Freedom 35 Cat Ketch - any experience?

[SeeYa]

I'm viewing a 1985 Freedom 35 Cat Ketch this weekend and I'm wondering if there's anybody out there with first hand knowledge of these yachts who may be able to offer some hints on what to look out for structurally or functionally.

If they can shed any light on the joys of living aboard and/or cruising one, that'd be even better.

Thanks for your help and understanding

See ya!

[Kanani]

Originally Posted by SeeYa

I'm viewing a 1985 Freedom 35 Cat Ketch this weekend and I'm wondering if there's anybody out there with first hand knowledge of these yachts who may be able to offer some hints on what to look out for structurally or functionally.

If they can shed any light on the joys of living aboard and/or cruising one, that'd be even better.

Thanks for your help and understanding

See ya!

I can tell you one story about the Freedom 35.

In the "Bomb" storm of '94, between NZ and Fiji there was only one yacht that survived rolling without being dismasted ( I think that 6 or seven were dismasted from rolling). It was a Freedom 35 (can't remember the name...... Now I won't sleep tonight ). I talked to the owner/skipper and he told me that they were rolled at least 4 times during that storm. He said that everything was intact and they got very little water down below.

[psteele235]

Have you read Sailing in Grandfather's Wake by Ian Tew? Ian's boat, Independent Freedom, was a Freedom 39 he sailed around the world with one other.

It's a great story, especially when Ian meets up in Antigua with his older brother and their 88 year old mother Helen who had just sailed across the Atlantic in her 64-year-old, 26-ft vintage gaff cutter, Mary Helen.

[SeeYa]

Thanks for your responses. I've now seen the boat in question and I'm afraid that it didn't do it for me. Firstly cos the condition matched the price which was very low and secondly (but most importantly), I just didn't consider it big enough for living aboard on a longer term basis.

Still convinced that the freestanding rig is me so it's back to the savings treadmill - difficult on a pension - and the OPYC until something bigger comes up.

See ya!