Spirited 380

[ausaviator]

All,

Interested in hearing both good and bad on the Spirited 380.

They seem to be an excellent performer and a nice looking design.

One can't criticize equipment of finish as they appear to be mostly home built, so comments are sought on the layout, design, performance or anything that I haven't thought of, whatever that is!

Available in Foam core so that ticks my box for a good machine and the 4000 hours build is a little scary but certainly achievable.

Has anyone traveled any significant distance in one of these machines and are they a blue-water cruiser?

AA

(If you are a dealer for another boat type, don't bother replying, I've heard it all before thanks)

[catty]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

All,


are they a blue-water cruiser?



)

No. A Light, 38 ft boat with a mast tip near 60 ft off the water is nothing more than a high performance weekender/bay sailor.
Only a few have been launched and one has already flipped south of Kangaroo Island( supposedly hit something). This should be ringing alarm bells, yet there has been very little comment from the designer.

Any designer that claims a sub 12meter cat has a cruising speed under sail of 11 to 12 knots is a dill. Check out the website.

Nice looking boat however.

Regards.

[ausaviator]

There is no doubt that it is more than capable of those speeds,
I've at least done that much research to date to confirm this. It is light, high powered and has sleek hulls with dagger boards.
With FP's and the like getting along at speeds approaching 10 knots, it's easy to see the difference.

[phillw]

Originally Posted by catty

No. A Light, 38 ft boat with a mast tip near 60 ft off the water is nothing more than a high performance weekender/bay sailor.
Only a few have been launched and one has already flipped south of Kangaroo Island( supposedly hit something). This should be ringing alarm bells, yet there has been very little comment from the designer.

Any designer that claims a sub 12meter cat has a cruising speed under sail of 11 to 12 knots is a dill. Check out the website.

Nice looking boat however.

Regards.

I know of two boats launched in the last 18 months in my area plus another 2 that should be launched over the next 12 months. From memory I think around 20 have been launched in total. I'm sure Spiritcat will respond to claims as to whether they are blue water boats or not but noting that he has just returned from New Caledonia and was wrapped with the boats performance I think I know what his answer will be!

[rodcat]

Hi we owned a Spirit 380 for a couple of weeks before it flipped of Kangaroo Island. We were in the water for about 6 hours before being winched off. The boat was ashore 4 months later about 600NM away.
News Video - Yahoo!7 News


Here is a link to the Building of our boat by the original owner

It took this builder 2 and half years to build full time with two people working on about 6500hours

Building the Cat

The boat sailed along well but anything over 10 + knots it just did not seem to sit well in the water was very light in the water.

The design is very roomy inside and has quite a good layout

We did contact the designer after the incident but did not have any joy there.

We now have a new yacht built by Robert Chamberlin it is another Cat 11.6metres in length. This yacht in my opinion is a better boat. It sits on 10 knts all day and sticks to the water like Glue. The bigger brother of this boat just broke the Australian record for sailing around Australia see link

Bruce Arms

Hope this helps a little

[spiritcat]

Ausaviator,
I launched my 380 last December after close to 3.5 years building part time. Most home built 380s are taking a little longer to build, but I had a lot of support from friends and family and was able to cut the time down. The designers statement of time to build is for a very basic boat and most, if not all, would be looking for a better finish than a 'basic boat'.
All 380s have been built from balsa core duflex.
They are a light and reasonably quick cat with plenty of room for what we are looking for.
We sailed from Bundaberg to New Caledonia in June to see what the 380 sailed like offshore on the idea that we would change anything if it arose as we intend a longer trip offshore in a couple of years. The only thing I would change would be the provision of a helm seat which we had intended to add at sometime, but should have during the build process.
ta Heke performed well on the trip although we spent close to 4 days motoring on the way over there and the remainder of the crossings sailing up wind, not what we had expected.
Overall we are extreamly please with our 380, she is quick, roomy and a very good looking cat. She has also performed well in local club races including winning a trophy on our first outing.
If you need any additional information, let me know.

Peter

[Factor]

Originally Posted by catty

No. A Light, 38 ft boat with a mast tip near 60 ft off the water is nothing more than a high performance weekender/bay sailor.
Only a few have been launched and one has already flipped south of Kangaroo Island( supposedly hit something). This should be ringing alarm bells, yet there has been very little comment from the designer.

Any designer that claims a sub 12meter cat has a cruising speed under sail of 11 to 12 knots is a dill. Check out the website.

