E39mad
Well-known member
MG C27 is 29' overall - transom hung rudder, self taker and can be had with a lifting keel or...
...if you have deep pockets a Pogo 30
...if you have deep pockets a Pogo 30
Which 30-ish footer
- Thread starter TonyHunt
- Start date
doug748
Well-known member
Sea Change
Well-known member
That was one of my suggestions
Fr J Hackett
Well-known member
None of the suggestions meet the twin outboard requirement and I can't think of anything in original state that would and can't think why the OP would want such a set up either.
Tranona
Well-known member
Not twin outboards but twin cylinder - which is sort of irrelevant as all outboards big enough for a 30' boat will be twins.
dunedin
Well-known member
And generally much inferior to an inboard diesel on a boat of that size and weight (tri's excepted)
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
No bias at all in my recommendation, but here is a fine little 30’6” craft, powered by a Honda 15 twin cylinder outboard, with a lifting keel, a fractional carbon rig, a tiller and transom hung rudder. 2 tons so no probs with power.
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Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
Obviously, opinion here is mostly in line with the NYYC, that’s not a yacht. Oddly my father said the same thing, that it’s not a yacht, it’s a sailing machine. He meant it admiringly though.
MisterBaxter
Well-known member
Someone - I think it was Dick Newick - said that if sailing boats had never been invented and you came up with the idea now and designed one from first principles, bearing in mind modern materials, it would come out as a trimaran.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
He would say that, of course. So would most multihull designers. And owners. We’ve never owned a monohull cruiser, our wooden classic dayboat is basically on the principle of ‘when in Rome…’ we never cruise her, she is solely a race boat. We’ve been multi sailors since 1989. Multis are logical, cats are theoretically the purest form, but other considerations make tris the better sailing boat, especially in smaller cruiser sizes. The folding tri for us is ideal. Power, performance and seakindliness, and still fits in with the modern sailboat parking facilities. It would otherwise be nuts to own a boat with a 24ft beam. The drawback is cost, but then, as someone pointed out, it’s not so far adrift from the cost of a really high performance mono, yet a DF920 will give a Pogo 30 a good spanking. The no.1 reason we’re not swamped with folding trimarans is conservatism in the market. A majority of our fellow club members seem to think of us as exceptionally brave lunatics risking our lives on every sail. Most would not even stand on our boat. Clearly the OP is a traditionalist and will not be giving the Dragonfly the slightest consideration even though it is the closest to his spec that he could buy, new or used. I see it as my mission to open peoples eyes to what the boat is, and what it can do.
John_Silver
Well-known member
To my eye, the Dragonfly 32's look pretty handsome (albeit rather better without the cockpit tent):
Met this one, Firefly, in Scilly, in 2021. I was most envious of her ability to anchor shallow, whilst still go to windward effectively. More envious still, when she blasted back to the shelter of the mainland (clocking 10-15kts SOG on AIS) the afternoon before Storm Evert hit. Whilst we slower boats stood by to get clobbered, and duly were.
Met this one, Firefly, in Scilly, in 2021. I was most envious of her ability to anchor shallow, whilst still go to windward effectively. More envious still, when she blasted back to the shelter of the mainland (clocking 10-15kts SOG on AIS) the afternoon before Storm Evert hit. Whilst we slower boats stood by to get clobbered, and duly were.
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Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
The 28 looks very similar to that. They do look a little gawky with the tent up. Still a very worthwhile extra though, whether the problem is sun or rain. We have one, I would always have one on a Dragonfly. The 28 is the ‘new’ replacement for the 920. The newer boats, with the plumb or reverse bows, are stiffer, more voluminous and fold more easily and smoothly than ours, which went out of production in 2007. They are not really noticeably quicker, and it’s still possible to win a race on MOCRA handicap in an older boat, though clearly most of the best racers have newer boats. The fit and finish is well up to the standard you’d hope for on a boat of this price, and only high quality chandlery is used at the factory. Every single block on ours is a Fredriksson ball race, batten cars the same. We have Andsersen winches, and some impressive stainless in house engineering for the folding mechanism.
We’ve convinced ourselves that we prefer the look of our boat over the plumb bow newer ones, but we all do that don’t we?
We’ve convinced ourselves that we prefer the look of our boat over the plumb bow newer ones, but we all do that don’t we?
John_Silver
Well-known member
Black mark (for my usage) if, in reality, that cockpit layout isn’t as single- handed friendly as it first looks. Which you mentioned up thread, with regard to jib sheet winch positioning. Presumably it’s the traveller which stops you being able to steer, with the tiller between your legs, and reach forward to handle the sheets?
(Apologies to OP from thread hijack!)
Frogmogman
Well-known member
Sigh. I wanted to buy a Dragonfly 28. Sadly, it got vetoed by the missus. Too sporty, too cramped, too expensive was her view.
Maybe I should have taken her to see a 920 instead.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my boat, but I still feel wistful whenever I see a dragonfly.
