01-12-2004
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Super Moderator
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Join Date: Feb 2000
Location: Annapolis, Md
Posts: 5,484
Rep Power: 14
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buying a boat
I think that they are pretty nice boats. They have a reputation for being pretty well constructed. They are not especially fast boats but they have a reputation for sailing very well. I think of them as being the boats that Island Packets claim to be but fail to deliver.
In terms of negatives, they tend to be a little bit expensive for their age and size. (These are after all 15 to 24 year old boats and to do what you are proposing would need a major refit if they have not had one already.)They have fairly long overhangs which I consider undesirable in certain kinds of seaways.
Then there is the interior layout (at least on the original boats and some Encores, the Encores had a more normal layout available.) To put it diplomatically, they have a unique interior plan. In some ways it is very ingenious and workable. In most ways it is pretty strange. I actually think that it could work quite well for a couple who were cruising and who did not mind the need find some work arounds but the need for workarounds seems to be the case with almost all boats.
Apparently some of these boats have sail drives and some have vee-drives on their engines. I have come to think that saildrives are way less than ideal on a long distance cruiser. Vee drives while used on such perenial favorites as Valiants can also be a bit of a pain in the neck (I have not seen the installation but vee drives generally make engine maintenance and shaft seal access a real pain in the butt, especially in seaway).
Otherwise I am not sure what else to say about them.
Jeff
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