Nice looking boat however.

Regards.

Have you sailed on one. I have and I must say that my experience based on reality rather than your opinion based on theory leads me to a different conclusion. Perhaps you are not aware that you can always reef a boat such as this.

The issue for the spirited isnt your assumptions that all people are so stupid they will sail with all sail up in all conditions, but rather load carrying ability for long term cruising.

I think you will have to be careful in how you approach loading them, but apart from that - there is no reason why it cant cruise the south pacific, IF it is properly built.

As for only a few launched, I think that Stallion Marine (quite excellent builders) did 4 or 5 of them along with all the home builders.

Originally Posted by rodcat

We now have a new yacht built by Robert Chamberlin it is another Cat 11.6metres in length. This yacht in my opinion is a better boat. It sits on 10 knts all day and sticks to the water like Glue. The bigger brother of this boat just broke the Australian record for sailing around Australia see link

Great designer Robin, I like almost all his boats, particularly his tris. I haven't sailed on Bruce s boat but its capabilities with the trans tasman win and the Australia Circumnavigation etc speak for themseleves.

[spiritcat]

Our 380 was not the first to head offshore, Minx the first 380 built by Stallion sailed up through Indonesia and Zinc, another 380 built by Stallion was talking about sailing through the Pacific and may have done so.

Peter

[harlie]

And you would really need to look at fuel and water capabilities.

I’ve had a lengthy chat with one of the crew that accompanied Peter to New Cal, he spoke highly of the boat in terms of pace, space, comfort ect, but voiced absolute bewilderment at the lack of fluids, commenting on concerns for both water and fuel during that passage in June with the lack of wind. He did comment on the need to reduce sail area very early but that is assumed just by reading the specs

He agrees with Factor, the issue for long term cruising is payload.

I certainly wouldn’t like to experience RodCat’s drama.

[spiritcat]

I agree with water and fuel capacity. We carried 210 liters of diesel plus and additional 40 liters in jerry cans and used most of it. With water, we carried 270 liters and an additional 60 liters in jerry cans. We always intended to install a desal unit and have plumbed and wired in for such a unit, I just need to find the cash to purchase a unit along with solar panels.
We were unfortunate in that we had motors running for four days on the way over, on a 6 day trip.
If you were not installing a desal unit, then additional water tank capacity would be needed.
The 380 is not what I would call a long term live aboard cruiser and was never designed to be such a cat, it is a performance cruiser and as such one must live with the compromises such a boat entails.

For my wife and I, we would have no problem heading off on a trip around the Pacific for 6 months which is the primary purpose we built ta Heke.

Peter

[rexd666]

There is always the 480 for those concerned about size and payload of the 380. Only aware of the one under construction at the moment. But it is one of three I am considering.

Ausaviator,
If you are seriously considering a build , look at some of the builds in the forums over at DIY-Yachts.com - Amateur Boat Builders Community under Member's Multi's.
I am pretty sure there are posts from builders of Oram, Spirited, Easy, Chamberlain and other designs.
Regards
Steve

[daddle]

One just arrived here in Palau yesterday. Minx. There is nothing but blue water hereabouts. So that says something. That said the bridge clearance looks like big trouble. To my eye the 'swoopy' lines are a bit too much. Certainly looks fast.

[ausaviator]

Without checking the specs again, I read 750mm bridgedeck clearance? I imagine that would decrease somewhat under load.

[catty]

Originally Posted by ausaviator

There is no doubt that it is more than capable of those speeds,
I've at least done that much research to date to confirm this. It is light, high powered and has sleek hulls with dagger boards.
With FP's and the like getting along at speeds approaching 10 knots, it's easy to see the difference.

Yes , a mirror dingy is capable of those speeds. It certainly doesn't make a mirror dingy a 11 -12 knot sail boat.

Many vessels have completed long voyages, from memory a modified Sydney harbour 18 foot skiff sail across the Tasman to NZ, many years ago. This feet doesn't make an 18 footer a good blue water cruiser.

You need to look at such things as Safety Record of the design, load carrying ability, strength of construction ( resistance to cruising life knocks and bumps) etc etc.. Looks and flat water speed would rate much lower .

Regards.

[ausaviator]

Catty, much of what concerns you is dependent on the builder, except maybe load carrying ability, so hard to suggest that it fails in these areas.

Seems to be a performance cruiser that is for sure and a safe seagoing boat if not pushed hard.