What Yacht would you buy?

[duncan]

sitting here in a London Office reading your post against a poor forecast for the South Coast for many days to come ........

I can't make my mind up if it makes me feel better or worse

/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif /forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif

certaily sounds like buying a boat and berth in Cairns should be an consideration for me in a few years time!

 

[Malish]

The one key issue you have not given us is the price range you have in mind. If I had the cash I would look at recent Southerly yachts - a lifting keel causes some sailors concern but the Southerly system has been around for a long time and seems to work. The seem well built (in Britain!), their performance is good and the shallow draft with keel raised means that you can get into those shallow spots which are out of bounds to many of us.

 

[Ships_Cat]

To add to the pain for others we pay NZ$3,800 per annum for a 14m berth for a monohull, all water and power included as are all facilities including lock up storage for car when go away, etc (think one has to pay for the laundry, I keep out of that department /forums/images/graemlins/smile.gif).

Very few sailing cats here due to heavy conditions (more power cats tho') - think only one left in marina but is around 50 foot and seems to fit into what I imagine is a 50 or 60 foot berth. Was a small cat for a while which they parked on a hammer head.

John

 

[peterb26]

Sorry Moonfire - I'd like to spend no more than 100k sterling, maybe a bit more for something really spectacular.

(You guys down under dont know you are born when it comes to mooring fees /forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif)

 

[spannerman]

An Impression 384 ticks most of your boxes and a 3-4 year old example will have shaft drive and two! aft cabins as well as one in the bow.
Or a 344 which still has 3 cabins but with a saildrive.

 

[peterb26]

Thank you Spannerman. I had never heard of one but will add them to the search list.

 

[DRANNIE]

Well if you fancy somthing pretty how about this?

/www.boat-finder.com/10268_AYCYachtBrokers_IONIC39_56410_1.html

 

[Kilter]

link

 

[peterb26]

Thanks Drannie. But it says "Strip Planking" - which suggests thats its wood - and, regrettably, high maintenance.. So ruled out on criteria list.

Does look beautiful though.

 

[tillip]

Now, if you had said £100k at the start, this thread would have been over by now. You are in the Berthon league. As someone said earlier, you could not go wrong with a Southerly 115,
http://www.northshore.co.uk/index.php?p=broklist
fantastic bit of kit , go anywhere , last forevever or maybee a westerly oceanquest, better that all the "AWB"s.

 

[spannerman]

Check them out at www.elan-marine.com.
Incredibly light and airy is the comment I hear within 10 secs of customers going onboard for the first time. They are designed by Rod Humphries and built in Slovenia by Elan same folks make the ski's. They use vacuum lamination as used by the hi-tech race boats which gives a light but very stiff hull with even resin thickness through out.
Good spec for the money, with well known equipment as standard, but then I am a bit biased as I sell them!

 

[peterb26]

Apologies for the admission of budget Tillip. But I'm glad this thread went on a bit, has been very interesting for me to read and follow all the various links.

 

[tillip]

So! can we go looking at boats this weekend, it's great spending other folks money and I would really love to have a sail in £100k worth of southerly 115, did you check out the link?

 

[peterb26]

Tillip, I did check the link out. Have added those to my list of potentials. Many thanks.

 

[DaveS]

[ QUOTE ]
and don't buy a second hand sail drive.



[/ QUOTE ]

That seems very absolute. Care to say why?

 

[peterb26]

I would be interested to know what Bilgolas reasons are, but in my case I always think they look such flimsy things stuck out underneath the hull.

It is probably because I have had 30 years looking at huge great shafts and supporting brackets I guess. I did have outdrives on one of my boats - but never again.

Nowt wrong with the simplicity of a shaft and a propeller in my opinion.

 

[tillip]

Yep! got it in one, also boats with saildrives are renowned for poor handling under power, due to the fact that saildrives are usually positioned away from the rudder, so you don't get the benefit of propwash over the rudder, So! can we go looking at boats this weekend?

 

[Talbot]

modern french cat probably wouldnt fit, but the older british cats were designed to be narrow enough to be able to transit the french canal system. So be certain that you cant fit one in before rejecting this.

 

[DaveS]

Saildrives

This sounds like another "everyone knows that..."

Speaking from some years of personal experience with a boat fitted with a saildrive (bought third hand btw hence my question) I would disagree with the comments on handling under power. There is indeed a slight delay when engaging forward gear before the wash reaches the rudder, but the practical effect of this is minimal. On the other hand the saildrive generates negligible propwalk, and the boat can be steered both in forward and reverse with equal ease to port or starboard - which is frequently not the case with the more traditional arrangement.

Regarding apparent flimsyness, I suspect there are arguments both ways. Certainly the frequent tales of problems with leaking stern glands, shafts becoming uncoupled, P brackets loosening and cutless bearings requiring replacement does not give the impression that the conventional system is trouble free. OTOH a saildrive does mean relying on a chunk of rubber to keep the sea out of a very large hole in the boat - but in reality, as opposed to perception, it seems to work fine. The main theoretical vulnerability is the risk of ripping the engine off its mounts if the boat were to be slung under the drive - but that would require a particularly careless hoist driver since the difference in sling lengths would give clear warning that something wasn't right before starting the lift proper.

 

[oldsaltoz]

Re: Saildrives

G'day DaveS,

I have to agree with you on this, we had a very old sail drive in our first Yacht and never a problem with the sail-drive itself, the engine died of old age in the end but the sail-drive was still perfect.

Our current Cat has twin sail-drives and the dreaded green lumps, 30 hp each.
Both located in their own compartment with a bulkhead fore and aft of the engine, so even if the leg was torn off we would still float and be in a position to take corrective action without major risk. Not even a hint of diesel small on board as air is taken in via external feed and out via exhaust.

Our rudders are only a foot away so no problems with steering in forward or reverse, helped by the fact that we never use the wheel when reversing into our pen, just idle the engines in and out of gear to control direction and the bow alignment, very easy.

As you said, no problems with 'P' brackets, leaking shaft seals, wet bilges, balance of shaft thru plastic cutlass bearings, or broken couplings. I'm sure there are many more reasons to avoid the traditional prop shaft.

Avagoodweekend......