Maybe I should have taken her to see a 920 instead.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my boat, but I still feel wistful whenever I see a dragonfly.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
It’s just the distance. The 28 and 32 don’t have travellers, and have slightly shorter cockpits. The 920 is by no means impossible, I know Angus had one for nearly 20 years I think, and single handed it. But it does have a traveller, and it’s over 5ft from the end of the tiller to the jib winches. You’d need a bit of technique to dodge the mainsheet it's true,, because of the traveller. But growing longer arms is harder. I have never tried ours single handed except when Mrs C is using the head. And we’d probably avoid that ‘just about to tack’ moment.
The traveller I feel is an asset in every other way. It’s just like sailing a Hurricane 5.9 for twist control, and depowering. Drop the traveller if you don’t quite want to put a reef in. I’d put a bridle to drop over the tiller, I think, to facilitate single handing.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
Maybe she used the last two for the veto if the performance seemed a bit much. Really, they’re a pussy cat. At 10kn it’s serene, ok 15 is quite exciting
I will admit that more, for a sustained period of time, requires a certain firmness of attitude and is really for racing only. Ours is definitely verging on scary at 19 knots on the odd occasion we’ve seen it. The noise and spray are intimidating too. But not at ordinary Dragonfly speeds. 8-9kn hard on the wind you get used to very quickly, which is the sort of wind you’ll reach at 15. You can still put the kettle on at 15kn, and apart from looking ahead, the boat will not demand all of your attention. A test sail would sort her out. Though you might also like to try anchoring for lunch on a swimming day. I know of no boat that can do that better.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
Cramped….
Mrs C is putting the kettle on. Perhaps it also shows how far from the tiller the sheet winches are. There are 2 winches on the cockpit coamings, I reckon they might be worth a shot if short handed. 2 being fully crewed for cruising, 3 for racing. Taken from just aft of the traveller, theres acres of room there for a large gentleman or lady to sit, plus a hinge down helmsmans perch, which looks over and past the sprayhood. Perfect view of the jib telltales too. On a DF, you need to be observing them upwind, or you’ll thunder off onto a reach and not make the upwind progress you have heard about. We are relaxing in the ungainly cockpit tent. We can’t see it, why should we care that’s wind, and pertinent data repeat to Stbd, 12” plotter to port. We have a Yeoman, and paper charts, but most stuff happens on the fly. If ypu spent too long down below faffing about, you’d already have arrived.
Mrs C is putting the kettle on. Perhaps it also shows how far from the tiller the sheet winches are. There are 2 winches on the cockpit coamings, I reckon they might be worth a shot if short handed. 2 being fully crewed for cruising, 3 for racing. Taken from just aft of the traveller, theres acres of room there for a large gentleman or lady to sit, plus a hinge down helmsmans perch, which looks over and past the sprayhood. Perfect view of the jib telltales too. On a DF, you need to be observing them upwind, or you’ll thunder off onto a reach and not make the upwind progress you have heard about. We are relaxing in the ungainly cockpit tent. We can’t see it, why should we care
that’s wind, and pertinent data repeat to Stbd, 12” plotter to port. We have a Yeoman, and paper charts, but most stuff happens on the fly. If ypu spent too long down below faffing about, you’d already have arrived.
John_Silver
Well-known member
Useful pic. Hadn’t understood that the jib winches were on the coachroof. Suppose they have to be, to get the narrow sheeting angle…..
BUT, what do you reckon the second set of coaming winches (which I’d mistaken for the jib sheet winches) are for, half way down the cockpit, in this pic of the solent based DF32 currently on brokerage?
BUT, what do you reckon the second set of coaming winches (which I’d mistaken for the jib sheet winches) are for, half way down the cockpit, in this pic of the solent based DF32 currently on brokerage?
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
They are for the folding mechanism, the barber haulers, and the kite if you're sailing with the sprayhood up. Obviously, if there’s serious pressure you’d want the bigger ones on the coachroof, so it’s goodbye sprayhood. You’d probably be racing if you’re in that much of a hurry though. That mainsheet will have to be mostly winched. This is ours.
2 speed, low gear is 24:1. We have to winch that at about 15kn. You just can’t close the leech otherwise. It needs to be nearly straight, and on the centreline. Absolutely no windward traveller, that just kills you.
2 speed, low gear is 24:1. We have to winch that at about 15kn. You just can’t close the leech otherwise. It needs to be nearly straight, and on the centreline. Absolutely no windward traveller, that just kills you.
Chiara’s slave
Well-known member
Also in that photo, slightly faded white/green is the barber hauler, pulls the jib sheet out to the ama for reaching, and blue is the asymmetric spinnaker sheet. Halyard as you’d expect on the coachroof, tack outhaul in in the stbd hand locker.
Out outboard remote unit is at the back of the cockpit, mounted sideways. The 28 has that in a cockpit locker, fore and aft. That is a really good innovation. It’s on the lid at hand height when you open it.
Out outboard remote unit is at the back of the cockpit, mounted sideways. The 28 has that in a cockpit locker, fore and aft. That is a really good innovation. It’s on the lid at hand height when you open it.