Nonsuch 36 1988

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by nicholson31

Friend at our club has a nonsuch 36, I have sailed along side it and can attest to its speed, My 6.5 knots to his 8 knts, 20-25 knt wind, leaves us far behind. he says he has hit 10 knts with 25-30knt wind on beam, not wave surfing! This is his 3rd boat and gives high praise in its handling and comfort. Great layout inside, i think and in my opinion a great coastal boat but I think that is its limits, I think there would be other chalenges if going to be used for blue water, won't get that deep into it.

I'd really like to hear from Nonsuch owners about the pros and cons of those boats as "bluewater" boats. I have had a very positive impression of them overall, but perhaps their heavy weather characteristics are not so favorable.? Is that the rig or the hull that causes the "challenges?"

[barboak]

Originally Posted by hpeer

Look for a current thread called "salvaging a boat" or some such.



36' nonesuch that ran aground and was a loss. That owner may have an interesting perspective.

When in the Turks&caicos 3 or 4 years ago I was surprised to see one arrive there sailed by a Canadian couple as I am not used to seeing them that far south. Don't know if it was the same situation but a week after they arrived they hit a reef coming into West Caicos and I believe it broke up quickly. To me a good boat but does not seem as if it would be comfortable in the Caribbean in big wind and seas!


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[Cheechako]

Regarding pointing ability, I doubt they are any worse than a cat. Just crank up the iron reacher if you need to go dead to windward and motorsail. Very often you can avoid going to weather anyway.
Cored hull and spade rudder... that I would think twice about, but for just the Caribe probably wouldn't bother me too much... until I made a mistake and trashed the unprotected rudder anyway...... :>)

[nicholson31]

Ok I will go a bit deeper, that huge mast during a strong gale must really come into play. when you look at the boat in the cradle, the mast to hull looks so out of proportion, I believe it only has 5.5 draft although 17000 displacement. Also would be interesting on their "heave to" properties during intense situations?
My friend with the 36 also has mentioned that the composite masts give better performance than the aluminum. Ive seen his 60 foot aluminum sway, the carbon fibre must move like whip.

[MLC]

I had the pleasure of sailing for two days on a Nonsuch 36 that a relative owned. It was on Lake Erie in the summer. I was impressed with the high quality of construction and the cozy, well ventilated cabin. The berths were comfortable. Extremely easy to sail, tacking was a snap. As was stated by others, a minor weakness was its ability to point.

My sense was that it would be comfortable in high winds and waves, but we did not have any winds above 20 knots.

[CBinRI]

I have always liked these boats. Will have the room of most 40 footers down below. Convenient sail handing (in normal conditions). I give a thumbs up.

[Schrewsburyduo]

I always loved that boat design and I had been drooling over a Nonsuch for a number of years - any Nonesuch has such elegance, simplicity and a lot of room downstairs. It basically handles like a laser, so if you like simple sailing this is a great boat. Having said that, some issues - one is the inability to reef easily - the wishbone boom seems awkward to reef the one sail, but maybe people get used to it. I like the mast, makes the absence of lines and stays really nice. They are great coastal cruisers, but I would also caution against any water sailing">blue water sailing. The thing that would put me off ever buying one is the fact that I have seen one in my marina 2 yrs ago. It had been on a mooring and a speed boater who was drunk basically ran over the side of the Nonsuch. The collision was severe, and the boat showed a caking off fiberglass on the main hull in large chunks, and you can see underneath the coring etc. Basically the hull itself was cored, and the bond between the core and the outside skin was not so good, also the outside skin was paper thin in my opinion. This is the first time I had seen such damage on any sailboat. The boat was totaled, which is why they brought it into our marina, and I couldn't help thinking whether the damage would have been anything major had the boat been a Bristol or an old Pearson. So a caution - check about coring, especially in the hull, because any impact damage (a small collision maybe in the distant past) could mean water intrusion and core saturation and rot, and I 'm talking hull, not just decks. You would have no idea how any repairs were done, and sadly we don't have X-ray vision...