35 foot Ta Yang Fantasia or 45 foot Columbia Motor Sailor

[Stephen Farmer]

I currently own a 1978 Bruce Bingham designed Ta Yang Fantasia blue water vessel, and respect her seaworthiness.
I have come across a 45 foot Columbia Motor Sailor for a very reasonable price and like the larger accomodations space below decks.
The question I put forth is if the Cascade is really suitable for doing a GLOBAL CIRCUMNAVIGATIOIN ? I know she will not be as comfortable in a seaway as the Ta Yang, and will probably not sail to windward as the full keeled Ta Yang.
I feel the Fantasia is a beautiful blue water sailboat and that is of obvious concern for the long voyage ahead. What I have gathered on the Columbia is she is spacious but will not be as well suited for the sometimes extreame conditions I am most certainly going to come across on the circumnavigation.
I would appreciate any knowledgeable cruisers out there may want to share there thoughts and recomendations on whether I should jump ships.



Stephen Farmer
S/V E L F Adventures

[Viking Sailor]

Stephen,

Here is an old Fantasia site that may have some useful info: Fantasia 35 Owner Directory

Not being familiar with the Columbia 45 I can't offer any recommendation as to which boat would be better for a circumnavigation.

Best of luck on your endeavors,

Paul

[Sam Plan B]

I own a Columbia 41, a boat similar to the 45 with many of the same issues that concern you about off shore passage making. You may need to make some basic modifications too. Since the asking price of Columbias makes them affordable, in the end you may have a boat that will do what you want within your budget. Some of the things I did to my boat are as follows.

I removed the original plexi windows and replaced them with 3/8" lexan. I also had 1/8" stainless steel trim rings cut and pre-drilled. the new windows were mounted with fasteners through drilled. Same basic thing with the forward looking windows except I reduced the size of the windows by 2 inches all around. This was done with multiple layers of marine grade plywood and a lot of epoxy. The exact process was too complicated to discribe here.

I also replace the large foredeck hatch and aft cabin hatch with Bomar hatches. New hatch combings were built, again, with multiple layers of marine grade plywood. The old combings were cut out with a sawsall. The new combins were epoxied into the deck.

I also replaced the accessible keel bolts with new stainless steel.

I built a new nav station and added a new panel board and assorted electronics.

I did a lot of other stuff but will not bore you with that.

[blurr123]

so whats the verdict steve? I'm currently looking at a fantasia and am curious what you have to say about construction quality etc...

thanks