Irwin 65 / 68 for world cruising

[joshrosenthal1]

Hi, We are close to buying our dream home afloat. We have invested heavily (our hearts) on a very large Irwin 65. Does anyone have real world experience cruising one of these big old bad boys around the world? IF so what suggestions can you make in order to maker her as manageable as possible? Bow thruster needs to be added and she doesn't draw very deep. We are planning to take her across the Pacific. Any solid advise is welcomed. We are a family of 4 with 1 possibly 2 mates. Cheers

[DDabs]

There is an Irwin 68 at my marina that has a hot tub molded into the deck. pretty sweeeeeet!

[joshrosenthal1]

You have a pic?


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[DDabs]

standby

[joshrosenthal1]

Awesome

[joshrosenthal1]

Any thoughts on its blue water capabilities, possibilities or things to consider?

[Stumble]

No real experience with the 68' we looked at one seriously before settling on the 54'. I spent 10 years on and off growing up on the boat, and cut my teeth helping to maintain her.

The major issue with the Irwin construction we found was a lot of small things were sourced from RV parts not marine. So things like light switches and door handles weren't as reliable as we would have liked, and it was almost impossible to source matching parts. On the upside is that this long past construction most of those things will have either been replaced or will probably last forever.

On the ships systems stuff Irwin did use high quality marine parts. The only real issue we ever had was when we got hit by lightning some of the parts were very hard to source because they went for very high end suppliers instead of standard ones.

[Stumble]

Originally Posted by joshrosenthal1

Any thoughts on its blue water capabilities, possibilities or things to consider?

You posted while I was writing my other reply...

Off shore she is going to be big, heavy, take waves very well, and point poorly. It's just a trade off for the shallow draft and very heavy construction.

How heavy is the construction? We accidentally ran into a concrete pier once with the dolphin striker. I don't have them anymore, but the concrete cracked the striker was fine except for a few scratches.

One thing I might suggest is to have a fuel polisher installed. The massive fuel tanks mean you will have pretty slow turn over of diesel. Polishing regularly can help prevent bigger issues.

[DDabs]

"Lady Rebel"

I believe this boat was actually owned by Ted at one point. The hot tub is molded in behind the cockpit, just aft of the mizzen.

[joshrosenthal1]

Oh she is nice! See if she is for sale! ha! Takes waves well? Weather and storms? How would she run before the weather if she had to? I'm happy with heavy and strong / draft might be good for the pacific islands. Safe if the key.


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[DDabs]

Dude it's a 68 ft. boat. It can handle any ocean

[Tingum]

Not to rain on anyone's parade but there have been several instances of these boats de laminating bulkheads in heavier weather. Size does not necessarily equate to strength. Get a good survey!

[Jim Cate]

Originally Posted by DDabs

Dude it's a 68 ft. boat. It can handle any ocean

A ludicrous statement! Surely you don't really believe it... or do you?

Jim

[Dulcesuenos]

We looked at 2 smaller and one larger irwin, all had structural issues. The issues we found were, delaminated bulk heads, severe leaking from cheap fixtures causing a lot of core problems, weak hull to deak joint seam allowing water intrusion. Coring on coachroof upper deck structure gone from poor port light bedding, and the later 43s hull we looked at was one huge blister. Maybe a Good coastal / marina boat. Unless the 50+ size versions were built completely different.

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[neilpride]

They flex a lot, lifting one in the travelift with the slings in the proper position and we found a large airline crack running from the starboard side of the cockpit to the port side,
with good weather they are fine boats , in bad weather who know....