decent saloon with an enormous table that folds in half, seats with at least one dedicated as a sea berth. Separate cabins with pullman-type bunks that would work well at sea. A master stateroom in the stern that was simply excellent, and an equivalent one in the bow, both with en-suite heads/shower rooms. An excellent galley, though to be fair, all three had brilliant galleys with fridges, freezers, microwaves, and good cookers and sinks. But with the Oyster, despite being neglected and tired, it was still streets ahead of the other boats. It was a 1990 vintage, with some damp due to water ingress, and the were some water stains on the woodwork, but we would still love to take it on as a project, and we would have one fabulous yacht! The whole ambience was of mini-superyacht, and I would love it!
New boats are very nice; light, swift, ergonomic, easy to look after, I could go on.
But something a bit older, built by craftsmen and designed by real sailors, with the penny-counters banished from the design meetings still ticks all my boxes /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
We aren't seriously loking to replace Cornish Maid, but every now and again, to visit the new boats on the market just reminds us what a lovely boat we have.
Unless it happens to be an Oyster /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
Not your average AWB's, but some really serious yachts; a Moody 47 and 49, and an Oyster 55.
The Moody 47 was one of the Princess built boats from Plymouth, and was pretty good. Spacious, nice interior, good layout, and quite nicely put together. So we set off to examine the Halmatics-built 49 with some degree of excitement; to be quite disappointed. The finish wasn't as good, the hand-hold in the centre of the saloon was flimsy, and this was the main handhold for this part of the yacht. There were no really comfortable sea berths. Superficially the boat was very nice, if one wasn't already used to the older yachts, with good quality joinery, nicely finished joints and corners, and wood used in construction instead of MDF.
As marina boats these were very good, if somewhat built down to a price. And what prices, the Moody 49 was £400000, the 47 a mere £270000. Just a couple of years older and a different manufacturer.
Then we went on the Oyster 55; and wow!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
This was a tired example, been on the market for ages and needed a lot to bring her up to scratch. But what features! A decent saloon with an enormous table that folds in half, seats with at least one dedicated as a sea berth. Separate cabins with pullman-type bunks that would work well at sea. A master stateroom in the stern that was simply excellent, and an equivalent one in the bow, both with en-suite heads/shower rooms. An excellent galley, though to be fair, all three had brilliant galleys with fridges, freezers, microwaves, and good cookers and sinks. But with the Oyster, despite being neglected and tired, it was still streets ahead of the other boats. It was a 1990 vintage, with some damp due to water ingress, and the were some water stains on the woodwork, but we would still love to take it on as a project, and we would have one fabulous yacht! The whole ambience was of mini-superyacht, and I would love it!
New boats are very nice; light, swift, ergonomic, easy to look after, I could go on.
But something a bit older, built by craftsmen and designed by real sailors, with the penny-counters banished from the design meetings still ticks all my boxes /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif
We aren't seriously loking to replace Cornish Maid, but every now and again, to visit the new boats on the market just reminds us what a lovely boat we have.
Unless it happens to be an Oyster /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif
