iam thinking of buying a first 47.7 advice please good or bad

[johnny47.7]

hi my name is johnny. iam seriously thinking of buying a first 47.7 with a tall rig and deep draft. i will be living aboard for at lest 5 years sailing from miami to the islands Caribbean ect for a couple of years then sail her to the med for a few more.then take her back to australia were iam from.iam living in nyc at the moment and done with the city live i have sailed a lot when i was younger of sydney in all types of yachts on sea conditions iam 44 now.does any one have info good or bad about the 47.7.as i see it you get a lot of boat for around $250.000 and that is my budget. i will be looking at 2000 to2003 models they are fast and big down below.thanks.johnny

[slomotion]

I know nothing about them except that yachtworld specs show the "deep draft" version to be around 9' 2". I'm sure it's fast, but I would consider that inconvenient for many anchorages in the Bahamas/Caribbean.

[James S]

Agree with slomotion
You start getting deeper than 6 or 6.5 ft draft in the Caribbean and it can limit some anchorages.

[Weyalan]

The tall rig / deep draft version is generally aimed at the racing market, fully crewed. While it does have significantly better performance than the standard (shallower draft / shorter rig) version, it will be much more of a handful to sail short handed and the deep draft will impose some limitations on where you can go. If you love your racing, it will be a design that will be good for you because you can race or cruise, but if you are looking for a cruising boat, consider the standard rig / draft.

[johnny47.7]

Weyalan,thanks for your input, faster is better,cheers johnny

[Weyalan]

Don't I know it... my "cruising" boat has running backstays & running checkstays...

[High Cotton]

ummmmmm..............
I don't like spilling my drink...........
so I guess that's why my draft 5'6"........and 25,000lbs
I can virtually go most anchorages and is adequate for the ICW.
If you're in a hurry, go for the tall rig and deep draft........
but, honestly, speed is not my thing, I prefer slow and comfy.....

never did understand the "speed" thing on ANY boat, power OR sail!.....
but that's just me.........

[Ex-Calif]

Johnny - I've sailed on the 40.7 a bit and if the 47.7 is similar and if you are singlehanding it might need some thinking. We sailed with minimum 6 people although we could probably do with 4.

[johnny47.7]

cheers Dan,for any big ocean crossing there would be 3 crew only but experienced passage sailors.johnny

[George P]

Johnnny, go for it. That boat is a dream, just keep track of the tides when close to land. I recently saw one tied up at green turtle key club marina in the bahamas this past summer and to get there it had to get thourgh a 5ft channel at low tide, he made it in at high tide easily. Very slick looking boat
George

[johnny47.7]

Yes George that is the truth.

cheers johnny

[HorizonMarine]

I sailed a couple of years on a 47.7, racing it. We sailed with a crew of 8-12. It is NOT a light wind boat. takes 15 knots to make it move at hull speed, and this was deep fin, carbon fiber spar etc. We had problems with the rudder bearings and the steering cables (which are actually lines). Decent boat. Yanmar engines that they have are the best. Singlehanded it a couple of times after a race and that was not fun, as the boat needed some crew. (i singlehand my Jeanneau 47 easily though)

[noelex 77]

Dear Johnny
It always amazes me what vastly different boats people are happily and successfully cruising in. The most important thing is just get out there and do it in whatever vessel you have. That said if you are purchasing a cruising boat from scratch IMHO you money could be better spent.
If I can give you an analogy think of buying a sports car (Say a Honda 2000) to do a round Australia trip.

[Liberty28]

With all due respect and it's none of my business, but where in God's Green Acres are people coming up with the funds to purchase these boats. I must be the only fool in the middle of a depression that has impacted my ability to even purchase second clothes!! Oh well.

[GordMay]

Excerpted from the Chris Caswell review, at:
Boats.com - Boat Review/Test: Beneteau First 47.7

“Beneteau First 47.7
Racer or cruiser: it's all in the options package ...
... Undersail, this is a fun boat, although it's neither an easy singlehander nor a ma-and-pa boat, because there's a lot of sail to trim ...
... Depending on how crazy you get with sails and electronics, you can have a full racer-cruiser for about $300,000 ...”