[pwr333]

I grew up racing sailboats, one designs, have a 6 pack license, been around large yachts all my life. I helped Bob Evelyn build radical one tonners in
Mystic Ct. My father always had a Chris Craft and have spent many times
taking boats North and South.
Now that I'm older , and looking to retire in 4 years, I would like experienced
opinions on build quality of sailboats in the 36- 45 ft range. I would like
to live aboard, be able to go offshore, handle a storm, but still be able to
make some speed. I know Hans Christian, Pacific SeaCraft, Valiant, are all high quality builds. Are there any fin keel, faster boats that have a better build
quality than others ? Are all older boats with a balsa core all wet ? Cal, Tatan
etc ? Should I be looking at newer Benteau, etc instead of older Cal 39's ?
I could spend maybe 200K at the most..

 

[wikiwiki]

currently a rather active discussion on keels regarding Bene

 

[JimsCAL]

I would suggest looking at boats like the cruising J's (J37c for example) or Sabre's or Tartans from the 1990s Above average build quality and good turn of speed.

 

[pwr333]

Could you direct me to that thread WikiWiki ? Did a search and got confused

Thanks

 

[ehmanta]

I have an older Tartan 37(Sparkman-Stephens) with a partially cored hull with no water penetration (after 37 years) but this design is more of a cruising purpose with decent speed potential. The newer (Tim Jacket Designs) are fin keels/spade rudders that are more performance oriented with good quality. I would say that newer Tartans and Sabres are of like quality and design parameters. Other good production boats that are designed more for cruising will be your Bristols (post 1982), Pacific Seacrafts and Shannons. The next level up in quality would be the Morris, Hinckley's, Lyman Morse and the like.

For your budget and size range, the Tartan 3700 or 4100 or Sabre 362 or 426 would give you your performance you're looking for. The Morris will blow your budget.

 

[ehmanta]

I would also add that there are many, many boats out there that can satisfy your needs and when you get really serious, a good broker that knows boats can be very worthwhile and narrow down your search or even suggest a boat that may be off of your radar.

 

[sharkbait]

1

 

[wikiwiki]

Search this

Beneteau 40.7 cheeki missing Atlantic

Quite extensive technical discussion on subject

 

[zedboy]

Pwr call up Bob Perry (or shoot him an email), he does purchase consultation.