Mahe 36: Owners

[Jonno732]

G'day guys and girls,
We have survived Debbie with minimal damage!
Others here are not so lucky and some that are a total loss.

All we sustained was a black rub mark where a fender popped and the mast top wind instruments have gone walkabout.

If you guys hear of anyone at Airlie that needs a hand please let me know. I'll be around here for a while yet as the water is full of crap still.

Cheers

Jonno

[MKB53]

Glad to hear you got through it so well.

Seen enough pictures to know that many were not so lucky.

[Boonzajer]

Hi all, there is a Mahe for sale in Bar, Montenegro. Name is Astra, 2008, private boat, looks like a good specimen. American owner. BUT: there are no less than 4 (FOUR!) brokers dancing around this ship, all claiming to be the only real broker, and warning me against getting into business with the others. Makes me very distrustful. I do not mind buying through a broker at all - in fact I prefer it. But I do not want to run the risk sinking my money into a potential hornets nest of feuding brokers. Hence my question: does anyone happen to know how I can reach the owner of this 2008 Mahe 36 now in Bar, but probably in Croatia before? Thanks, Robert

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Boonzajer

Hi all, there is a Mahe for sale in Bar, Montenegro. Name is Astra, 2008, private boat, looks like a good specimen. American owner. BUT: there are no less than 4 (FOUR!) brokers dancing around this ship, all claiming to be the only real broker, and warning me against getting into business with the others. Makes me very distrustful. I do not mind buying through a broker at all - in fact I prefer it. But I do not want to run the risk sinking my money into a potential hornets nest of feuding brokers. Hence my question: does anyone happen to know how I can reach the owner of this 2008 Mahe 36 now in Bar, but probably in Croatia before? Thanks, Robert

A buddy inquired about this boat and asked for my opinion as a former Mahe owner.


According to hs memory the boat appeared on the market in 2016 with one broker asking 160 or 165k ex VAT. Now the lowest asking is 114k, and even that has been there for a while.
Currently its four brokers, but if I remember corectly it used to be five.

The boat is US / Delaware registered but the owner is a Russian. My friend wasn't fancy about wiring money to Russia or trusting a broker in Montenegro. I doubt they have things like bonded client acconts or escrow account there so make sure your money is save.


The broker told him the boat has been privately used all the time, but with a professional skipper. Who would do that on a 36 ft boat???

Looking closer into this I found a russian website offering this particular boat for skippered charter. When my friend asked the broker about this, the broker contacted both the charter company and the owner, and magically the website disappeared within a day...
When asked again about this the broker reported back that the owner confirmed its been strictly privately used, and that this charter listing was a "fake listing" and had been removed.

But its still in the internet archive:
Web Archive

The boat has been listed since 2014 on this particular website. I haven't checked for other listings since my buddy wasn't looking for an ex charter boat.


If I remember correctly the different brokers listed vastly different engine hours, possibly because brokers that came in later had more recent information. The engine hour difference was in several hundret hours, way more than a privately owned holiday boat receives in one season.


The pictures shown look good, but the brokers mixed up photos of this boat, a sister ship, and also mixed in pictures with a timestamp of 2011.
So make sure you get original quality pictures taken recently with timestamp.



I'm not saying this boat has issues. Our Mahe was in charter for a few years from new and survived the treatment very well. So it could still be a good deal for someone willing to deal with this situation. At the end my buddy lost interest due to lack of trust.

[rabbi]

I just noticed you are from Netherlands, just like the forum member sailingjoy. He bought our Mahe in 2016, and travelled from the Med to Antwerp over the last two seasons.
So almost around the corner

[Boonzajer]

Hi Rabbi, this is fortunate indeed. Soon as I get my hands on my own Mahe we could sail in company! Will try to get into contact with them. You have any particulars?

Regz Robert

[sailingjoy]

Rabbi, Antwerp??? That's Belgium! ;-)
Nothing wrong with Belgium, but as you said I am from the Netherlands. The boat is in Hellevoetsluis, south of Rotterdam.

Hi Robert, just send me a PM. Succes with your search!

Jan Jaap

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by sailingjoy

Rabbi, Antwerp??? That's Belgium! ;-)
Nothing wrong with Belgium, but as you said I am from the Netherlands. The boat is in Hellevoetsluis, south of Rotterdam.

Hi Robert, just send me a PM. Succes with your search!

Jan Jaap

Yes I know that Antwerp is in Belgium
I actually worked there for a few months, some say it took only so long because I had to try all their different beers.


But I have to tell you that JOY is still in Antwerp / Belgium (I thought you stopped there and drove home).
In case you lost track of your boat just ask vesselfinder: the last AIS location is Antwerp.
We all know that the internet is _never_ wrong, so my guess is you sailed the wrong lady home.

Happy Xmas to all!

