[refugee133]

I have hull #1 of the Columbia 11.8 series, as built by Columbia. I can only assume the Hughes versions are pretty much the same.

The boat came standard with either 150 gallons of water tankage and 140 gallons of fuel tankage, or 220 gallons of water and 70 gallons of fuel - the buyer's choice. It has a shoal keel that draws 4.5 feet board up, 9 feet with the board down. Mine is a cutter rig. The engine is a Perkins 4-108, and is very reliable, even though I have my doubts about the metal water lines.

Mine came standard with an Onan 7.5 KW generator in a sound enclosure, and it's still running fine. It's quiet, starts easily, and burns less than half the fuel the engine does.

Before you commit to buying one of these, have a couple keel bolts pulled and inspected. I did that with mine, and it turned out they ALL had to be replaced. That involved dropping the keel, and a lot more. Luckily, that was the PO's responsibility.

The boat is under canvassed by almost anyone's standard, yet I find it moves easily in light air as long as you're not impatient to get to top speed, which is approximately half of true wind speed in any air up to 15 kts. It'll accelerate slowly, but steadily. In moderate or heavier air she is stable, solid, forgiving, and doesn't get left behind. You'll know you're sailing a heavy displacement boat, and if you're a cruiser you'll be quite pleased with that. I weathered an afternoon of 40+ kts of wind using just the staysail, and she never heeled beyond 5 degrees.

Rig it right and you may find, like I did, that it's easier to handle than a smaller boat. And good luck.