[BarryL]

Hello,

I have a Newport 28 so I can offer some information.

I bought this boat last year after a search of 6 months or so. I had a Catalina 22 at the time, and I wanted a bigger boat, something in the 28-30'' range. I considered all the standard boats, O''day, Catalina, S2, Irwin, Watkins, Islander, Cal, and a few others.

From what I saw (and I am not an expert, but I have done a lot of research), there really is not that much difference between any of those boats. They are all basic production boats with similar construction techniques, materials, and components.

Perhaps it''s a regional thing, but I did not notice that Newports were the cheapest. From the boats I saw, Irwin and Islander were generally less expensive than the Newport. S2, Catalina, and Cal were at the high end, Newport and O''day were about the same.

Some specifics on the N28: My boat is an 86. I paid $15K for it. It was in decent condition. The sails and sail handling gear were very good (2 mains, 2 genoas, 2 spinnakers, including the original main and 150 which are basically worn out, a UK main and 150 which are in good condition, and a practically new UK assymetric spinnaker and ATN sock). The winches are Lewman 30ST, the roller furler is a Furlex. The traveler is a new harken unit that works great.

The engine is a Universal M-18 in great condition. The interior was in great condition with newer upholstry, and the teak in good shape. The exterior is OK, no damage, but it''s dirty and has a lot of dings, chips, etc. The exterior teak is in poor condition. I plan on really cleaner her up in the spring and she will look great.

Anyway, I love how the boat sails. I have the deep keep (5''+) and the boat is pretty fast. I have sailed in 5 kt winds and went somewhere, and 25 kt winds and wasn''t too scared.

That said, none of the boats I looked at and listed are designed for sailing around the world. I don''t know enough to tell you the difference, but I do know the boats I looked at (and wanted) are ''coastal cruisers'', not ''passagemakers''.

Good luck,
Barry