How to test sail an Ovni

[Balance]

Think we're looking for a secondhand Ovni to go cruising...don't really know as we've never sailed one. Like the idea of an Ovni as we are used to a centreboard and the stregth of the aluminium. Currently sail a 26ft Trailer Sailer, only ever chartered keel boats, so not a huge amount of keel boat experience, this will be our first.

Heading off to the Med in August...not too often we see an Ovni in Australia...to look at as many as we can. Would really like the chance to sail on one or two but don't want to mislead the owners working on selling their boats. Any advice?

[gpl]

The austrian dealer of alubat/ovni yachts has a 2013 ovni 395 in his charter fleet in croatia.
Don't know if they offer day charter - just ask them.
www.trend-travel-yachting.com

[homeless]

Google ...

Contact owners of Ovni boats with blogs. Contact dealers who can introduce active sailors. I have seen Ovni's at boat shows that obviously need to be delivered before/after. There are Ovni boats available for charter. There are Ovni owners clubs.

[noelex 77]

Welcome to the forum.

I am a bit biased towards aluminium boats, but Ovnis are great. Have a look at Boreal and Garcia as well.

They have an unballasted swing centreboard/keel. You will find the sailing is quite different to ballasted lifting keel that you are used too. It will be hard to get a feeling for their characteristics on a short test sail. Why not volunteer for a crew position?

They can be a little slow to windward but do well downwind. They are a very practical offshore boat especially if you are sailing an area where a shallow draft is a big advantage.

When you do come to buy one, if this is second hand, the retracting keel and hydraulic lifting rudder (on most models) means there is quite a lot to check, but they are tough boats that stand up to hard work well. There are no hidden core issues, no rot, no delamination etc with aluminium, so the hull is quite easy to inspect.

Good luck

[Polux]

Garcia and Boreal are great but considerably more expensive. Try to find an Allures 44. Just slightly more expensive than an OVNI of the same year but with a better stability and better sailing characteristics.

Modern OVNI sail quite well and you should just to expect some lesser pointing ability but even so not very different than what you got in some old full keel cruisers. They are great downwind. I bet you will be surprised.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Polux

Garcia and Boreal are great but considerably more expensive. Try to find an Allures 44. Just slightly more expensive than an OVNI of the same year but with a better stability and better sailing characteristics.

Polux, you keep your finger on the pulse of the new boat market much better than I do.

I thought the price of new Ovnis and Boreals were reasonably close, but It sounds like I am wrong. I get the impression Boreal are holding their second hand prices a bit better than Ovni. Perhaps because of the smaller number of second hand Boreals are available, but these prices are hard to pin down.

Of course the base price means little, as you need to "option up" the specs to an equal level to compare the true costs. My internet connection is terrible at this anchorage so I cannot really check, but would be interested in your thoughts.

With Garcia and Ovni I agree. Garcias are a round bilge construction with a more upmarket interior and therefore considerably more expensive.

Allures are great boats, but with their fibreglass deck they do not have the same construction.

[noelex 77]

Originally Posted by Polux

Try to find an Allures 44. Just slightly more expensive than an OVNI of but with a better stability and better sailing characteristics.

I agree with the differences in sailing characteristics, although it is small.

Ovni have traditionally used ballast in the bilge. Boreal, Allures, and Garcia have concentrated the weight in the sub keel and taken some steps to lower the engine and anchor chain weight. Ovni do use lead ballast (as opposed to steel in Allures and Garcia) which does compensate for some of the difference.

In addition, Boreal Garcia and Allures use fully profiled keel shapes. The overall changes have helped stability and sailing performance, but I don't think the improvements are great.

Note: these observations are generalisations. There are differences between the models in each range.

[Jim Cate]

FWIW:

Several of our friends with Ovni boats have had corrosion issues between the lead ballast and the hull. This has lead to an expensive and vexing removal and re-potting of the lead chunks. Not sure how to inspect for this, but be aware at least.

