Quote:
Originally Posted by Lantau
Can anyone with experience owning a Nauticat tell me what to look for in a mid-1980s Nauticat 40 or 43 (as far as I can tell, the only real difference between these boats is three feet). What bits of these boats need to be overhauled or repaired after almost three decades, assuming the boat has had good continuous maintenance? What bits are known to fail for lack of maintenance or even with normal maintenance? Importantly, what should one look for when doing an inspection, apart from the usual stuff, and what might a surveyor miss?
Thanks in advance.
(P.S. I posted this as a reply in another forum without much response. Apologies if you've seen it before.)
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At the beginning of the 1980´s the Nauticat 52 was launched. It was the largest yacht to date built by the yard, and the 52 was later replaced by the Nauticat 521 and this exceptional
offshore yacht got smaller sisters called 43 and 40. All three yachts came from the drawing board of Sparkman & Stephens. These yachts were quite different from the traditional Nauticats in sense of both design and performance. These yachts were the first steps in the direction of pilothouse sailing yachts that were to be introduced later. The pilothouse was lower than earlier, the hulls were more sailboat like and the entrance was in the
cockpit and not from the pilothouse sides as earlier. The 521, 43 and 40 were designed with ocean crossings in mind and this could easily be seen when having a look at for instance fuel-and
water tank capacities. For some time at the beginning of the 80´s the yard even produced ordinary sailboats, the Nauticat S-series, like the S-300, the S-320, S-340 and S-380. The S-300, 340 and 380 had earlier been called Finnsailer and they were renamed Nauticats when Nauticat Yachts bought the moulds and the rights for these fine yachts.
The story of the yard
Both good designs, but I'd much prefer the 43 myself. Like most boats of this era,
teak decks and tankage are the key concerns. Try to find one which has had the
teak decks professionally removed already.