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Vagabond 42

5K views 6 replies 4 participants last post by  captbillc 
#1 ·
Hello everyone,
I think buying a Vagabond 42 and I am looking for information on the boat, strengths, weaknesses, behavior under sail ....
thank you
 
#2 ·
i was part of the crew on a Vagabond 42 in 1990. i believe it was about a 1985 model. when i flew to spain the first thing i had to do was line up the engine to the shaft. he had gotten the prop caught in a med mooring line in italy which bent the shaft support in front of the prop. he did not want to haul the boat so i had to move the engine quite a bit to line it up. we crossed the atlantic from spain to antigua that way without trouble with that. in the canaries i had to install heaver lag screws holding the autopilot to the hull, but it started making noise the second day out & the owner had me disconnect it so we hand steered for 22 days. the water tank fill hoses were connected to a single fill on the port side . we were drawing water from the port tank & didn't realize the water was going from the stb tank to the port when we rolled so we ran out 2 days before landfall . we had 10gal in jerry cans. he went from antigua to granada later and put the boat on the hard. he had me come down there to bring it to florida. he still didn't want to straighten the shaft support. the auto pilot arm on the rudder shaft had loosened in the crossing & i had made a temporary fix that got us across. the keyway in the arm was wider than the one in the shaft. i told him i could make a step key for it , but he didn't want that done either. we took it to Ft Lauderdale like that. in the mona passage the headstay broke because the was not enough give in the ball & socket at the top on the french mast. i put up a 5/8 line to hold up the mast till we got to FL. he later sold the boat to someone on the east coast & i don't think he made the repairs i suggested.
 
#3 ·
Yikes!! Hope that's not the same boat you're interested in, phillipe!!
 
#4 ·
Philippe,

I have no personal experience with the 42, but I've been rebuilding a Vagabond 39 cutter (coach roof, not pliothouse.) I'll take a stab at general shipwright things I've found on my project, with the assumption that they are likely common to Bluewater Yacht Builder hulls regardless of length.

Good Points:
- Solid glass hulls, and generously thick.
- Good hull to deck joint.
- Monel fresh water and black water tanks.
- Tank capacities sized for cruising.
- Heavy duty bronze portlights.
- Rich teak interior, with solid battens on the ceilings (walls) and a real teak and holley sole (not veneer.)
- Interior joinery is well done.
- Generous storage.
- Molded GRP headliner panels, easily removed to access wiring runs and deck hardware.
- Decent wiring and breaker panels.
- Good sized bullwarks topped with a nice teak caprail.
- Well insulated refrigerator box.

Things to Look Out For:
- Teak decks -- particulary if the one you're looking at doesn't have them. Unless they've been meticulously cared for, then expect water penetration into the deck core. If the deck's already been removed, then it was likely because of core rot in the first place. Make sure your surveyor takes extensive moisture meter readings across the entire deck, not just around obvious deck penetrations.
- Fuel tanks -- GRP sheathed black iron was standard.
- Portlights -- laminated glass, the edges of which were not sealed. Look for clouding in the pane, which would indicate that the glass is delaminating. Not a major deal to replace the glass, but it's time consuming and you'll need to get the panes cut by someone who's good with lamiated glass.
- Hull Blistering. Again, make sure your surveyor knows to be especially mindful of this. During our rebuild, I had to repair many hundreds of blisters. Our surveyor failed to find any below the bootstripe. Those below the waterline were into the first layer of roving. Those above the waterline did not extend below the gelcoat.
- Chainplates. They are not accessable without removing cabinetry.

Minor Gripes.
- Gelcoat issues. I've found around a dozen places where the first layer of glass either didn't properly bond to the gelcoat, or there were air pockets between the gel and the glass.
- Originally fit with solid bronze seacocks and drains. Problem is that they are threaded for British threads, not Standard. Like the old story "for want of a nail, the Kingdom was lost", once you begin to replace one component, you're likely looking at having to redo almost everything in the run (seacock, through hull, drain, hoses, etc.)
- Chain locker drains into bilge.

A Matter of Tastes.
- Deck stepped mast.
- Tons of brightwork.

All in all, we're happy with our Vagabond.

Cheers,
Por Fin
 
#7 ·
i thought the vessel sailed fairly well. the owner liked to fly what looked to me to be a huge radial head spinnaker. we had no pole & put the tack off the bowsprit 6ft up. he would keep it up till we had 15kn apparent wind on the stbd quarter & we were making 7 1/2 kn so the wind was about 19kn. we were in 20ft swells & broached a couple of times with this sail up when the rudder came out of the water. that added some excitement at the time. we took it down by letting the tack go so the sail was like a huge flag . the halyard was let out while 3 men in the cockpit pulled in the sheet to get the sail in. it was hard to keep it out of the water.
 
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