My wife and I live near the southern end of the Chesapeake and are looking at a first boat to enjoy during what we hope will be our upcoming not-quite-golden years. We are novices, but have a good friend (Hawaiian!) who's made a number of major passages and is willing to help us learn to sail. We're looking for a cruiser that is sturdy, forgiving, easily managed, with a capacity to grow with us should we become accomplished enough to sail along the East coast and, perhaps, over to the Bahamas. We're looking for comfort more than speed, but don't want to be passed by every teenager in a paddle boat.
We initially leaned toward Pearson 35s and Tartan 34Cs. My wife really doesn't want a lot of brightwork (and our local marina's 34 foot slips are a lot cheaper than the next size up), so we've looked at and liked the Tartan 33. We're going to look at another (this one freshwater) T33 this weekend, along with a Pearson 323, which is considerably cheaper.
Any thoughts on the relative merits of the T33 and 323? I'll update this after seeing the two boats this weekend. The T33 we've already seen is in very nice shape. The owner is asking 26K and seems comfortable at that price. The other two boats are being brokered. The T33 has an asking price of 22K, which I think could be brought down. The 323 is already at just 17K, with the broker admitting the owner has moved away and is "entertaining all offers." The first Tartan is in the water and the owner ran the Universal diesel for us. It sounded great. The other two are on the hard. The P323 has a Volvo. The T33 another Universal.
Any offer would, of course, be contingent on a full survey.
Being newbies, having a wealth of boat-specific knowledge available would be a plus. There are a lot of Tartan owners in the area, and we'd join the Tartan group. I'm guessing the Pearson would be nearly as well supported.
Thanks.
John
Boatless in Newport News, VA
We initially leaned toward Pearson 35s and Tartan 34Cs. My wife really doesn't want a lot of brightwork (and our local marina's 34 foot slips are a lot cheaper than the next size up), so we've looked at and liked the Tartan 33. We're going to look at another (this one freshwater) T33 this weekend, along with a Pearson 323, which is considerably cheaper.
Any thoughts on the relative merits of the T33 and 323? I'll update this after seeing the two boats this weekend. The T33 we've already seen is in very nice shape. The owner is asking 26K and seems comfortable at that price. The other two boats are being brokered. The T33 has an asking price of 22K, which I think could be brought down. The 323 is already at just 17K, with the broker admitting the owner has moved away and is "entertaining all offers." The first Tartan is in the water and the owner ran the Universal diesel for us. It sounded great. The other two are on the hard. The P323 has a Volvo. The T33 another Universal.
Any offer would, of course, be contingent on a full survey.
Being newbies, having a wealth of boat-specific knowledge available would be a plus. There are a lot of Tartan owners in the area, and we'd join the Tartan group. I'm guessing the Pearson would be nearly as well supported.
Thanks.
John
Boatless in Newport News, VA