[Rhodes22-list] Blue Water Boats

[Mark Kaynor]

Brad,

Back when we were looking, we went to Ft. Lauderdale - there are always a
ton of boats for sale down there. Before we found Rachel, we fell in love
with a Panda 38 we saw. It was an "ugly duckling" but it was beautiful. We
went back to see it twice before we left. Bob Quinn gave us the name of a
surveyor in Ft. Pierce and we had him go down and take a quick look - not a
full survey - we just wanted to know if there was anything really wrong with
it. Turned out the mast step was cracked, all the standing rigging needed to
be replaced, it needed all new sails, had wooden decks w/ some water
intrusion, and there were several other things wrong with it, too. Then we
found Rachel and decided to go with the Tayana - in part because we wanted
to go sailing, not spend another year or two and a bunch more "boat bucks"
getting ready - and because the Tayana has that "classic" look we love. I
still think about that Panda sometimes, though.

Below is a short email from another Tayana 37 owner discussing his
experience with an Island Packet 38. This guy is sort of the Tayana list's
"resident Roger" <g>. 

Mark

-------------------

Just my impression from two long passages in nearly new IP38s from Cape May
to halfway to Bermuda and then toward Norfolk....  Both IP38s seemed to me
to be 'lifeless'  - no helm feedback (rack and pinion), poorly arranged and
under strength deck hardwa re and running gear, staysail was very small (I
did like the hoyt boom).  When I was on the helm I had to steer more by
eyeball than feel or helm pressure.  Both boats had poorly tuned rigging so
I cant offer much about what it would be like on a proper ly tuned IP rig.
These trips were before I had interest in a Ty37 but convinced me that an IP
was NOT to be included in my 'wish list'.  I realized that were set up as
the typical 'cruiser's boat' but I do remember that nothing excited me about
these b oats .... just a ho-hum experience. 
Inside they were OK.  Other than an hourly maintenance tour when at sea (my
routine) I didnt get deeply into the 'mechanicals' nor structurals but I saw
nothing that stood out as 'bad'.  We did catch a near-gale nearing the
entrance to Ches and I was su rprised at the pounding of the bow and extreme
hobby-horsing into dead-on high chop (and the 'ends' were not loaded), I
would have expected a smoother action from such a hull form ... and then a
lot of hardware (winches, etc.) started breaking, etc.