Advice on Boat Purchase Appreciated

[klaus303]

Hi Forum :-),
First of all im totally new to this forum and to sailing as well.
After several years of preparation im now 100% in the market to buy my first boat.
And its going to be a Sailboat - that can handle water sailing">blue water sailing, robust, has a good engine, easy to handle not too expensive and preferbly over 34".
Its not a race boat I want but something between a cruiser and a motor sailor.
Im not an experienced sailor I have to say
I live in Thailand and the wind is not very consistent here and the boat avaliability on the market not very big - unfortunately.
Furthermore the prices are somewhat higher than in US and Europe.

Spending some time with boat brokers, investigating the web etc. have made me a little confused.
Having the requirements to the boat I want, ofcourse limits the possibilities and I have a few ?marks still remaining that I might get an answer for here.

First of all, would a Jeanneau Sun Odyssey 35, Beneteau oceanic 350, Standfast 40 or a Bruce Roberts 43 (build in South Africa) be a good choice?
And for my needs which one would be obvious?
I know its somewhat a broad question to post here, but I give it a try anyway. :-)


About the keel construction on the boat, it could be mounted by bolts or made together with the hul from what I know.
I get mixed answers (depending what the broker has for sale) to the question about keel mount type.
Some say "stay away from bolted keels" and some say "doesnt matter".
My reasoning tells me that a bolted keel could not be as good as a keel that is made with the hul !
What is the opinion here?

br
Klaus

[skipmac]

Hi Klaus,

Welcome to the forum.

First, probably any of the boats you mention would sail offshore. Not familiar with the Standfast and the BR43 would depend on who built the boat (most SA built BR seem to be well made). In general I think most sailors say Beneteaus are better made than Jenneaus.

Keel. I have owned boats with external lead keel bolted on and encapsulated keels. For a cruising boat I prefer the encapsulated design since it eliminates a few maintenance concerns. With an external keel you do need to make sure the bolts are in good condition and I found that the joint between the keel and the hull always worked a little and showed a thin line every time I hauled, even though I caulked and sealed it every time. Always made me wonder how much salt water was seeping into the joint and corroding the keel bolts where I couldn't see them.

All that being said, plenty of boats have external keels and sail for many years without a problem. If I found the perfect boat I would not scratch it from the list due the that one feature.

[Pete7]

Klaus, there are thousands of yachts with bolt on keels because its cheaper to make them that way. Since lead is also expensive many are cast iron.

Ours are now 20 years old (we have two) and other than patch painting each year don't present a problem, certainly wouldn't put me off a yacht having a bolt on keel. As we prefer the more modern type of fin keeled yacht its going to have bolt on keels.

Pete

[sailorboy1]

Originally Posted by klaus303

Hi Forum :-),

About the keel construction on the boat, it could be mounted by bolts or made together with the hul from what I know.
I get mixed answers (depending what the broker has for sale) to the question about keel mount type.
Some say "stay away from bolted keels" and some say "doesnt matter".
My reasoning tells me that a bolted keel could not be as good as a keel that is made with the hul !
What is the opinion here?

br
Klaus

Some will even say that a bolted keel is better because it will "give" some if grounded! You can spin it any way you want to, but the fact is all the keels have their pros/cons and all are proven (talking cruising keels now not long blade racing ones).