Jim

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

FWIW:

Several of our friends with Ovni boats have had corrosion issues between the lead ballast and the hull. This has lead to an expensive and vexing removal and re-potting of the lead chunks. Not sure how to inspect for this, but be aware at least.

Jim

Not an Ovni, but we are fixing this issue on our boat right now. Each side of the keel is being cut away....about 4' x 1.5' worth on each side. I'm guessing about a $5,000 repair for the welding and sheet metal work. Not pleasant, but I've watched others doing blister repairs on the fiberglass for around $10,000, so not that bad.

Matt

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[Balance]

Originally Posted by gpl

The austrian dealer of alubat/ovni yachts has a 2013 ovni 395 in his charter fleet in croatia.
Don't know if they offer day charter - just ask them.
www.trend-travel-yachting.com

Thanks GPL,
I will get in contact with them.

[Balance]

Originally Posted by Jim Cate

FWIW:

Several of our friends with Ovni boats have had corrosion issues between the lead ballast and the hull. This has lead to an expensive and vexing removal and re-potting of the lead chunks. Not sure how to inspect for this, but be aware at least.

Jim

Hi Jim,
Well that's going to stick in my mind!
I guess could be a symptom of a wet bilge as you would think in the build there would be a proper insulating material installed to separate the materials.
Mal

[Balance]

Originally Posted by funjohnson

Not an Ovni, but we are fixing this issue on our boat right now. Each side of the keel is being cut away....about 4' x 1.5' worth on each side. I'm guessing about a $5,000 repair for the welding and sheet metal work. Not pleasant, but I've watched others doing blister repairs on the fiberglass for around $10,000, so not that bad.

Matt

Sent from my LG-V410 using Cruisers Sailing Forum mobile app

Hi Matt,
Sounds a lot less work to repair than if the ballast is in the hull.
Do you know how this came about and what age is your boat?
Mal

[Russ]

Re Corrosion you are assuming that it is a dielectric non insulation between dissimilar metals. It maybe stay electricity at the dock which is a huge headache. IF you buy check out whatever the builder/owner installed re Isolation Transformer (Galvanic isolators are almost worthless). I love metal boats but own steel, headache though maintenance is. Steel is generally slightly cheaper to build and lots tougher than aluminum. And by the way avoid the temptation to paint the hull. Most of these builders had the wisdom to let the Aluminum develop a patina and go slightly grey and thus avoid the whole paint /repaint deal. Russ 42' Ted Brewer Kingsland

[robert sailor]

Originally Posted by Polux

Garcia and Boreal are great but considerably more expensive. Try to find an Allures 44. Just slightly more expensive than an OVNI of the same year but with a better stability and better sailing characteristics.

Modern OVNI sail quite well and you should just to expect some lesser pointing ability but even so not very different than what you got in some old full keel cruisers. They are great downwind. I bet you will be surprised.

I spent the better part of an afternoon in Hawaii talking with Jimmy Cornell many years ago about the sailing characteristics of his then new Ovni. He loved it under spinnaker with the board up as it had no keel to trip over so it just slid around going downwind and was very easy to steer in almost any condition however he said the boats weak point was going upwind. He asked me how I sailed upwind in a breeze offshore and I told him I usually slowed the boat down a bit and tried to come up and over the waves rather than punching through them. Exactly he said, his experience with the Ovni was that the drop down keel was not that effective unless you were really moving and if you were really moving you got the sh*t kicked out of you.

[Matt Johnson]

Originally Posted by Balance

Hi Matt,
Sounds a lot less work to repair than if the ballast is in the hull.
Do you know how this came about and what age is your boat?
Mal

The PO grounded the boat in a hurricane cracking the forward part of the keel cavity. Left unfixed, the cavity filled with saltwater and the lead had it's way with the hull. Two places are corroded through, but the rest of the keel is suspect too. Its getting ultra sounded for the second time on Thursday to see exactly where to cut. It's still easier than what a similar job would be in fiberglass....I think.

Matt



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