What would your favourite yacht be?

[Bajansailor]

I am now in the process of buying a superbly equipped Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 349, with the hydraulic swing keel; boat inspection and test sail completed yesterday, deposit paid today.

I now officially nominate this as my favourite yacht.

I do like the Sun Odysseys (a pal here used to have a SO 40, designed by Daniel Andrieu), and your 349 (as shown on Sailboat Data) looks very fine.
SailboatData.com - SUN ODYSSEY 349 (JEANNEAU) Sailboat



Which keel does she have, and does she have one or two aft cabins?

 

[Zing]

The Spirit 111 is very impressive:

 

[Frogmogman]

I do like the Sun Odysseys (a pal here used to have a SO 40, designed by Daniel Andrieu), and your 349 (as shown on Sailboat Data) looks very fine.
SailboatData.com - SUN ODYSSEY 349 (JEANNEAU) Sailboat

View attachment 127346

Which keel does she have, and does she have one or two aft cabins?

It’s the two cabin model with the hydraulic swing keel. The drawings on sailboat data don’t show that on the two cabin version, the aft cabin is larger than the starboard cabin in the 3 cabin version, with a vast 1.4m wide berth. It also has a very spacious heads with separate shower cubicle (with hanging rail for oilies).

Deal done on the boat. We went down to Brittany to inspect her and take her out for a test sail on Wednesday. You’ll be pleased to know that I’m having it surveyed anyway (mainly for the benefit of the insurer.

The selling dealer supplied the boat new to the owner, who is a very rich guy with several factories. The owner had previously had an A35, and before that a J92. With this one, he ticked most boxes on the options list, including ‘preference finish’, performance pack, Bruntons Autoprop, some dyneema running rigging, high end electronics including radar and ais with a multifunction screen at each steering position. It’s equipped with the beaching legs.

The previous owner never had time to sail the boat, (sounds like his wife has gone off stick and rags as they have a Pogo Structures Loxo 32 mobo on order).

The boat has never been slept on nor cooked on. It has 19 hours of engine use (having been delivered new with 10 hours on the clock) the other 9 hours have been taking the boat from the marina to the yard every year for winterisation & maintenance, which has been done scrupulously. Engine heat exchanger was taken out and cleaned, and all of the ships batteries changed this year, in line with service recommendations. The sails have only been raised for the sailmaker’s trial. They are all fancy Delta Voiles black technora laminate. Genoa, self tacking Solent, code 0 and asymmetric spinnaker. It is to all intents a brand new 5 year old boat. It is fully equipped with all that the French authorities require for offshore use, including an EPIRB. I’m having an electric anchor winch and webasto heating fitted, and the liferaft serviced. Other than that, it’s good to go.

I can leave her on her current berth free and gratis until August if I so desire, but will aim to sail her up to her permanent new home in Le Havre in April.

 

[E39mad]

Congratulations on the new boat. I also like the Jeanneau models. Used to race a Sun Legende 41 way back in the late 1980's and chartered a Sun Odyssey 449 in Croatia in 2018.

The lift keel is a great option to have in tidal waters.

 

[lustyd]

(with hanging rail for oilies)

Do you have a pic of this? I have the SO36.2 which is pretty similar layout but the lack of sensible oily hanging locations is frustrating. I'm guessing this is opposite your shower where my toilet is but would be good to see a pic (I searched but couldn't find one!)

 

[Frogmogman]

Do you have a pic of this? I have the SO36.2 which is pretty similar layout but the lack of sensible oily hanging locations is frustrating. I'm guessing this is opposite your shower where my toilet is but would be good to see a pic (I searched but couldn't find one!)

Not a very good one, I’m afraid. But hope this gives an idea. You can just see the rail in the first shot. Don’t know why the photos are sideways; they aren’t in my photo library. If you look at Bajansailor’s post #101, you an see the layout. Essentially they pinch the space for the doorway into the 3rd cabin for the shower stall. You can see the door for access to the rear locker in the photo.

 

[lustyd]

You can just see the rail in the first shot

Thanks, much appreciated. I think that's exactly where I thought it was so I'll do some testing. It could end up as a headrest while taking a wee on mine but would certainly solve the problem ?

 

[westhinder]

It’s the two cabin model with the hydraulic swing keel. The drawings on sailboat data don’t show that on the two cabin version, the aft cabin is larger than the starboard cabin in the 3 cabin version, with a vast 1.4m wide berth. It also has a very spacious heads with separate shower cubicle (with hanging rail for oilies).

Deal done on the boat. We went down to Brittany to inspect her and take her out for a test sail on Wednesday. You’ll be pleased to know that I’m having it surveyed anyway (mainly for the benefit of the insurer.

The selling dealer supplied the boat new to the owner, who is a very rich guy with several factories. The owner had previously had an A35, and before that a J92. With this one, he ticked most boxes on the options list, including ‘preference finish’, performance pack, Bruntons Autoprop, some dyneema running rigging, high end electronics including radar and ais with a multifunction screen at each steering position. It’s equipped with the beaching legs.

