Any input on this boat?

[Enfant Du Vent]

CAUTION: The following comments are by a Luddite that has only sailed 22,000 miles offshore--albeit ONE trip was Gibraltar-Canaries-Barbados on a Snow Goose 37 (Crewed for a family of 2 adults, 2 young children)


Ahoy jjcarr1:
The passage from Gibraltar to Canaries was very fast. The passage to Barbados was quite pleasant--3-4' following seas and 10-15 kt tail winds. But it was rather slow (having loaded food, water....and wine...for the 2300 miles to Barbados). In fact we were beaten by 2-3 days by one of those famously fast Westsail 32s!


All in all probably a fine boat to live on / work from, but not really adapted for the canals of Europe or for getting home to NA without some upwind sailing. (Unless you go around the Horn west-to-east as that specific Westsail32 had done!)

[Tin Tin]

Seems to be more data on this site https://www.raiatea-yacht.com/index....e_1993&lang=en

[NorthernMac]

Not shabby

[Tupaia]

Originally Posted by fxykty

Why bother? That’s what smart phones and charting apps are good at - not carrying out of date paper charts. Agree that French Polynesia is a great place to start sailing a boat and Raiatea with its charter bases has repair services available.

OK maybe I should have said - Bon voyage! Have an amazing adventure! - Don't forget to take your phone or tablet with up to date navigational charts loaded.

[boatman61]

These folk took their Elite 37 from the UK to the Med via the French canals without problems..
https://www.catamaransite.com/refere...ner-interview/

[jjcarr1]

Originally Posted by boatman61

These folk took their Elite 37 from the UK to the Med via the French canals without problems..
https://www.catamaransite.com/refere...ner-interview/

Yeah, the specs on the general French canals are 1.5m draft and 5m beam, 3.3m height I think, so it would fit in most canals. I think the only downside to this boat in the canals is the lack of a bow thruster, but the ability to steer the prop a little helps. I saw a picture of one of these going through some locks and it was very tight, but doable.

[boatman61]

Originally Posted by jjcarr1

Yeah, the specs on the general French canals are 1.5m draft and 5m beam, 3.3m height I think, so it would fit in most canals. I think the only downside to this boat in the canals is the lack of a bow thruster, but the ability to steer the prop a little helps. I saw a picture of one of these going through some locks and it was very tight, but doable.

That's where the twin engined version comes in handy..

[NorthCoastJoe]

Speaking from experience: Go see it, but be ready to do a survey yourself. Do not trust any survey done by locals. Simple parts can be hard to find, for example 3 days to find a 1/4-20 set screw, and having to buy a full shaft seal rebuild kit. The kit was not the size I needed for my boat so $140 for a 25 cent part.

Many boats get there and get used, like used up, so expect to do a lot of repairs. They look nice but that's where the nice ends at looks. If you go dig deep into every part of the boat and test everything more than once.

My Tahiti bought boat had many problems well hidden. And my survey was worse than worthless.

[jjcarr1]

The survey I have is a year old, and I wouldn't trust it if it was new. I'm awaiting getting up to date pictures and details. If it looks good then I plan on flying out there for a week to check it out. I'll watch tons of survey videos and have a full punch-down list of things to check when I get there.

[gsuescum]

I can tell by the potable water jug in the galley photo that the water maker most likely doesn’t work…

[gsuescum]

Proust are supposed to be solid boats. The specs on the boat look good (survey will tell) but if you haven’t seen another Prout or any other cats it’s hard to form a good opinion. Have you seen any other cats yet? Anything more local to you?

I am a little worried that you’re going halfway around the world to look at a single boat.. we all tend to fall in love with the boats we go see and often make irrational decisions (I’ve done it a few times ! ).

Keep in mind that there’s no such thing as a “bargain boat” and there’s a reason it’s priced so much lower than all the other (location, condition?). Not saying it’s a good/bad boat but you may have a hard time telling.

Just be careful.

[jjcarr1]

Originally Posted by gsuescum

I can tell by the potable water jug in the galley photo that the water maker most likely doesn’t work…

Thanks. The owner says the watermaker is pickled. I'll be sure to verify.

[gsuescum]

Originally Posted by jjcarr1

Thanks. The owner says the watermaker is pickled. I'll be sure to verify.

Do you know how long it’s been pickled?

Make sure they run it for you and test the water during survey. It takes 30 minutes to pickle again. If they don’t want to run it for you, you may have to question whether it works.

That’s a $5k+ repair depending… and only if you can get the parts in the South Pacific.

Good luck!

[barnakiel]

Very very good boats.


I would take one in FP any time.


b.

[gsuescum]

Originally Posted by Thomas1985

That one appears to have a defect where a second hull has grown from the original hull

Hahaha!