What ever happened to USyacht?

[evecircleM]

Does anyone out there have any information on the USyacht? I have a 27ft.
You don''t see them around too often. Is there any particular reason for this other
than they are slow?

[Jeff_H]

First off, boat building is a small margin, high risk business and so companies of all stripes come and go with a pretty high rate of turn over.

There have been two companies called ''US Yachts''. I am assuming that you mean the one from the 1970''s through 1980''s rather than the 1960''s company that specialized in mid-cockpit motor sailors.

The later US Yachts was a spin off of Bucaneer which was a spin off of Bayliner Power Boats if I remember correctly. Bucaneer is and was a company reviled for poor quality boats, both in terms of design and build quality. They revamped their line in the late 1970''s or so adding a number of IOR racing rule influenced designs that were halfway decent designs. It was at that time that the name of the model line became US Yachts.

Almost from their introduction these boats became obsolete because by the early to mid 1980''s (in the wake of the Fastnet Disaster and the introduction of the J-24) small boats ceased being shaped by IOR rule considerations and interior layouts changed pretty dramatically.

US Yachts sold off some of thier tooling and I believe that Pearson produced the 27 so it showed up as the Triton II (not to be mistaken for the original Carl Alberg designed boat). The Perason boats were far and away better constucted as the USYacht 27 was choped glass and the Pearson wasn''t.

Jeff

[evecircleM]

What do you mean chopped glass. Is it really
that bad of a boat? Boy I guess they must
have seen me coming? Well what did I know they see a lady and take full advantage. That''s not right. Anyway shortly after I bought it I saw a 30ft Hunter I wanted but it
was too late I had already bought this boat.
Know anyone who wants to but a boat cheap?

[Jeff_H]

To answer your questions:
What do you mean chopped glass?

What we usually call ''fiberglass'' is actually one of many different materials. Normal fiber glass consists of polyester resin reinforced with fiberglass fibers. These fibers can be be in fabric form such as the normal cloths that you would see for amatuer glass work, special types of cloth in which the fibers are carefully oriented (bi or tri-axial cloth) or coursely woven (such as roving) or in a kind of felt, called mat.

Then there are Tows, which are simply fiber oriented in one direction. Each of these have advantages for certain applications.

In a general sense these fabrics are cut to shape, and wet out with resin, and hand laid in a mold in manner that forces out air and surplus resin. In better boats the direction of the fabric is carefully oriented to improve strength and flexure quality.

Chopped glass is what it sounds like. Tows of fiber are fed through a chopper gun where the fibers are cut into short lengths and sprayed out a nozzle with catalyzed resin. It is the cheapest way to lay up a boat.

Done right, it is not too bad. But chopped glass is very dependent on the operator to get a proper fiber orientation and the correct resin to fiber ratio. Often choped glass boats also use a lot of accelerator. Done improperly you can end up with a boat with inadequate resin or cloth or poor fiber orientation. In the 1970''s I had a job commissioning trailerable sailboats. We had a brand new boat that someone stepped through the bottom of. When we looked at the boat, there was a layer of gelcoat on the outside and a skim of resin on the inside and dry glass in between. That is a worst case.

Even in the best case the short fiber length that is typical of chopped glass means that the final product is more prone to fatigue and fail over time. Beyond that choped glass requires a slightly more resin rich laminate than other forms of fiberglass further reducing its strength over time.


Is it really that bad of a boat?

These are not great boats. If the boat has been surveyed and corrections made to any deficiencies noted, it is probably fine for coastal messing about. These are not my idea of an offshore boat by any stretch of the imagination. They have acquired a bad reputation that probably exceeds the real quality of the boat, but after sailing on them and repairing them, their reputation does not exceed them by much.

Boy I guess they must have seen me coming?

Probably not. There is a cover for every pot and this may actually be an OK boat in the short haul. You have already bought the old girl. You might as well try to enjoy her. Just don''t put too much money into fixing her up.

Jeff

[evecircleM]

Thank you for answering my questions. By the
way your a really smart guy. You seem to know a great deal about sailing. I sailed alot on the North shore of long Island. I never really ventured into the ocean with her I guess partly because I don''t totally trust her. The interior is really beautiful
I have oak battans and lots of teak. I love that teak. It also has lots of headroom.

To answer your question about the survey
well I did have her surveyed but I don''t really think the guy knew what he was doing.
I think he just said everything was in good shape so he could get his money and leave. I could be wrong but I don''t think so. I was
quite a novice when I bought the boat and did''t realize certain things until after I bought it. For instance she doesn''t move well in reverse at all. It is a volvo diesel
engine. The first time I took her out she shook so bad all the bolts came loose. Then
I went to dock her and someone at the marina
ran into the port side of her. It seems I didn''t really start out with to much luck. What is really funny is when I bought her I didn''t like the name because it was strange.
But I knew it was bad luck to change the name
of a boat so I left it. I probable should have renamed her right? Maybe I would have had better luck. Well anyway thanks for the information . I enjoy talking with you.

[fishclan]

EveCircleM
I just read your posts. Jeff is right about all he said. If you are wanting to see it here is a web site you might like.

http://www.cnw.com/~bell/

It is about the Buccaneer''s
David __/)

[evecircleM]

Fish clan Thank you, I went on that Website.
Is that your website?

[fishclan]

No it belongs to my friend. He is the one responsible for teaching me to sail. He was given a Buccaneer a few years ago. It floats,sails and gets you there. Since I have purchased my own boat. Its a Cal 2-29 love it. Thanks
fishclan

[newuser]

Here is the hot skippy about Buccaneer and US. Yachts. First of all, I don''t recall ever crawling through a US Yacht that was chopped glass, though I have only been inside two of them. Both were hand laid with roven woving, as was my Buccaneer. US Yachts are actually a step above the Buccaneer line, which was poorly designed for perfomance in order to place large boat living accomidations in a small boat. Which they did!

I sail and 1975 Buccaneer 270. I do not sail offshore, but have been in some considerable weather on the Puget Sound. I am not completely comfortable with the size of the rigging and with the placement of the ballast, but the boat holds up surprisingly well in a blow. Most of my uncertainty about the boat likely stems from the considerable amount of heresay and bashing that has gone on regarding these boats.

Whether you were "had" or not depends on what you paid for your Buccaneer. The resale value of them has been increasing in the northwest, but you can still have a US Yacht in good condition in the 27 foot ranger for under 10 grand and closer to about 6.

These boats have been sailed offshore and I haven''t seen any design horror stories, but I don''t really want to go there either. If you checked on my website you saw a link to other Buccaneer Websites. One of them is the Buccaneer Homeport, which is run by a fellow named Jeff who sails a Buccaneer 280 out in the ocean off of Long Is. NY.

[newuser]

My other web site is found at http://communities.msn.com/BaylinerBuccaneerSloops

That wasn''t my e mail address or my signature. I don''t know what is happening on this messageboard.

yondersea!