Test Sail

[Tmacmi]

Hello!

New to the forum, so please bear with me.

We are considering moving up to a C34.  Most likely a MK 1, though we'd love a MK 1.5.  The primary factor is having two completely private berths so that we can have friends and family cruise with us for long weekends.

We've never sailed a C34.

I'm wondering if someone is up for taking us out for a test sail.  We live in SE Michigan, but keep our boat in South Haven Michigan so a trip to the west side of the state would be easy.

Dinner and drinks would be on us.

I hate that we are in a world that it needs to be mentioned but we have received our Covid vaccinations.

Thanks for your consideration.

Sincerely,

The crew of s/v Solace

[scgunner]

Solace Crew,

If you're moving up from a smaller Catalina don't worry you'll feel right at home, except everything is BIGGER! That's a good thing. I'd love to take you out for a sail, unfortunately I'm in SoCal.

I can give a bit of advice though, if you want the Mk 1.5, get the Mk 1.5, it may take a little more time to find and cost a bit more money but you'll never be sorry. Get the boat you want! I have a Mk 1 and love it, if you get one you will too, but there will always be a pang of regret, however small, if you settle for your second choice.

[Tmacmi]

Solace Crew,

If you're moving up from a smaller Catalina don't worry you'll feel right at home, except everything is BIGGER! That's a good thing. I'd love to take you out for a sail, unfortunately I'm in SoCal.

I can give a bit of advice though, if you want the Mk 1.5, get the Mk 1.5, it may take a little more time to find and cost a bit more money but you'll never be sorry. Get the boat you want! I have a Mk 1 and love it, if you get one you will too, but there will always be a pang of regret, however small, if you settle for your second choice.

Thanks for the response and the suggestion. The MK 1.5 seems hard to find. I missed one here in MI by 2 weeks. Though it sold for under $30K which makes it suspect in my mind.

The thing is we aren't moving up from a Catalina. Our current boat is a Finch designed Spirit 28.

We'd like to spend a little more time on a C34 other than a quick peek in the cabin someone let us have a while ago. I want to see how well the lines lay out work under sail. Deck layout. Sailing character and how they maneuver under power. etc.

After about 30 years away from sailing we bought our current boat with about 30 minutes consideration (classic right?). I'd like to do a little more due diligence this time.

[waughoo]

I just bought a 1.5 and can say that for me the two things that are nearly impossible to adapt to a mk1 are the walkthrough transom and the higher HP engine.  I can say that for those two reasons alone, I am very happy that I was able to get a 1.5.  I missed out on a mk1 with someone else putting in an offer $2k more than my offer.  I was pretty sad at the time, but very pleased with how it turned out in the end.  I am MUCH happier with this one!

[Stu Jackson]

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We live in SE Michigan, but keep our boat in South Haven Michigan so a trip to the west side of the state would be easy.>>>>>>>>>>>>>
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There is ample justification for wanting the convenience of a walk through transom.  There is also a reasonable desire for a larger engine.

I personally don't believe that either of them should be a make or break decision for you.

Why?

I've owned my boat for almost 24 years and bought it when it was 12 years old.  It's got one of those "un-Godly tiny M25 engines" that couldn't push a rock uphill to save its life.  That said, I sailed on San Francisco Bay (sometimes 7 knot current under the Golden Gate Bridge), and the adjacent Pacific Ocean for 18 of those years.  In 2016, I sailed my boat up the PNW coast to British Columbia.  With that same engine, which now has 3,600 hours on it (bought at 888).

Point being that even the original engines are just fine for this boat.  If you continue to sail in the Great Lakes it should be no issue.  And yes, I know enough bout the GL's to understand they can get short steep waves and nasty conditions.

Similarly for the walk through.  It is a superb addition if you swim a lot and/or plan to back into your slip and use the transom to board the boat.  I knew many folks who had them in San Francisco, but none of 'em went swimming there or backed into their slips.  If I had one when I went to The Delta in the summer, it'd have been great, but I managed to survive and swim a lot when I went up from The Bay's 60F to The Delta's 95F.

