Camaraderie, can you help?

[Giulietta]

Cam, wonder if you can help, please.

A friend of mine is thinking about looking at this boat.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...oat_id=1313080

The price is bit high but if most checks are on the positive side, he might go for it.

He is planning a Lisbon to Macau non stop, solo.

He asked me if I knew the boat, which I have seen, but was asking questions about handling and deck hardware quality and reliability. That is exactly on the opposite end of my sailing boat likings, so I canīt help much.

He wants to know if the boat is easy going for singlehanded, (keep in mind he as made several Atlantic crossings to and from lisbon to NY, Rio etc.) , and how it handles in strong weather. Also what are the first items to go bad. Of course some maintenace and mods will be made before he goes.

He just wants to have an opinion before he starts the contacts, so the boat does not get inflated.

Can you help, please??

[camaraderie]

Giulietta... Here are some thoughts. The boat is very different from mine in terms of set-up as I have a center ****-pit cutter/ketch and this seems to be a pure sloop from the description. The current asking price for a 1991 boat in good/excellent condition seems high to me given the equipment present on the boat. I would expect this boat to SELL for about 250 US$ assuming no major issues are found.
Since my hull and this one are the same as are the engine and hardware, I can comment on the sailing properties and seaworthiness I think. The motion is gentle and stable on all points of sale and she likes a good breeze to get going due to her weight. The hardware on mine was all top notch Lewmar etc. and everything is overbuilt including stanchions and rigging. The hull itself is built like a tank. In short...this is a go anywhere boat that will stand up to rough ocean conditions as well as anything ever built in her size range. As one would expect from a Perry design, the helm is light and she is easily steered even in rough conditions. We have a shorter keel than the boat your friend is looking at so I would imagine that one will be even more stable and sail a bit closer to weather.
As to singlehanding...you are dealing with a lot of sail area here and I would like to know more about the mainsail system but we opted to upgrade to boom furling on ours which has a SHORTER mast and less sail area. We also use the furling staysail a lot when it gets rough and I don't see any mention of one on this boat though one could easily be fitted.
Your friend I am sure has his own preferences but I think he will need to upgrade the sail handling on this boat to feel comfortable single-handing.

One nice thing is the amount of diesel tankage. With the water maker, the owner has apparently added 100 gallons more fuel which adds about 400 miles of range to the boat under power. Of course...the water maker needs to keep working!

No pictures or mention is made of the teak deck. I would be concerned about this as this is one place where these boats can have problems if not cared for. The little bits of deck and rail that are shown in some of the pictures do not look great. From the pictures, the engine also looks really nice...has it been overhauled or re-painted? My 4-286 came blue from the factory.

I assume he is OK with 220V systems since he is in Europe. Looks like the instrumentation might need some updating and I wouldn't keep the ST7000 auto-pilot unless the drive unit has been upgraded to a hydraulic ram. It is certainly well equipped with all the passage-making stuff and assuming it is in good shape, that will save some expenditures.
Hope that the above is helpful and feel free to ask away after your friend sees the boat if he has more questions.

[Giulietta]

Cam,

Thank you for your fast response. I will pass it on to him, as he is a little "internet shy", and computers arenīt in his favorite items!! We will talk about it tomorrow, as he went sailing 3 days ago, got caught in bad weather and hasnīt arrived yet.

I have seen the boat several times and do remember it vaguely (if it is the same boat). However, because it is a cruiser I did not notice it that much, other than it looked "heavy" (sorry about that), but very sturdy. I also found the cockpit too small, but that could be because mine is so big!!

This guy can handle it ok, he is just getting old. The boat has a furling genoa.

I will let you know one he decides on what his next steps are.

The thing here is that once you show interest in the boat, the price starts changing misteriously!! europe is very different from the US.

Thank you very very much.

[Giulietta]

English language can be tricky!!

Cam, what I meant with this sentence in my first post to you, :"That is exactly on the opposite end of my sailing boat likings, so I canīt help much.", was:

That TYPE of boat is on the other end of my sailing spectrum. ( Altough my wife insisted our boat be a cruiser as a condition for me to buy it)

By the way the man has finally shown up!!!LOL

[camaraderie]

Giuletta...you do better with English than I do with anything else. Anyway...I understood your meaning without offence!