I bought 24 ( 687 ) last September and sailed her on Lake Ontario until the hoist marina forced me to haul her. I sailed
dinghys ( FD, 505's) until I was 18 and went in the service, and had been away from it since then ( 40 years). Been sailing her there all this season, and I will continue again until the hoist owner tells me he is going to FL. People up here (upstate NY) for some reason seem to think you can't sail unless it is 75 and sunny, or past Oct 1 or something.
I LOVE my 24. I single hand 99 % of the time, and it is no trouble. I put an auto-helm on this year freeing me to do more things around her, and was the best thing I did. There are a lot of things I am fixing that have been neglected, but none have been major except the loss of the rudder shoe. I thought when I bought her that the difficulty in getting her to balance was me...until I got her out and saw the rudder hanging. I fabricated one for this year to see how it would hold, and it has done great.
I only have a 150
furling genoa, and wish I had a 100
jib because of the number of 20+ knot days. Does not point that well with the
jib furled.WHen the daughter gets off to college in 2009 I will be moving up and aboard, but the 24 has been so much fun, and easy for me to get back into sailing. Cruising is so much different than racing.
I made one major mod inside. The steps in the companionway were the sill, a step, battery box cover, then sole. LOOOONG reach. I took the step out, cut the settee on the port side back 8 inches, and made a 4 step
ladder to put there. I am happy with that. If I can find that it is structurally possible I will cut the port forward thwartship seat back 8 inches as well and make access to the v berth easier. I made the table a ;ittle smaller, too. I did not need something that would seat 4 or 5.
She has been my only experience with anything other than FD or 505, but I think she is great. I also spent hours compounding the hull, new cove stripping, and she is the prettiest boat there. They also LOOK like sailboats. I tried the bristol board for awhile and met a couple of really neat 24 owners that felt like I do...I think she can handle far more than I am capable of going out it.