US Yacht 25' - Are they as bad as they say?

[wannabesailor]

Hi,

I'm getting ready to purchase a 25' US Yacht for $2500, but I recently read that they are built from the molds once used for Bayliner boats. Apparently Bayliner sold the design to Pearson, who built a few boats and then they sold it to US Yacht who used it for a few years in the early 80's. The boat I'm looking at seems pretty decent, and has everything I'm looking for (except headroom). It seems well built and solid, it has a split backstay, in mast halyards, in boom outhaul, cockpit forward traveler, Lewmar winches, an enclosed head, operable portholes, a decent sail inventory, etc.

I don't plan on having a survey done, as I don't think it's worth paying 20% of the boats purchase price to have someone tell me what I already know. I've gone over every inch and I haven't found any issues. No water penetration, no loose hardware, no chain plate problems, (teak bulkheads), no soft spots, nothing really stands out. All in all it appears to be a decent little boat, which makes me wonder why everyone I've talked to says they are pieces of junk. Has anyone owned or been intimate with one of these?

This picture is not the actually boat, but exactly like it.

US 25

[blt2ski]

THAT pic is not a pic of a typicaly Bayliner that most of us know about. In reality, that boat looks like a decent designed and sailable boat. The bayliners that I know about in that range would have a deck another 1-2' higher and another row of windows.

I also do not recall any problems with some of the US Yacht boats built. Yes a spin off of Bayliner, that did go BK in the 80's, but a lot of BB's did that do to the recession at the time, including Cal, O'Day, Islander, Erickson etc that built nice boats.

Marty

[camaraderie]

Some owner reviews here:
http://www.sailboatowners.com/review...37863117890830

Sounds like it is not put together any better than the Bayliner though it looks better.

[wannabesailor]

Excellent, thanks camaraderie, that was some good info. Now I don't know what to do...

[Faster]

I sailed on one of these years ago - very small cockpit since they try to cram some accomodation into a smallish hull. Decent performance for a small boat, though.

It is actually a Gary Mull design - which is a good thing - but of concern, for example, was that fact that the main bulkhead was not tabbed into the hull. I can recall seeing light between the hull liner and the bulkhead edge.

The US 22 and 25 were Mull, the Buccaneer 295/US30 and 33 were Doug Peterson designs - decent pedigrees but reputedly poor execution.

But at least from a design point of view they were leaps ahead of the infamous Buccaneers that most associate with the name (and Bayliner).

[Sailormann]

Has anyone owned or been intimate with one of these?

Uhmm - no - we don't cotton to that kind of thing in Canada. A vacuum cleaner maybe, but a sailboat ??? That's just wrong

[Ingeanous]

Have you ever heard of a US Yacht with blisters? I know of expensive boats 2-3 years old with them. That says alot about these 25+ year old boats! They aren
't tanks like the Buccs, but they aren't all that sluggish either...

Brian
US30 Wu-Wei

[camaraderie]

What 2-3 year old boats have you seen with blisters? Brand names please!!