Newport 30 Mk II -- seeking one. What to watch for?

[jscatterall]

We're shopping Newport 30s. Have one in mind, pedestal steering, excellent cond, 1979, lots of wood inside. What should we be watching for that might be idiosynchratic to this model?
thanks, james

[Faster]

This should not be taken as a general condemnation, but a few years back we looked at one that had a huge delamination problem in the cabin top.. separated areas 6-8 inches across.

Much of this may have been caused by poor fastening techniques of added hardware, so it may not be a general problem. Any boat of this vintage with cored construction needs to be properly and thoroughly tapped out to find the extent of separation. It's generally "how much is there" as opposed to "is there any?"

If found, it is repairable up to a point. Might not be a deal breaker (though in the case above it was, indeed) but certainly a price point argument. Areas to check closely are around the mast and in the vicinity of winches. Often winches are added to cabintops without adding reinforcement. The torsional loads from grinding a halyard up can really work to separate the core and skin in those areas.

Otherwise it seemed a reasonable, roomy 30ish coastal cruiser.

[Gorey]

Look for water intrusion around the steering pedistal. I think the cockpit sole is laminated with balsa, water will turn it to mush. Wiring in the Newports is cast into the fiberglass and when broken has to be replaced by rerouting through cracks and crannies. Through hull valves are Marelon and the survey will probably indicate replacement.

Good Luck Pat Gorey Starry Night--Channel Islands CA

[sailhagg]

The wiring was definately a problem and took us a while to get fixed, we do the work ourselves. Also, we've had a small amount of blisters but they were easy to fix (not done by us). Don't know if this would help you but I've got a review here: Newport 30 Sailboat Review

We really like ours, she's a 1985. There were quiet a few things we needed to address once she was ours (lots of bringing up to "code" sort of stuff) but all in all we really like this boat. We've had ours now for three years and she's been pretty solid.