GS 44 - I43 - KP44 ... the short list

[DrivinSteve]

Echoing Captmikem. I lived on a KP44 and skippered her out of St.Thomas for a month++. Very nice boat to sail with excellent performance and good manners. Great design, well laid out for living and sailing in a seaway with good handholds, solid galley layout, etc. and great access to machinery spaces. Cockpit is long watch friendly with good vis all around and running gear is where it can be worked. I make my living delivering all kinds of boats and can't remember anything about the KP44 that I much disliked.

[Formosa46AK]

" The KP are always found very cheaply priced so must be built cheaply. " But georgetheleo certainly has a high opinion of his boat.

Here's a list of the 'very cheaply priced' KP44, KP46 and F46 found on the Kelly-Peterson/Formosa site as an example of georgetheleo's opinion. The website for those interested is: http://www.kp44.org]Peterson Cutter Website - Welcome

The attached Boats for Sale is at: Peterson Cutter - Boats for Sale

29 of the 39 or so boats were built before 1980. That is reflected in their average "cheap" price of probably $90-100K. If I interprete 'Leo' statement correctly: "found very cheaply priced so must be built cheaply", then there are a lot of stupid buyers out there paying way to much for cheaply built boats.

I just had my 1978 F46 pulled out last fall after 5 years since the last painting and had the yard go over the hull with instructions to fix any blisters and then paint it. The yard owner said there wasn't one blister to fix. I guess I was one of the lucky ones per Leo. I'm a little ticked at the comments Leo made. I don't know about the other boats but he doesn't know much about KP or F46s.

[malyea]

Spent 3 hours inspecting a KP44 in Oriental, NC yesterday and have ruled out the KP44 entirely.

I love her reported sailing qualities and while some of the Formosa builds are reported as suspect - she tugs hard at my sailors heart...however -

The cockpit well is too small and cramped ... for me.

The passageway aft is only 51" high - too low ... for me.

The engine access to the front of the Perkins is way too limited i.e. nearly jammed against the compartment bulkhead ... for me.

These things I can't change.

I did find a very nice 1987 Irwin 43 MkIII that has been well maintained, hauled every winter and has a 7 year old Yanmar - not a rebuild but a new motor.

Thoughts...