Opinions on Bruce Roberts designs

[mike d.]

Thruska I believe this is a dead post as you are the 1 st to post since 2008. It came up in my e-mails regards

[Dieter Volga]

Hi there!
Are there any owners of a Bruce Roberts 25ft I can talk to. ?
I need and appreciate some advice.
Look forward to hear from you
Many thanks
Dieter

[Boxertwinjeff]

Originally Posted by Dieter Volga

Hi there!
Are there any owners of a Bruce Roberts 25ft I can talk to. ?
I need and appreciate some advice.
Look forward to hear from you
Many thanks
Dieter

I too am interested in opinions on the Roberts Adventurer 25, am looking at buying one.

[Dieter Volga]

Hi Jeff!

I can give you some info on the Roberts25.
What would you be interested to know?
In general, Bruce Roberts [the company] is /was helpful
with some info. Worthwhile to contact them.
Let me know if I can be of any help.
Best wishes, take care.

Dieter

[Steadman Uhlich]

Last year I wrote Roberts to ask him a question about one of his designs.
He was kind enough to reply promptly and answered my questions, via email.

[Boxertwinjeff]

Originally Posted by Dieter Volga

Hi Jeff!

I can give you some info on the Roberts25.
What would you be interested to know?
In general, Bruce Roberts [the company] is /was helpful
with some info. Worthwhile to contact them.
Let me know if I can be of any help.
Best wishes, take care.

Dieter

Any info would be appreciated mate, like how do they perform / sail?, were they strongly built?, easily handled by 1 person?, your experience with them?, the R.25 I am considering was built in 1984
Jeff.

[SaltAir]

Hi
I saw your post and wondered if you are still interested in swapping information about the Roberts 25? I have had mine - keel version - for just over 12 months, built in 1990

[SaltAir]

Hello anybody?

[SaltAir]

I have been told that every Roberts 25 was built with a 1 kg gold bar embedded in the keel. I have gone though my boat and found it cunningly hidden in the forward section. Has anyone else discovered the gold bar in their Roberts 25?

[Lakehunter]

The unfinished Bruce Roberts even show up in Land locked Alberta, here is a Voyager 388 for sale.
Bruce Roberts 388 Voyager steel hull | sailboats | Edmonton | Kijiji

[GTom]

I briefly considered a Bruce Roberts steel 38, but abandoned the idea. Steel is a challenging hull material - its difficult to find a hull which was done right from the beginning (corten material, sandblast, inorganic zinc layer immediately+organic paints - both inside-outside), I am afraid all my holiday time would be spent on rust patrol...

Besides I read stories it being slow, or the AVS of certain units problematic.

[Steve Pope]

Steel is a good hull material, but as in most things it is all in the preparation. Alloy is another very useful material, but once again you have to do everything right and it will outlast most of the plastic fantastics.
Roberts 38 and the Roberts slocum are different designs, Slowcum slow, 38 better but average. If you are going offshore you will find maintaing a 5 knot per 24 hours a standard rule of thumb. There are many faster steel designs, here in New Zealand 2 of the fastest steel cruisers are from two designers, Bo Birdsal and John Spencer, both were prolific designers, both did designs in wood as well as steel, Spencer specialised in plywood. Infidel is one, she has another name now but has been in the water for at least 45 years and still wins big races.

[gaucho]

The biggest problem with Roberts designs have nothing to do with Roberts himself but the way these boats have been built, and how they fare in the market. You will not see as much disparity (and some crazy disparity at that) as with used Roberts pricing.

As a general rule, unless it's a very sought after designer/shiprwright, one offs get a price hit on the used market. Roberts get a huge price hit, or maybe they were not worth that much to begin with. That's the thing; it can be well built or more home built. Finishes, interiors, hardware. It will make a HUGE difference in price. But it's a very relative market.

If even production boats have a wide margin sometimes on pricing, imagine these "one offs". To me buying a Roberts would be a huge bet on what price you can sell it for later. So you better hunt for a real bargain.

Just my 2 cents.

[Steve Pope]

If you buy a yacht based on what you hope to receive when you come to sell, you will most probably be disappointed, The saying " a boat is a hole in the water through which you pour money" was well put! Some may make a margin, most won't. Buy a boat that will do most of the things that you hope it will do. Fast passages and comfort, once you get there rarely go together. Every design is a compromise. Every bell and whistle - you need an engineering / electrical degree to maintain it. the KISS principle is a good start. Remember you may have a fast boat but if the wind doesn't perform, you have a slow boat. A passage is just that, 10 day passage on a fast boat, 15 days on a slower boat, 3 months island hopping I think you will find the comfort of the "slower one" outweighs the speed of the faster one. my 3 cents worth

[DeepFrz]

It really comes down to the quality of the build and a very careful buyer. I have seen production boats that were very poorly built and required a great deal of work in the refit but I have seen amateur built boats that were absolutely horribly built. One really has to be very careful when buying a boat.