[sailingjoy]

You are right, Rabbi, for some strange reason Vesslfinder had put my boat in Antwerp. It is at least 6 years ago that I have been there with my previous boat and I didn’t even have AIS by then.


But if you check now (Joy, MMSI 244740816) you will see that the boat is finally in Hellevoetsluis. It took some threats with serious legal action to convince them to put my boat where it really has been for the last months!

Happy Xmas to all and fair winds for next year!

[julians26]

Hull number 129 is now called Jasmin (official name Jasmin 1) and is based at Townsville Yacht Club in Queensland.

New owners Julian and Angela are getting to know the boat, with plans for short cruises up and down the coast.

[rabbi]

Originally Posted by Boonzajer

Hi all, there is a Mahe for sale in Bar, Montenegro. Name is Astra, 2008, private boat, looks like a good specimen. American owner. BUT: there are no less than 4 (FOUR!) brokers dancing around this ship, all claiming to be the only real broker, and warning me against getting into business with the others. Makes me very distrustful. I do not mind buying through a broker at all - in fact I prefer it. But I do not want to run the risk sinking my money into a potential hornets nest of feuding brokers. Hence my question: does anyone happen to know how I can reach the owner of this 2008 Mahe 36 now in Bar, but probably in Croatia before? Thanks, Robert

That one in Montenegro is now sold. Have you picked her up?

[Budawang]

I'm looking to buy a new boat and the Mahe is high on my list. Currently the co-owner of a Lavezzi, which we like a lot, my wife and I are looking for something more affordable for sole ownership and long-term cruising. The Mahi seems to be a lot of boat for the money. I have the impression the Mahi is really a smaller version of the Lavezzi with similar characteristics. I think the main difference would be less load-carrying capacity and less accommodation if you go with the 2-cabin version, but ergonomics and performance would be quite similar. Is this correct? Are there any other pros or cons relative to the Lavezzi?

By the way, I think it's a real shame FP no longer produce an affordable entry-level catamaran. It seems that the market is generally being skewed towards the higher end. Perhaps this is a sign of the times reflecting the hollowing-out of the middle class?

[MKB53]

Hi Budawang

I have never sailed on a Lavezzi but would have bought one if I could afford it at the time. Instead I bought a Mahe. I can't offer a comparative but the Mahe does sail quite well and has petty good accommodation etc. We had ours for over 8 years and loved it. Did a lot of miles on the Aus East Coast.
One thing of note is that the Mahe owners on the forum (when I was involved) really loved their boats.

I now have a Lucia which has amazing accommodation, comfort, sails OK and is a lot stiffer and quieter. The Mahe is a very noisy boat..

In my opinion the Mahe is faster and a lot more fun to sail. We are really happy with the Lucia which suits our purpose. Do I love it like the Mahe? Maybe not.

Cheers
Martin

[Budawang]

Originally Posted by MKB53

Hi Budawang

I have never sailed on a Lavezzi but would have bought one if I could afford it at the time. Instead I bought a Mahe. I can't offer a comparative but the Mahe does sail quite well and has petty good accommodation etc. We had ours for over 8 years and loved it. Did a lot of miles on the Aus East Coast.
One thing of note is that the Mahe owners on the forum (when I was involved) really loved their boats.

I now have a Lucia which has amazing accommodation, comfort, sails OK and is a lot stiffer and quieter. The Mahe is a very noisy boat..

In my opinion the Mahe is faster and a lot more fun to sail. We are really happy with the Lucia which suits our purpose. Do I love it like the Mahe? Maybe not.

Cheers
Martin

Thanks Martin. The Lucia looks like a great boat but it's unfortunately outside our budget. I haven't convinced my wife to sell the house and cut the lines entirely . When you say the Mahe is noisy, do you mean creaking noise or just the water noise behind the boat?

How would the running/maintenance costs between the two in the Med compare? We're planning to cruise six months, then put her on the hard for winter while we return to Australia. Our running/maintenance costs for the Lavezzi here in Oz are $36K AUD per year but we do a lot of miles (she's a shared boat and we cruise offshore) and get most things done professionally. I'm hoping we can do the Med thing on closer to $20K AUD per year - just boat-related expenses including storing her on the hard for 6 months, repairs, minor upgrades, insurance, checkin/out procedures and (minimal) marina time etc. Does this sound feasible?

Would like to sail the Mahe back to Oz after a couple of years, but realise this wouldn't be the ideal boat for doing so. However, I'm pretty sure I can set her up to keep the weight down with lots of solar and water maker. She'd be a great east coast cruiser for two with the odd trip out to Lord Howe etc.

[MKB53]

I was referring to the creaking noise.

I have kept records of costs over 3 seasons here (and the 8 in Aus) so I can give you some info on that. I will pm you rather than put it in the general post. May be a day or two as we are busy laying up for winter at the moment. Busy during the day and knackered at night!