Older Jeanneau''''s any good?
I am in the process of looking at an older Jeanneau. In fact today I received the survey. The boat is a 1989 and spent some time in the charter trade and I certainly expect it to need entensive clean up and upgrading. (To qualify myself, I grew up with boats, raced and cruised boats for the past 25 years, graduated from a merchant marine academy and focused my post grad education in naval arch. and worked for a very well known Rhode Island based boat builder.) I recently compared the Beneteau 432, 430 and Jeanneau 44 Sun Magic boats. It is my opinion that the Jeanneau is a better built boat than the Beneteau for many of the reasons that can be attributed to the "stick boat" construction method. In addition, my inspections revealed that the quality of finish, which can be observed in details such as the running of the wiring, wiring of the panal, installation of lights, use of "larger" backing plates on stanchion and winches, quality of hardware used below, finish wood working, etc is slightly better on the Jeanneau. I read recently of a couple of families that purchased Jeanneau boats(specifically the Sun Magic 44) and are in the process of completing circumnavigations. I''m sure Beneteaus have sailed the same routes. I would not get to wrapped around the axle when you read about email reviews of various boats. So much of what you read in these emails pertains to issues that deal with the results of maintaince or lack there of. Further, the "factual" information I have been reading tends to be unsuported and I would have difficulty basing any major acquisition decision on what I read here. Like someone else said in a reply, there is a perfect boat for everyone. Buy the best you can afford and leave room to add special upgrades to bring it up to "your" level of expectations and live with it. You don''t need a Hinckley, Alden or Saber to sail coastal or around the world. On the flip side tuck the comments away and recall them as you personally inspect each boat. Go for it!
