Hi Paul. I bought our 47.7 five years ago. Ours was not the usual
racing version, instead she had wing
keel with
draft only 1.95m which was excellent as we were really after yacht for fast cruising. I ended up spending far too much
money on her...... sand blasted
hull, painted below and above waterline, replaced all
teak decking, installed
diesel genset, installed high volume
water maker, replaced standing
rigging, doubled
diesel capacity, obviously all new
navigation electronics......
We paid AUD230k for her and were 3rd owner. I put all this lipstick on her and realised after that it was still the same pig before the
refit works. This exercise cost me around AUD150k and bit the bullet, cut my losses..... bought
passage maker cruising yacht....
1. I was never able to make our yacht
water proof. I am not talking about
water coming through the
mast when it rains.... Mysteriously there was always massive amount of water in the
bilge after days sailing. It was
salt water and bear in mind we pulled this
boat apart to pretty much to the last bolt and nut, even the
keel came off.
2. Bigger seas sailing into the
wind she was not comfortable with her round bottom, banging like hell. Also creaking noises were scary and felt like the
hull was bending, please note nicn name 'Bendy Toy'
3. One really annoying design problem to 47.7's is that water doesn't drain from under the main
head. I used to get my hand through tight hole from port side aft
cabin floor and mop the water out. Did this maybe 1000 times and I still hate the job years after. Simply couldn't leave water there permanently as there was that smell!!!!!
4. All metal works were ridiculously low standard. When we replaced seacocks, realised that there were two different metals used for them as factory job. We had one seacock snapped off heading from
Sydney to Adelaide... wasn't nice getting the yacht flooded banging into 30knts. We refitted all stanchions and the way they are done is just crap. They always move and end up leaking. All
cleats are simply mounted on thin
fiberglass with washers under!!
5. Overall everything is so cheaply done, no care what so ever.
Paul, as there is so much bad...... there must be something good too. When I dropped the keel and sand blasted the hull, there were no defects on the
gelcoat. No delaminating or
blisters anywhere. We painted new
epoxy coating and she looked truly beautiful..... red lipstick on

)
I traded her in and the guy still have her tied up front of his house in Mooloolabah Qld
Australia. He is in
England and is an older bloke who wants to quit all his assets here in OZ. Paul, if you really insist
buying 47.7 this is the one to buy as I spent my pennies on it, however pls take my word.... get something better

)
All the best what ever you choose
Cheers
Sepo