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Reviews
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Date of last review
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2591
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39872
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Tue January 15, 2008
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Recommended By
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Average Price
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Average Rating
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61% of reviewers
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None indicated
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5.3
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Description:
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Merit 25
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Keywords:
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Merit 25 |
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Author
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administrator
Administrator
Registered: January 2000
Location: maryland
Posts: 1861
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Review Date: Fri January 24, 1997
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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The Merit 25 is a very nice sailing boat that has the same PHRF rating as the J-24, but has a more comfortable cockpit and cabin as well as a deck stepped mast. There are several good one design fleets around the country. Unfortunately the manufacturer went out of business years ago. I've owned mine for twelve years and have had few problems. Three have made a TransPac race to Hawaii.
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dchew
Junior Member
Registered: April 2001
Posts: 17
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Review Date: Wed December 25, 2002
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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I have sailed for 15+ years. Of all the boats I have had the pleasure to see and sail, I always find my Merit 25 to be the boat for me. The Merit 25 is a terrific value for the money and the right choice for multi-purpose utility. Here’s why…
1) A Merit 25 is a darn good deal. At the time of this writing, a Merit 25 with a trailer is about $7,000. A J24 in comparable condition would likely be $13,000. That’s a huge savings, especially when you find out the Merit is a much nicer boat, too. Sell off the trailer for $2,000 and the Merit becomes an even more attractive offer.
2) Although the Merit is not as widely popular as the J24, I am still able to race in a one-design class, which lets me compete against two of the better racers at the Berkeley Yacht Club. I wanted a good fight, so I could learn to sail better.
3) Unlike the J24, the Merit 25 has enough cabin space to comfortably take a 3 day weekend trip or more. And it’s sunny below, because of the portlights (windows), which the J24 has none. The portlights give the Merit more of a “real” boat feel and look.
4) And, speaking of looks…the Merit 25’s looks have held up wonderfully all these years. The J24, with it’s bulbous deck has grown old looking over the years.
5) The Merit 25 is a reasonably fast boat with a 168 PHRF rating (same as the J24). That’s about as fast as many 30 footers, which says a lot, when you consider the reduction in waterline length
6) The Merit 25 has strong offshore construction. Sister-boats have raced from San Francisco to Hawaii AND sailed back, whereas J24s rarely venture beyond the Golden Gate Bridge, because of their tender construction, such as the dinghy-like rudder.
7) The Merit 25 one-design rules allow for creative thinking. As long as our sails remain within class rules, a Merit owner has the creative flexibility to do anything they like to customize their sail handling. You wanna add a Barberhauler? You wanna add a windward sheeting traveler car? You wanna change the foreguy to a mast base location? No problem. No problem. No problem.
One design rules are good, of course, but the J24 fleet, for example, stifles creativity and improvements. We all know how individualistic sailors are to begin with. It’s downright insulting to be forced to sail a boat when improvements are so darn obvious.
8) And most importantly, the Merit 25 is small enough that the cost to race and maintain is affordable and easier than anything else. If you’re a boat owner, you know all too well that it’s not the original cost of the boat; it’s the cost of the maintenance. A 25 foot boat is so much cheaper to own and outfit with fresh sails.
If you want to see pictures and learn more about this outstanding boat, go to http://www.well.com/user/pk/M25.html
I’m happy to answer any questions, too.
Sincerely,
Douglas Chew
flame_proof@hotmail.com
s/v Challenger – Hull 69
Berkeley, California
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Review Date: Tue April 15, 2003
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Would you recommend the product? Yes |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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The Merit 25 is a fairly light boat, about 3100 lb. Fractional rig but a large fraction, usually described as 15/16. It's supposedly based on the J/24: the underbodies look just about the same, but the Merit has a narrower 8' beam, a "cruisier" cockpit with backrests and coamings, and a low cabin trunk with windows. Very good looking boat.
For the most part it's well built; the exception is the keel root which originally had just two wimpy floors. Many M25's have had this area reinforced. Mine had some wetness and rot in the plywood deck core, apparently due to deck hardware being installed without sealing the mounting holes. I don't know if that's typical; mine was a boatshow boat, and I bet they were in a hurry to finish it.
The M25 is responsive and fun to sail, and happy whether it's blowing 5 or 25. I've been out in 40 knots and didn't get TOO scared ;-) It's easy to singlehand, and even makes a good weekend cruiser if you don't mind roughing it. PHRF in most locations is 168 or 171, so this is a pretty quick 25 footer. Several of the San Francisco Bay fleet have raced to Hawaii.
(In the interest of full disclosure: I sold my Merit in 2002 after owning it for 6+ years. While I still maintain it's a great boat, I just wanted something a bit more substantial for Farallones races and such, plus a little more room below.)
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Review Date: Mon September 24, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Thank you!
My homepage | Cool site
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Anonymous
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Anonymous
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Review Date: Thu September 27, 2007
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Would you recommend the product? No |
Price you paid?: None indicated
| Rating: 0
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Thank you!
My homepage | Cool site
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Anonymous
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