Aloha 34: thoughts?

[cgrabens]

Aloha! (<this is why I am having a hard time searching for this boat on this forum, so please re-direct me if this a "double post") ((also, I am new, and this is my official first post, so again, help me if I'm doing it wrong))

We have been looking at boats for a while, mostly via interwebs, but we have seen a good handful in person. We're wanting something between 30'-37', and we are located in East TN which makes it difficult to find any potential boats. (however we are planning a coastal trip to the gulf late summer to check some out) We did find an ALOHA 34 located very close to us! It is a good looking boat, but I imagine it will need lots of upgrading to be seaworthy for what we want. We plan on fixing her up/sailing, then heading down the coast of FL, into the Bahamas, and potentially beyond. We will need solar panels, dodger, new bottom paint, electronics, etc.

So... I guess what I want is some advice.

I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience. How do you think she would fare on a Bahamian cruise? Is she easy to sail single handed? Do you think it's possible to potentially cruise her to the Mediterranean or beyond? Pros, cons, dislikes, likes... I'm all ears at this point!

[boatman61]

Aloha 34 Home Page

[boatpoker]

An Aloha in good condition is certainly up to your plans. Some had the chainplates glassed over the knees which hastened corrosion of the plates. Quite a few had blister problems and some had issues with the integral ballast separating from the keel skin. I can't tell you what the ballast is as I have never seen one opened up and I never believe brochures.Quite a few had propane water heaters installed, those and the rest of the propane system is rank amateur stuff and unsafe in my opinion especially if it has the original propane safe without thermocouple shut-off. All the other issues you will find are those common to all boats of this vintage.
The last one I surveyed was last summer and it was one of the better ones I have seen although it did have most of the issues mentioned. If you PM me with an email address I'll send you a copy of that survey which will give you an idea of what to look for.

[cgrabens]

Here are a few pics of the boat

[robert sailor]

The A 34 is a nice boat if it has been kept up. Designed by Mark Ellis, the same designer that designed the Niagara 35 it is a well built Canadian boat. Like all older boats there will be some issues so a good survey will be required.
They were designed for cruising and several of these boats have made succesful offshore cruises. The layouts below are similar to the Niagara 35 and are well laid out for passage making but not as well for a dock boat.

[robert sailor]

I screwed up, got it mixed in my head for the Aloha 32.

[cgrabens]

Well! It looks like it's happening! We will be filling out the paper work to make her ours this's week/weekend! I'm jumping up and down and can't contain my excitement.

[durangoleah]

Congratulations!

[Vasco]

Congratulations!! A good robust boat. One of the best the OuYang brothers built. Lots of them in the Great Lakes. No problem going to the Bahamas in one of these.

[dj2210]

Cgrabens, congrats on a nice looking boat. If you want to do some short cruising trips, come on down to Watts Bar and Blue Springs for the spring regatta

[gordwedman]

They are nice looking boats and generally well thought out for cruising but the one I looked at had the chainplate knees encased in fiberglass and it was obvious water had been geetting in there so that was a no go.

[Adelie]

Originally Posted by cgrabens

I was wondering if anyone had any personal experience. How do you think she would fare on a Bahamian cruise? Is she easy to sail single handed? Do you think it's possible to potentially cruise her to the Mediterranean or beyond? Pros, cons, dislikes, likes... I'm all ears at this point!

ALOHA 34

-No personal experience.
-She would be fine in the Bahamas. The shoal draft model would be slightly more convenient, but the standard model would do fine .
-Singlehanding would depend on how you set up the boat and your personal sailing style and idiosyncrasies. With a bit of money for specific upgrades singlehanding should be fine in light to heavy weather. In really heavy weather that's another story but I think she would do OK.
-Trans-Atlantic cruising would be more problematic. On the one hand the boat looks to be a bit heavy for her length and beam implying stronger which is a good thing. On the other hand she's also under-canvassed, especially when loaded for cruising. I suspect more trips flounder on light weather frustrations than heavy weather fears. If I were to own this boat and wanted to go offshore I would extend the boom (and get a new main to fit it), add a short bowsprit (18-36") for the headstay, and add a removable inner forestay. The first two mods to increase light weather sail area and the last for a variety of reasons.

How many in the crew including yourself? Kids?
How much experience?
What's your budget to buy & outfit (excluding cruising cost)?

[cgrabens]

It will be me and my boyfriend. I have had minimal experience (1 yr) of sailing on his 22' s2 which he has had for 3 years. He has fixed up the little boat and is VERY handy. He's been researching/reading/prepping for this for 5 years, and I when I met him I instantly knew I would love an adventure like this and started doing my homework (I am reading the voyagers handbook right now). And we do realize that we will need to do lots of upgrading (solar panels, auto-pilot, dinghy, safety gear, electronics, etc) so we have a budget of 7,000 id say. I feel we are getting a good deal for a good boat. She's been kept in freshwater for the majority of her life. It's also convenient because it will enable us to keep working while we fix her up and pay for things as they come versus our other option which was buying a better equipped boat on the coast. The one thing that is a "maybe" is the fact that she hasn't been pulled out of the water in the past 5+ years, so not sure what it's going to look like under there.

[cgrabens]

Hey guys! Sometimes I know it's neat to see "where are they now" posts. After we bought the Aloha 34 in Feb of 2014 we spent the next 2yrs fixing her up. We left Knoxville TN in July and traveled down the Tennessee-Tombigbee waterway to Mobile AL. We are currently in Panama City. Our plan is to take it extremely slow this first year as we are learning so much now that we are cruising. We will head south to St. Pete, the keys, the Caribbean, and beyond. I have been blogging about our trials and tribulations since we bought the boat, so there's all sorts of posts about repairs. I just finished writing about our river journey. Soon I will be posting about our adventures in the panhandle. Thanks for all the support we have received from everyone at cruisersforum and please subscribe to our blog!

www.svragnarok.com

[seahag]

Great! Thanks for the update!