hi all,
I helped deliver a year old Lipari in December from Chessie to Marsh Harbour,
Bahamas with a mix of
ICW and open ocean. we crossed the stream from
Lake Worth. plenty of
wind, rain and
fog for much of the trip with breezes >30kt in the Sea of
Abaco.
the boat sailed quite well, fast reacher right up to 60 degrees. great
spinnaker boat (we flew the kite right down the ICW). maneuvered very well using the engines only. little slapping under way even in big seas, and very stable at
anchor, even when we were in an open roadstead off a
Bahamas bank. in the big winds we sailed or motored for hours at 7kts and more with easy motion on board. a good sailing vessel for sure.
below decks the quality of construction was much lower than I expected. Ikea is actually a little better quality.
interior hardware very
cheap actually, terrible sinks and cooker. heads fragile and
cheap hardware. it is all surprisingly bad. unsafe in a seaway since we tie off all drawers, doors and lockers.
fridge and
freezer was very good; they worked very well and held tons of stuff. Good
storage throughout the boat. chain locker and
storage nicely designed.
the two REALLY BAD things:
1) this boat had the chart plotter,
depth, and
autopilot on the bulkhead under/behind the wheel! you had to look down and put your hands through the
wheel spokes to control the devices. under
autopilot in rough seas this was dangerous and meant taking it out of autopilot to even change the scale of the plotter.
2) the boat was terribly slippery, above and below decks. we were in almost constant
fog, mist or rain, and the entire boat was an ice rink. 4 of us -experienced sailors - all slipped and fell badly at least twice, usually slamming flat on a back, or knee, or
elbow and side. we were very lucky that no bones were broken. very lucky. I would never buy this boat just for this
safety fault alone. the above-deck non-skid is useless, and the fake
wood soles below-decks are a death trap.
if you buy one of these boats used (even a year old) you must plan to deal with these two major faults above and replace all the hinges and
latches on every drawer, cupboard, locker, and closet. then you'll have a very nice sailer that is a comfortable anchor-out as well.