Boat Poll - Please Contribute Opinions

[stevewrye]

Sailcat, Have you looked at the Mason 44 at all? They are beautiful cruising boats made to go to sea. I think there are some on the market on both coasts and the prices vary last time I looked. The early 90's ones should be in good shape. They are super well made boats.

[Abaco]

If I were looking for a monohull in that size range, I would take a hard look at this 46' Hereshoff Mobjack which is currently in Fort Lauderdale. I believe it checks all your boxes.

1987 L. Francis Herreshoff Mobjack Mobjack Ketch Sail Boat For Sale -

[CaptainBW]

Saw a couple of Outbounds at the boat show over the weekend and I was very impressed. Expensive, but very well designed boat and seemed very well built. My general impression at the show was that most builders are reducing quality to meet a price point, in many cases to the detriment of the boat's sea worthiness. The Outbounds were my favorites and I would consider them on the short list if looking.

I own an Island Packet, so that may give you some insite to my frame of reference. That being said, I am not impressed with the late model IPs. I got on nearly every boat over 35 feet at the show. Outbound was impressive.

[Sailcat]

I always enjoy hearing from you. Just so you know, I'm not as dumb as I look. I won't touch a pen till I sail the boat over a weekend!

[Sailcat]

Thanks Stevewrye! I'll make a point to check them out.

[chuckr]

Please please please do not put Jeanneaus and Bennies in the same class - except maybe the last couple of years
we sail a 2001 jeanneau ds40 and she is roomy a dream to sail - a good cruiser and somewhat heavy at 22k pounds - she is a bit stiff and hands bad seas well - she was built by jeanneau priot to bennie ownership and still has a lot of good workmanship in her before the bennie owners began to cheapen up jeanneaus -
we have a few miles on her and she still looks good, sails well and we plan to sail her across and ocean this year - God willing - and we are not good sailors but she is a good sailing boat and way way better than the drinking platforms know as hunters or the catalinas which are nice coastal boats
oh yea and i am prejudice about jeanneaus

just our opinion and it is worth what you paid for it
chuck patty and svsoulmates
cartagena colombia

[Victory49]

Have you looked at the Hinckley 49? Meets a lot of your requirements and as they are older, are reasonably priced.
Solid, roomy, classic, and bulletproof.

[Ironhorse74]

I wanted a blue water cruiser. After looking at boats for several years I stumbled onto John Vigors "The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat" There is a chapter called test your boat. I started using that chapter to evaluate the boats I looked at. I think it helped me, might help you.

[BoxerOne]

What am I missing? The list is weak, I know. Are my criteria to confining?
I saw an awesome Hunter 50 Saturday and compared it to a Beneteau and noticed big differences. I think I would sail a Hunter in a heartbeat, feel safe, secure, and comfortable on a transpassage. Is my thinking sound? Am I looking for the right things?

What are your thoughts?[/QUOTE]

Did you consider a bit smaller boat that still has plenty of room?

Look at the Tartan 4100 and the Sabre 425. Sabre only made 29 425's so they are hard to come by-- but they are beautiful boats with lots or room and very solid performance.

[Sailcat]

Great post, Chuckr! I'll keep the two separate. Thanks for the heads up!

[Svsilvergirl]

Trying to digest the comment about hinkley's being reasonably priced . Choke........i went to the hinkley boat yard in stewart florida in february , and its safe to say I couldn't afford the dinghy off one of then things.....beautiful , but there wasn't a boat in their yard for less than $200,000 . Really

[HHNTR111]

I suggest two books for you to read.

The first is "Desirable and Undesirable Characteristics of Offshore Yachts", by John Rousmaniere, and the second is a two volume set by Ferenc Mate, " The World's Best Sailboats".

Both good reads, informative.

[Sailcat]

I'll order them right now! Thanks again for all your help.

[Icarus]

Ferro is for civil works, alu is excellent appart from electrolysis, which can be avoided..steel is good, not noisy, maintenance is a must, durable but heavy..cold moulded timber is excellent, light and strong..fibreglass ages and looses strenght..osmosis is a pain to fix..my choice is cold moulded timber..steel is second, fibreglas is ok but depends how well it was laid up..get a Rockwell test done and u will see what I am talking about..
I am a boat buider and owned a number of cruising boats, sailed a lot and repaired dozends of yachts..mostly fibreglass yachts like Beneteaus..we had a contract of re-fastening ballast keels..if u have a good look at the earlier ones u can see that the keel bolts are straight through the hull, no substantial support grid at all!!..when the yacht runs aground the keel pushes up and separates the inner liner..big dollars to fix.
Like everything else there is no easy answer..
Fred Rebel sailed in an open 18' boat from Australia to the US..he als found god on his way..just a thoght.

Originally Posted by Sailcat

Next Subject-Hull material

I've ruled out ferrocement.
I've accepted fiberglass.
I fantisize about wood.
Considered Aluminun for the scrap value.
Think steel would be too noisy, underway and at anchor.

What are your thoughts and observations?

Thanks in advance.
Sailcat