The previous owner never had time to sail the boat, (sounds like his wife has gone off stick and rags as they have a Pogo Structures Loxo 32 mobo on order).

The boat has never been slept on nor cooked on. It has 19 hours of engine use (having been delivered new with 10 hours on the clock) the other 9 hours have been taking the boat from the marina to the yard every year for winterisation & maintenance, which has been done scrupulously. Engine heat exchanger was taken out and cleaned, and all of the ships batteries changed this year, in line with service recommendations. The sails have only been raised for the sailmaker’s trial. They are all fancy Delta Voiles black technora laminate. Genoa, self tacking Solent, code 0 and asymmetric spinnaker. It is to all intents a brand new 5 year old boat. It is fully equipped with all that the French authorities require for offshore use, including an EPIRB. I’m having an electric anchor winch and webasto heating fitted, and the liferaft serviced. Other than that, it’s good to go.

I can leave her on her current berth free and gratis until August if I so desire, but will aim to sail her up to her permanent new home in Le Havre in April.

Congratulations, sounds like you have found an exceptional opportunity.
Fair winds!

 

[Bajansailor]

@Frogmogman brilliant, it looks like you have found a wonderful yacht there.
She does look pretty much brand new everywhere still - although the teak in the cockpit is showing it's age a bit.

I guess her previous owners had grand ambitions in theory - but I hope that their new Pogo Loxo will be better able to meet their requirements now, and that they manage to get good use out of her.
These Loxos do look very neat - fairly spartan and simple, and they should have excellent fuel economy.

Loxo 32 - POGO STRUCTURES

 

[Frogmogman]

@Frogmogman brilliant, it looks like you have found a wonderful yacht there.
She does look pretty much brand new everywhere still - although the teak in the cockpit is showing it's age a bit.

I guess her previous owners had grand ambitions in theory - but I hope that their new Pogo Loxo will be better able to meet their requirements now, and that they manage to get good use out of her.
These Loxos do look very neat - fairly spartan and simple, and they should have excellent fuel economy.

Loxo 32 - POGO STRUCTURES

Yes, the only other things that have suffered are the spray hood and lazybag, both of which will need replacing in 2-3 years.

I’ve ordered a 3D 290 Superlight tender, and an ePropulsion Spirit 1.0 evo outboard. At the risk of starting a brawl on here, I’ll be fitting a 15kg stainless steel Spade anchor, the current anchor (aluminium fortress) being retained as a kedge.

Only other thing that remains to be seen is the cooker is just a two burner with no oven. For French coastal cruising and creek crawling this may prove adequate, so I’ll see how we get on with it before throwing any money at it.

The Pogo Loxo is indeed a nice bit of kit. I hope they get more use out of it than they did out of this boat.

 

[Koeketiene]

I guess her previous owners had grand ambitions in theory - but I hope that their new Pogo Loxo will be better able to meet their requirements now, and that they manage to get good use out of her.
These Loxos do look very neat - fairly spartan and simple, and they should have excellent fuel economy.

Loxo 32 - POGO STRUCTURES

There's a Loxo32 moored in my home port (Pogo shipyard is just up the road).

Whilst she won't win any prizes for good looks, on a smooth sea she certainly goes like the clappers.

 

[Zing]

The Spirit 111 is very impressive:

This is a much better review of this amazing yacht:

 

[Wansworth]

I remember in the late 1960 a gaff rigged day boat appeared at the club in Littlehampton a proper knock about dayboat with inboard engine.The helmsman stood to the tiller and the clinker hull had a centre plate and slight tumble home.Much later I found she had been designed by John Leather and built on the east coast

 

[langstonelayabout]

I’m not sure what it is, but I’d like one like this please. It would deal with the Solent chop easily but would cost a fortune to berth.

 

[Greenheart]

Very pretty.

Not sure I want to share that aft cabin with the rudder stock!

 

[E39mad]

The hull looks like the boating equivalent of a cut n shut

Two identical hulls cut at maximum beam and the bow sections glued together.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

Looks like someone with no taste tried to make a modern Tumlare

https://classicyachtinfo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/Tumlaren.jpg

 

[fredrussell]

I worked at a boat builders for a while and my two bosses were total boat snobs. The only boat they could agree on as the closest thing to a perfect boat was a Tumlare. One came in for some work and they kept making groaning noises whenever they looked at it. We did a fair bit of work on 6 and 8 metre boats too, which I thought were far prettier, but no, it was the Tumlare that got them fired up.

 

[Greenheart]

The hull looks like the boating equivalent of a cut n shut

That (not the boat) reminds me of the way they save space, transporting new Transit front-ends, on ro-ro ships.

 

[Buck Turgidson]

I worked at a boat builders for a while and my two bosses were total boat snobs. The only boat they could agree on as the closest thing to a perfect boat was a Tumlare. One came in for some work and they kept making groaning noises whenever they looked at it. We did a fair bit of work on 6 and 8 metre boats too, which I thought were far prettier, but no, it was the Tumlare that got them fired up.

Got to admit the tumlare is way up there for me too.