Info needed on gulet sailing

[clob365]

Hi , I'm looking at buying a 30 mt gulet and want to communicate with people that has extensive time sailing on these .

[psk125]

From what I've heard, Gulets tend to use their engines a lot. Check to make sure it is in good shape. The sails are generally fairly small, (though yours might be different). Gulets are built with large cabins and superstructures that have considerable windage. Construction quality seems to vary a lot - they're built by small yards or craftsmen all over Turkey. Ahmed is perhaps the best carpenter, while Ibrahim uses the best materials (and charges for them!) Josef can outtalk both of them, and so sells more boats, despite using lesser-quality materials and slipshod building practices. Which one are you getting your boat from?

[captmikecoin]

As you are talking about quite a big vessel here you will need a fair sized crew. Even modest 18 - 20m gulets seem to have at least 2 or 3 deck hands as they are not that manoevrable. I have only seen single screw ones which don't back well and they generally need a fair bit of help when docking. They have relatively shallow draft so windage can be a problem although I suspect one could get used to it.

I would agree with psk125 about the quality of construction. There are many gulets for sale these days which are getting on in age and will be expensive to maintain, but equally there must be good ones too. Most are made of pine so draw your own conclusions.

Get a good survey by a European surveyor who specialises in wooden boats at least.

Finally, don't expect to sail much. The sail handling on most gulets is primitive alhtough I suppose roller furling jibs could be added.

Good luck,
Mike

[clob365]

Thank you for all the help so far . If any one has the time to look at this vessel just google " Aegean schaltz " it's a 30 mtr overall built in 2006 has twin 400 man and tin 23 kva gen sets and is apoxy over mahogany hull .. seems to be the cleanest one I've looked at , this boat also has a video on YouTube under the same name . It seems to b quite famous in its area where it charters from .

[psk125]

The website makes me want to be very careful. Built in 2006, and they apparently needed to replace the deck with new teak? If that's the case, it would indicate construction problems that might also exist elsewhere in the boat. The technical page says that STRUCTURAL members (frames, ribs, floors) are epoxy-laminated mahogany. The hull planking may be something else - it doesn't say. Greek registry, and the problems in the Greek economy may indicate why they're selling: money problems, or not enough charter customers to keep them going. The pictures look pretty, but chartering this boat for a couple of weeks would be a lot cheaper than buying all the upkeep and operating costs year-'round.

[clob365]

I must admit the up keep of it worries me in pitularly when the boat is down here in Australia , the cost of labour compared to turkey .

[Dennis.G]

Originally Posted by clob365

I must admit the up keep of it worries me in pitularly when the boat is down here in Australia , the cost of labour compared to turkey .

I would think that sailing a gulet from Turkey to Australia is a big concern. Didn't think these ever even crossed the whole Med.

[Efraim]

Getting a gulet from the Med to Australia, should be interesting to say the least. Gulets are coastal vessels, not intended for the type of passage you need to make to get her to Australia. As far a quality goes, there are some good ones, and some not so good one. A boat built in 2006 needing new teak decks is very suspect. There are many varieties of teak out there, if the teak they used lasted only 7yrs, you can be pretty sure, it either isn't teak, or the teak they used was of very poor quality.
Before I even bothered with a survey, I'd get a real NA to get some specs for the boat, a lot of these boats where build simply to motor charterers around on nice sunny days.

[clob365]

I will check this deck thing out , I have missed this page , can I ask where u saw it mentioned ?