[Jeff_H]

Jack,

While I agree with much of what you say, and I know that people have taken these boats all over the place, I really found our experience owning the Endeavour 37 to be a miserable one. I cannot emphasize too strongly what a miserable motion that these boats have. Mom''s boat was less than two years old when she bought her. The original owner was an experienced offshore yachtsman and candidly commented on the boat''s "poor motion" being one of the factors pushing him to sell the boat. When I say this boat had a lousy motion in a seaway I mean literally that this was a boat that would cause seasickness in people who told us that they had never been seasick in their lives. Coming back from the Bahamas my Mom became so seasick that she was taken to a hospital for rehydration when they reached Miami. These boats have his weird roll that swings through an exceptionally large angle and would suddenly fetch up with a hard lurch at each side of the swing. It also had one of the strangest yaw and pitch motions that I ever experienced. the two combined were a gastly combo. Bar none this was the worst motion that I have ever experienced on any boat (even old IOR era race boats).

This miserable motion was especially a problem when sitting in a marina where you could not orient the boat to the waves or on the anchor where you did not have the dampening of the sails to dampen the roll. If this is the boat on which Flicker hopes to "bring his wife to the Carribean" then he should pick a boat that is suitable for that venue which can have some pretty bumpy anchorages and passages.

While you are right about boats being upgraded over we found that Mom''s boat was full of factory installed No-no''s in inaccessible and uninspectable locations such as clear vinyl hoses used below the water line that ran through concealed spaces and used non-marine white nylon connectors (in one case without a hose clamp in a concealed space). Much of the boat was wired with single strand non-marine wire also run behind liners.

Mom''s boat had nearly new sails when she got the boat. They were reasonably well cut but were of a heavier than usual weight since the owner intended to go offshore. You could argue that with lighter cloth and more sail area they could improve light air performance, and that they were not very good for light stuff being cut pretty flat for higher windspeeds. But going lighter and fuller would add to the problems these boats had in heavier going. In higher winds the boat was frankly tender and could not stand up to its sail plan. In any kind of winds approaching the high teens the boat would be on her ear developing a lot of helm and trying to wipe out. Reefing helped some but then speed dropped down into the rediculously slow range.

This is not a boat that I am trashing without experience or on second hand info. We had one in the family that Mom used extensively and that I spent a fair amount of time aboard. For $40,000 I just think that Flicker would be better off with a Hunter 37 cutter or the Brewer designed Morgan 38. While they have less room both are better sailors and much more suitable for the venues in question.

Jeff