Frank

I have owned keeler's for 30 years, always on a swing mooring, no problem at all. When we are loading stores for a cruise we use the public Jetty at PH. It would cost me 6K per annum to keep it on a ,marina. Thats a lot of cold hard after-tax dollars, might be different if you were in a syndicate.

I saw that, its an incredible amount of boat for the money but berthage costs ? and a 13.5 ft draft in Auckland !

I agree, it does not look anything like a Farr .

In my early sailing/racing days the iron headsail was an absolute last resort, I was "Hardcore". Once I got married and started a family the sailing became more cruising orientated and the iron headsail got more use, it was inevitable, but the important thing was we enjoyed it as a family. Today the boys are competent handling a yacht and take the boat out on their own. I enjoy a good sail/cruise more than ever but I certainly don't feel guilty about using the iron headsail

Depends on if you are a cruiser or a racer

You got a good boat there, and a 100K cheaper than what you would have paid 5 yrs ago.

One fairly experienced offshore sailor I spoke to said that all else being equal the faster more modern boat would cut a day off the passage.time to Fiji , handy I suppose but is that really a big deal ?

I looked at importing, by the time you factor in all the costs it just does not stack up.

Having been active recently in looking for a bigger boat I have looked at a lot of vessels around 38 to 40ft. The problem is there is a lot of "Tired" stock out there where the maintenance and upgrades have not been done. Also when you place a 30 year old NZ production boat alongside say a bene or Bavaria the interiors of the NZ boats just look very basic, even dare I say it crude eg exposed fibreglass, front runner or similar everywhere, exposed bolt heads, etc. its a no brainer that the import is better value for money. The old rule of thumb for the engine in yachts was 2HP per Ton, now

A very tidy 1220 called Placido was listed at 120K, it sold a few weeks back. Others are listed around 140 to 150K but they are not moving at all. Anecdotally I heard some of them have issues, I think the owners have not adjusted to market reality.

So I checked out the Whiting 39, she is an ex charter boat and is a bit of a project down below. Basically good bones and the work is nothing anyone with good DIY skills and could not fix, but quite a lot of time required . The woodwork side of things should not cost much in terms of materials but the plumbing/wiring/sytems etc could add up. The motor is near new and at 55HP should be ample, squabs all need replacing. Rig looks OK but would need a thorough scrub through, not sure about the sails. Would be good value at the right price, I dont have the time for the work. Yes boats h

Good on you ! epic adventure awaits, "Amiri" is Maori for Eastwind which might be useful unless you are returning via the red sea

Saw this on Trademe, http://www.trademe.co.nz/motors/boats-marine/yachts/keeler/auction-1238322484.htm I'm looking for something a bit bigger than my Carpenter 29 for coastal and Hauraki Gulf sailing and then in about 2 years a trip or two Fiji/Tonga etc. I'm Guessing she is of relatively conservative construction, ie stout and so while lacking the offshore gear the design has good bones. Anyone know much about them or perhaps have sailed on one. Of note is that the draft is 1.64 M which seems shallow for a boat of this length however it has been 2nd checked confirmed by the broker. Th

I think you are on the money there, PH was sold to Empire Capital Group in 2015 they are developers and I understand they may own more than one Marina. PH has benefitted from the Marina Village development and the rapidly expanding surrounding suburbs, the Ferry service helps too. Building new marinas or expanding existing ones is nigh on impossible with the RMA which in its infancy killed plans to expand PH, dry stack here we come.

Anecdotally I have heard that berths at some Marinas have shot up in value. I was looking at a 12m boat at GH recently . The broker said the owner was keen to move it so he could sell the berth which had suddenly increased in value to 120K. Also I heard that PH charges had gone up quite a bit.

Designer was J and J Design , never heard of them.

I know what you mean,this one was never in charter, it has a deepish bulb keel and a fairly decent rig/sailplan, it looks like it would go OK. Not sure if its cast iron or lead in the keel though. In anycase I'm looking at something else for now.

UPDATE: I recently viewed a Bavaria 38 of 2000 vintage, I had a good look in the bilge area. I noticed the moulded transverse floors were much deeper in section than the Beneteau of similar length and vintage. The overall Top Hat (TH) section of the former just struck me as substantially bigger all round. Another surprise was that the "Egg Crate" structural grid did not seem to be continuous between the floors allowing for the lower flanges of the TH sections to be "tabbed" onto the hull . I'm not sure if this is factory standard or not, but If so is then it strikes me as being stronger, mo

Reading that report on the link posted by Mark MT, I don't think modern systems would have made a difference.It was expanding as it moved and formed very quickly.

Good Points there.

I think weatherfax providing isobar charts and possibly grib files but I'm not sure of the update frequency.

Hypothetically speaking, Re the June 94 storm, would it have been possible to have sailed out of the path with the type of weather updates available now (Predictwind, modern weather prediction algorithms, more data, modems, etc etc.) Or did it brew too quickly and move too fast ? I hope the question is not to dumb, apologies in advance if it is. Thanks Frank

Mmmmm, Interesting, I figured the top hat sections were almost certainly hollow, your comment that it is an elegant design solution is an interesting and I'm sure accurate perspective. The problem is I guess that we never see a posting from the Naval Architect who designed the installation, explaining the philosophy. However perhaps what is shown is that the solid floor approach may be more damage tolerant in terms of groundings etc. I did hear from an NZ broker yesterday of a production yacht that failed the pre-purchase inspection quite recently. It was due to a significant area of liner di

Interesting topic for me as I am considering a Bene Oceanis 405 of 90's vintage. I currently have a self built Carpenter 29 which goes to windward quite well. I have sailed a Dufour 43 or thereabouts in Noumea, it was a dog on the wind but the interior space was amazing, To be fair it had a shortish keel and for the most part I think it just needed more grunt in the rig. There are so many opinions on the internet about the grid/Liner method of construction its hard to sort the truth from the noise. I'm curious as to why someone has not evolved a cost effective technique for repairing disbond