As far as lines are concerned, much of the running rigging you will find may well be a personal choice of the skipper and/or PO.  For example, my PO had installed double line reefing, lazy jacks, stacked deck organizers, and a rigid vang.  The OEM boats at that time didn't come with those features.  What you may find on any given boat may not represent all of the controls that can be easily made available.  One of my friends has his outhaul control led aft, too.  So please be careful when evaluating what you find if/when you get your test sail.  It may not  represent all that CAN be done.  That said, there's room for doing  everything anyone could want.

And the boats sail extremely well in both light and heavy air.  Most of us recommend a first reef in the main at around 18 knots.  The choice of headsail size is certainly a personal one, but many of us have found that bigger is not necessarily better because a huge jib is limited in the range of wind speeds in which it can work.

Finally, there's this website.  You will never have to reinvent the wheel.  You have 3 decades of information available, plus a daily dose and fun & games.  What more could you ask for? 

Happy Hunting.

[Ron Hill]

Solace : I wouldn't get too enamored with the larger HP engines, unless you are willing to repitch the prop!! 

i.e. Catalina has put the same 2 bladed and 3 bladed pitched props with the same diameter on their C34s no matter if they have a 21,23,30 or35 HP engine!!!

So if you spin the the same prop at the same RPM that has the same diameter and same pitch you will get the same boat speed!  WA-LA!!   

Now there is a striking difference in boat performance between a 2 and 3 bladed props and fixed vrs folding/feathering props!!

A few thoughts

[Tmacmi]

Thanks to everyone. I appreciate the welcome and the feedback on engines, platforms and C34 ownership.

We are pretty much sold on getting a C34. It really fits the bill on our desires. The only particular reason for the walk through is so any future grandchildren can swim off the stern. Those are fictional grandchildren, likely 10 or more years away. I suppose we could have a SS and teak platform made and hung.

Strangely enough I stumbled on a boat that hasn't been listed on the major boat listing just the local craigslist. (shhhhh!)

Its about four hours away from us.  Is there a list of 5-10 questions to be asked on the phone or email before one drives to look at the boat you would recommend asking?

[glennd3]

Maybe

Age of sails , standing and running rigging, engine hours, head, has water heater been replaced, cutlass bearing, does it have AC/heater , refer, windlass and electronics. Just do a search on this site for these items and you will be overwhelmed with the information here.

[waughoo]

I would read the critical updates list on this site and see if you can spot those updates on the CL boat.  That would likely help you find out if they are an engaged owner.  This would be beyond the questions about sails and running rigging listed above.

[scgunner]

Tmacmi,

You're really not going to learn to much about the boat over the phone, I'd be more interested in sizing up the seller, is he kind of flaky or evasive or is he a solid guy who knows his stuff. It will give you an indication about how well the boat is cared for, that's about all you'll learn over the phone. The seller car send you some pictures, but the only way to really size up the boat is to drive the four hours and have a look see. Since you're been a boat owner for a while you should have a pretty good idea of what to look for.

As far as a test sail goes, you're a serious buyer, any boat you look at the owner should be more than willing to take you out for a test sail, if not move on.

When we were looking for our C34 we looked at a couple of boats before we found Top Gun, including a C36, this was "88 and the boat had only been in production for about a year and a half so there weren't that many to look at. Like you we were serious and test sailed them all. One C34 in particular stands out in that process, the guy was young and odd, he didn't like us touching stuff on his boat, he'd had some unusual additions, and was really particular about where we sat on the boat, at the dock as well as sailing. We thanked him for his time and moved on.

The moral of the story is, there are a lot of C34s out there, don't be afraid to move on.

[Jim Hardesty]

I agree with Kevin.  In addition I would ask to see the maintenance log, not all good captains keep them but it's a good sign when good records are kept.
Jim