We had an interesting experince just about this time last year.
In November 2007 the Hinterhoeller Niagara 26 we had owned for 6 years was sold. We had put it up for sale because we were no longer staying aboard much and doing more day sailing and racing. Priced such that if it sold we would get a good price but if not we would still have a good boat. One potential buyer who had been corresponding for two months drove 5 hours to see the boat in mid November and made an offer - and then we were boatless.
My wife and I had decided that if we replaced the boat we could go for less accomodation or less performance but not both. In the end we decided to look for a boat that compromised interior comfort at same or better performace and for less than we sold the Niagara.
Initially we looked at Kirby 25, Bombardier 7.6 (Holland 7.6) and older J24. As the search widened someone suggested Olson 30 which was at top (or just above) the price range we had in mind but lead to Olson 25 which was a pretty neat boat. One of my criteria was that I did not want a boat that had just had topsides refinished (expensive!), etc... as I wanted some work to do on the boat and hoped to get a better price as a result.
The Bombardier had the best interior even if no headroom but an awkward coachroof, the Olson 25 we liked was quite far away and had some blisters at waterline but these were repairable with a bit of work, the older J24 were just a bit too spartan and the Kirby 25 also had almost no interior but more importantly not very much comfort to sit in cockpit.
So all the above boats met my criteria. They could be purchased for less than we sold previous boat for, had nice performance but sacrificed a lot of comfort. Some of these "compromise boats" were actually for sale at the same price we sold the previous boat - sort of a step down for the same money ....
One day I did a search on Olson looking for Olson 25 and found a Sailing World article on 16 PHRF performers on a budget. the Olson 30 triggered this search evevn though I was looking for Olson 25. On the list was a boat I had not heard of - the J/27. I went from there toa Yachtworld search on J/27 and found a boat advertised as "good for someone who does some fiberglass work". That was me so I called the broker, got the goods, severely lowballed with an offer and then bought the boat sight unseen in a foreign country 1300 km from home with no survey.
The broker told me exactly what was wrong with the boat - it had wet areas on deck esp around stanchions and the sails were old. The broker described everything very accurately and the pictures posted showed the potential of the boat. It needed new cabin sole, some deck recoring, a bottom job, a cradle and some major cleanup.
We drove down in May of last year to get the boat and it was exactly as advertised. Except the "old sails" included a 3 year old dacron main and genoa, a beautiful UK Tape Drive main that had light use and a nice light wind mylar genoa. the engine had just been serviced and the cushions looked brand new as they never spent any time on the boat. All in all the boat was in better condition than expected.
Spent a LOT of hours last Spring putting the boat back in sailing condition and thoroughly enjoyed for 2008 season. No regrets. The total time from selling the Niagara to buying the J was less than 2 weeks.
Was a fun fun fun experience and the broker was very good to deal with. the best part is that we consider the J a step up more than a step sideways. Fabulous sailing boat with pleasing
lines and FAST!
Mike
J27 #150