Feeling Yachts

[Tentimes]

As this is my first post here, I'll apologize in advance for any mistakes I might make.

My wife and I are considering purchasing a used Feeling 486.
As part of the decision making process, I jumped online to do some detailed technical research, together with looking for feedback from owners etc........
Apparently, there are several thousand ways that Google combines the words "feeling" and "yacht", including some that would require censorship on this forum, so all I've found so far is an old thread here that was trying to get together an owners group, together with the basic technical specs on sailboatdata.com

I would greatly appreciate any advice on where to look further for worthwhile information, links etc.

[Badsanta]

Welcome aboard. This is a great place.

[Spiider]

I'd actually like to hear what others think about the Feeling-Lines boats as well.

I really like the style of the Cruiser line 48.

[exMaggieDrum]

Just in case you haven't tried this: yachtworld.com http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listing/cache/searchResults.jsp?type=%28Sail%29&searchtype=homep age&Ntk=boatsEN&sm=3¤cyid=100&luom=126&cit=true&fr omPrice=0&man=feeling&slim=quick&N=3974+944&is=fal se&pricderange=Select+Price+Range

I preset the search for "feeling 486"

[skipmac]

Added one more key word to the google search and got this.

Kirie (FRA) 1912- www.feeling-lines.com
Feeling goes all the way back to 1912 when the Kirié shipyard, founded by the Kirié family, set up shop in a small garage on Rue de la Forêt in the Sables d'Olonne. The shipyard originally built small sailing boats. In the 1950s, production turned more towards speed boats. In the ‘60s, the founder’s son participated on countless occasions in the "Six heures de Paris" race – driven by his competitive streak.
In the late ‘60s, the shipyard expanded and moved to the Château d'Olonne near the Sables d'Olonne. It was one of the first to work with polyester, and very early on launched speed fishing boats, the "Anges de mer", and sailing fishing boats, the "Fifty".
In the early ‘80s, Kirié launched a range of habitable power cruise ships called "Feeling". In 1986, the 13.5 m Feeling won the Route du Rhum in the standard boat category and the 10.9 m Feeling was voted "Boat of the year" in 1987.
The Feelings were already available in lift keel or fin keel version. In 2000, Alliaura Marine took over the Kirié shipyard.
As of 2010, Feeling is owned by Privilège Marine Groupe Privilège Marine - Chantier naval - Privilège - Yacht bateau de croisière de luxe) and the Feeling range is composed of 7 models, from 32’ to 55’.

and this

Feeling 48

and this. Not specifically about the 486 but does discuss the quality of the line in general.

Kirié Feeling 396 DI Sailboat Review | Cruising World

[Tentimes]

Thank you to all who have responded so quickly, especially with links to data.
Unfortunately, I have already read most of this elsewhere.

It seems rather weird that googling "feeling 486" returns many, many yachts for sale worldwide.............but no one seems to want to talk about owning one.

My wife and I are in the market for a cruiser to be our new home, however as I am vertically gifted (6'5" or 196cm) and do not have a large budget, my choices are somewhat limited.
The Feeling 486 seems to tick enough boxes to warrant serious investigation, as cabin height is ok for me (just), but I really wanted some owner feedback before proceeding.

I guess I'll just have to keep looking.

[titifax]

I am new to this forum and as this thread is about Feeling yachts in general, I have some questions about the Feeling 44 DI perhaps an owner could answer:


This yacht seems to me quite suitable for bluewatersailing because of the centerboard and good space management below deck.



Is it (beside material) comparable with a ovni 435 which I know already?



As the yachts are now mainly +15 years old, are there beside the usual signs of wear any weak points to observe?



I found different opinions about the construction of the centerboard which is one of the significant characteristics of the yacht eg


- problems reversing the yacht because of 2 rudders

- problems with the keelbox (delamination)

- poor onwind performance (compared with fixedkeel versions)





thank you for your answers


titifax