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Farr 1104 or Stewart 34 offshore?


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There are several farr 38s that have had cat one, they will pass on that basis is my understanding.

There are quite a lot of vessels of that age that don't meet the stability curve modern requirements, but have been allowed to go due to historic voyages.

It would be sensible to speak with your local cat 1 inspector if your considering an older design, or buy one that's had it before.

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There are a lot of smaller boats capable of going offshore.

Right now we are sitting enjoying Tonga in our 34 footer. Next to us are are friends on their Beale 33. Further along are Kev and Bec on a Beale 35. To be fair, all 3 boats are well set up and maintained. They are not Trade Me shitters. It will come down to structural and rig integrity as all the NZ boats are pretty old now. As always, buy the best boat you can't quite afford. Spend more on getting a better boat to begin with, than planning to upgrade everything. You will still spend a fortune anyway-just don't ever add it up, and you will be fine!

We did lots of coastal racing and cruising on ours over many years. It gave us lots of experience (some not fun) to have the confidence in ourselves and our boat.

Interestingly, on the trip up to Tonga, while big cruising slugs were breaking themselves in 30-40 knots, in our lighter boat we just ticked along with 2 reefs and staysail. Minimal loads and just keeping safe up the waves. It was like just another shitty day in Cook Strait, but warmer! Again, helped by the previous racing and cruising practice we have done. Hope you get to follow your dreams!

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A stand out yacht last year ( cruise to Tonga and Fiji)was an older  Beale of 40 or 41 ft, cedar core , relatively light weight compared to most cruisers. That boat easily nailed 180, 195 and  200 mile days.

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I'm curious why so many NZ boats are built with cedar core. Everyone I speak to seems leery of them because of the potential for water absorption in the event of skin penetration. Thoughts?

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Western red cedar is quite dangerous to humans cutting it up, full of toxins, and that makes it a great rot resistant boatbuilding timber. Same reason why Kauri is so great too.

 Alaskan Yellow Cedar has a good reputation too , but I don't know much about how toxic it is , or isn't.

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Pete owns Non Stop a Young 10.34 or 99 depending on which side your looking from

They spent a year living aboard up and down the northland coast to prepare

Plus he’s done the odd race but got beaten mostly

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Haha Jon. Yes we had lots of fun racing you guys in the RNI. Was always fun annoying the bigger boats that should have been much further ahead ????

Yes our boat is a Young 99. To set up for cruising, we added more wine storage, a bookshelf, staysail on furler and wee solar panel arch on back.

Filled it up with as much food and drinkies as the waterline would allow.

Have been amazed how well it handles overloaded!

We did 2*170 mile days on way to Tonga, and 7 days 23 hours for the trip from Opua. So pretty reasonable time. Really rated our Predict Wind weather stuff via the Iridium Go. It was very accurate.

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I'm so ^%$#@^%$ envious right now.

 

 I saw one boat up there in Fiji  last year that looked relatively small, a 30 ft ( maybe a bit bigger)Hunter. When I saw the kiwi on it I asked the guy how the trip was getting there, He told me he didn't bother doing that , he just had one boat in Fiji and another one exactly the same at home.

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I bought a Beale 37 ("Dreams") way back and did a major refit on her (including a prod and new rudder) and renamed her "Entropy". I owned her for 9 years and she was an excellent boat. Great load carrier for cruising and surprisingly quick, we cruised her up and down the Northland Coast and only sold as we moved to OZ.

The new owner also spent lots on her including removing teak deck and replacing with glass/ply. He also won the coastal in her some years back

I see she is for sale now on TradeMe.

Certainly worth a look

I have raced to the Islands in 1104's twice in the late 80's/90's and we owned a S34 as a kid. Both OK, but Ray Beale's boats are quicker, more sea kindly and better load carriers

Cheers

Dr Dave

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I bought a Beale 37 ("Dreams") way back and did a major refit on her (including a prod and new rudder) and renamed her "Entropy". 

Hi Dr Dave,

What did you make the prod out of, and did you use a bobstay? (assuming you ran gennakers off it?)

We need to organise a descent bow roller for the anchor, and wouldn't mind a prod at the same time. Have been pondering one that looks the same as on Entropy.

 

Apologise for the thread drift.

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I agree with the Doctor

Raced an 1104 to Fiji and would go offshore in one rather than an S34 every time

Also owned a Beale 38 for ten years racing around both NZ and North Island, would still own her if the Admiral hadn’t wanted to go bigger.

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Thanks heaps guys but found a boat that I am decidedly happy with, which means Auckland might get another 930 in it's fleet and I've got a bit of work on my hands with the new toy (ended up with a more modern design than a Stewart or 1104).

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