I like the
Tahiti ketch and her progeny. Very shippy and salty, and comfortable as can be. I also do not thing they roll too badly, but I suspect they
pitch badly, like any double-ender. So this may be of interest -
For what it's worth, I just looked closely at a
steel Tahitana advertised for sail in the
current issue (Oct 2011, web presentation of '48 North' magazine
48° North - The Sailing Magazine) . The asking
price is $15,000, and here is my assessment.
The
boat suffers from the following major issues:
Some serious rust areas on the
deck around the
cockpit.
A complete lack of an
interior.
An installed 2 cyl Sabb with hand start capability, but with no
cooling,
no
batteries, nor electrics of any kind.
A huge I-beam (not to original plans) welded to the bottom of the
keel that would generate enormous drag; and which may indicate stability issues; it would have to be removed.
Junk and grime everywhere below and on
deck.
The
mast is a light pole, not a yacht spar (she is
cutter rigged).
The
boat has not been sailed since around the early 90's.
The boat needs a sandblast and
epoxy tar treatment inside and out, although the
hull looks OK and is not rusting.
The
rudder is homebuilt and has no hydro dynamic properties.
It is lying in the South Park Marina, surrounded very closely by other
project boats, and really ought to be moved to a location suitable for serious
renovation.
On the positive side, it comes with tools, and a ton of (probably obsolete)
gear. The owner is a nice fellow, a retired deck
engineer from the merchant
marine, but is getting too old to continue the
project.
I gave it an immediate pass. This boat is in "seriously deep project" mode. If I were young, skilled, broke, and eager with several years of free time - OK - I might ask for the boat for $100 and take it on. Fortunately, I am not in that position.
Linear Mode
Recent Discussions