Has anyone posting replies to this ever actually owned a Cheoy Lee Clipper, or crewed extensively on one, or even spent an overnight aboard? Or are you just parroting rumors and derogatory comments you've heard from others?
We bought our '72 Clipper 42 schooner Izurde in June of '06, and have taken her from St. Petersburg, FL, offshore to the Chesapeake (where she spent a year at Herrington Harbour Marina in Deale, MD) and from there, offshore again, to southern Massachusetts and then to Down East Maine, where she's wintering on the hard at the Hinkley yard in Southwest Harbor. In addition, I've delivered a '74 Clipper 42 ketch from Miami to Norfolk, also offshore.
Believe me, I'll take Izurde over a Morgan (??) any day, or over any modern condo-on-a-keel. She is well built, (heavily overbuilt in her lay-up above and below the waterline, by modern standards), excellently finished in beautiful wood below decks, and well equipped. Bill Luders did an excellent job in designing the Clipper series, just as Bob Perry and Phillip Rhodes did with the yachts they designed for CL. She is a real CCA-style yacht, with a contained, manageable interior that won't leave you rattling around in a blow, lots of manageable stowage, and a high "survivability factor." Most yachts of her vintage have been extensively re-fit, be they Morgans, Pearsons, Cheoy Lees or Hinkleys, and so will not suffer from any original weaknesses in metallurgy or construction. NO 30 year old teak deck that hasn't been repaired replaced or removed is likely to be leak free, but at least on Izurde the deck was cored with solid mahogany, so that where she did leak, the water penetration was contained and the damage limited. What do you think Morgan cored their decks with?
While the comments about potential problems with
rigging, decks and wiring have weight, not all of these problems were experienced in all boats of this ilk, i.e. Asian built boats from the '60s and '70s. The Cheoy Lee shipyard has been in operation for almost a hundred years, and builds both commercial and pleasure craft to hundreds of feet in length. Their expertise and competence is widely acknowledged even today, when companies like Morgan Yachts have ceased to exist or are merely brands of other builders.
Here are a couple of thoughts cribbed from Practical Sailor: "Back in the late 1960s and 1970s, Cheoy Lee enjoyed an enviable reputation for classic design and superior workmanship, even if some of the boats suffered from a few problems endemic to Asia, such as inappropriate use of plywood and poor electrical wiring practices." "Like most boats of this vintage, the Clipper 36 and 42 have a solid fiberglass hull. According to company literature, its thickness ranges from about 7/16" at the sheer to 1" at the keel. This is hefty." And finally, "There’s no denying that the 'classic' look of the Cheoy Lee Clipper series is enough to make your heart flutter: 'That’s what a boat is supposed to look like!' Indeed, some well-known personalities such as singer Jimmy Buffet have succumbed to the Clipper’s Siren song." "Construction certainly was above average, with heavily laid hulls and fairly sound joinerwork. Prices for early models represent a good value in today’s market..." "You don't buy a Cheoy Lee Clipper for performance or ease of maintenance. The 36 and 42 appeal to certain types of sailors, and you know who you are. Go in with your eyes open, ready to work (or pay), and you’ll have a boat to be proud of for many years to come."
To those of you who think you know better, I say, come sail with me on my boat before you claim to know she's "inferior".
See you on the water,
Roger Noble
"Amazing Grace" Catalina 30 #3725
Lake Travis, Austin, Texas
"Izurde" Cheoy Lee Clipper 42
Seal Cove, Maine
