Tartan 41 = Money Pit?

[krossc]

I have had a Tartan 41 for many years in British Columbia. It is a great boat and I singlehand it all the time....

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, donutsina911, and krossc.

[Capt RonB]

I never met an S&S design that I didn't like. Never saw one that was slow or hard to sail.

All boats are money pits. Just limit the spending and time to what is essential and save the money and time for cruising.

If you love it buy it.

[Symphony]

I have a Tartan (14 years old) and before that a Tartan (32 years old). The gelcoat on both look like new, people mistake them for boats 5 or 6 years old. The plumbing and wiring is easy to get to repair (for a boat). The looks are to kill for, the sailing is even better.

[Mystic38]

personally I would be looking at the Tartan 40, a S&S design just a more modern boat that still sails as good as a S&S does.

[sailpower]

Originally Posted by Mystic38

personally I would be looking at the Tartan 40, a S&S design just a more modern boat that still sails as good as a S&S does.

Doesn't the Tartan 40 have a cored bottom and all the controversy that comes with that?

[Mystic38]

I never knew folks treated the topic of balsa cored hulls like some sort of jihad...until I joined CF.... there are things in life to get worked up about, but whether someone else buys a cored hull or not isn't one of them..lol

Originally Posted by sailpower

Doesn't the Tartan 40 have a cored bottom and all the controversy that comes with that?

[Crimea Cruiser]

Originally Posted by David M

All boats are money pits, unless they are sitting on a trailer in your driveway.

ditto!

[hellosailor]

I wouldn't call them all money pits. The difference between "money pit" and "high maintenance" is that a money pit keeps surprising you with new problems. Like when the PO didn't caulk the chainplates, and you find out you have to rip out perfectly good trim, which can't be removed intact, and then under the trim you find the bulkhead has rotten and you'll require a new bulkhead. Which has also rotted out parts of the sole and was glued into the cabinetry.

A high maintenance boat won't give you the expensive surprises, if you had your eyes open when you started. Big difference between the two. A lot of folks see an ad for a cheap boat and don't have the skills to see "MONEY PIT!" unless it is written in big flashing neon letters.

But there is a difference.

[maine50]

I have Northstar- a Tartan 41/43 #59. IN 2011-2012 we took it to the caribbean for 7 months of fun. We used the autopillot 95 % of the trip down and back from Connecticut. (about 1500 miles each way) with no problem. The crew down was 3 and the crew back was 4. I sail it often with my wife or solo. The original rig was a single spreader telephone poile. (No runners). A lot of the boats have been retrofitted with twin spreader rigs. The big expenses are repowering (10-12 if do it yourself) or 16-20 if contracted out, sails, and any deck recoring you can't do yourself. To have the deck recored could be 30-50k. but it's not that tough to do it yourself. I have the T43(cb) version with the traditional transom and it was great for fuel jugs, outboard engine, and propane in a well. I would look for an updated boat with minimal problems ( ok maybe a little recoring.) PM me if you want to. Tim

[zeehag]

why would a tartan be more of an alleged money pit than any pother boat...boats is boats.
many out here cruising tartans. just be something good about them.

[TFR]

Could anyone recommend a new / used roller furling system for the headsail on a Tartan 41. I purchased a T 41 in need of some serious TLC. The boat has rod rigging on the fore and back stays and was never equipped with roller furling.

I also could use a windless and an anchor slide / holder thing on the bow.


Thanks,
Tom

[robert sailor]

I owned a Tartan 44 for several years and sailed it all over the South Pacific as well as the North Pacific. Put over 20,000 miles on it. The 44 was the 41 with 3 ft. added to the stern. It had a taller rig and was a double spreader. There were only 7 of these made. The hulls were cored to keep the weight down but it was still a heavy weight compared to current boats. The boat sailed wonderfully on all points of sail. The stories about difficulties downwind were true but that was race mode with spinnaker and blooper set and a strong breeze. When cruised with white sails or within normal limits under spinnaker it was a walk in the park. I only ever ran into one boat that could go upwind with her. A sister-ship we ran into in the South Pacific raced his in Tonga race week and kicked butt over the Bendi toys and look a likes.
I sailed that boat in some pretty tough weather a couple of times and it was a delight. I had way too much money in mine as it was completely rebuilt and outfitted well but the ongoing maintenance was no different than any boat.
I expect 30 years from now when some of the newer boats are ready for the trash bin some of those old Tartan 41's will still be sailing the oceans.

[pistarckle]

Easy to singlehand , take a reef in the main until ya figger it out .

[CBinRI]

I am the owner of her cousin, a Swan 41, also S&S designed and a very similar design. The Tartan 41 is a great boat. There is one in my local fleet that wins on Tuesday night beer can races and has also won its division in the Newport/Bermuda race. These boats go to wind like nothing else. The crew of 8 stuff is greatly exaggerated. My wife and I cruise our boat for a week and a bunch of weeks every summer. I race (non-spin) with 5 or 6. They are not super fast by modern standards but are very competitive racing PHRF (or IRC) and nothing feels safer.