Why you should buy a boat you have never heard of

Boat buying advice often emphasises the benefits of focussing on well-known and well-documented designs.

There’s a lot to be said for this, given the strengths and weaknesses of these designs are often a known quantity, as are common problems to look out for and how to fix them.

But this means good examples of well-known models that are sensibly priced often get snapped up very quickly, with some boats changing hands for surprisingly high prices, even when the market in general for used craft is slow.

As a result, there are many excellent lesser-known models, including some great designs that were built to a high standard, that stay on the market for longer; even nicely looked after boats, with a lot of recent new gear, are often keenly priced.

The boatbuilding industry has always been wildly fragmented, with many brands producing little more than a handful each year, so most boats on the market are not well-known models.

Searching carefully among them is an approach that has served me well over 30 years of boat buying for myself and sourcing vessels for other people.

Buy a boat: Examine boat construction

Given that thousands of Quarter Tonners were produced in the 1970s and 80s, it might be thought that my previous boat, the 24ft Quarter Tonner, Minestrone, was an example of a popular class.

But that’s like saying hot hatchbacks were once a common type of car, without identifying the exact model among the scores that were produced.

In the case of Minestrone, she was a Jac de Ridder-designed Extension 24, of which only a handful were built.

It was, therefore, important to understand both the boat’s construction and how well, or badly, the vessel could be expected to sail.

Although in some respects Minestrone’s construction is unconventional, including a fibreglass sheathed plywood deck that needed work, other aspects were better built than many boats of the mid-1970s.

The foam sandwich hull, for instance, predominately used woven rovings, creating a lighter and stiffer structure than the more common monolithic chopped strand mat of the era.

Minestrone’s hull laminate therefore also offered the reassurance of being much less susceptible to severe osmosis.

Study the data

Useful comparison data for assessing sailing qualities include sail plans and areas, draught, displacement and ballast ratio, displacement/length and sail area/displacement ratios, plus the angle of vanishing stability.

Rating certificates for any designs used for racing can also be a good source of data that can’t be found elsewhere.

More than 12,000 current certificates, covering a wide variety of boats from 18ft to 100ft and from long keel classics to the latest lightweight flyers, are available in the public domain on the Offshore Racing Congress website, orc.org.

Don’t be daunted if not all figures for any boat you’re considering are readily available, or by the difficulty of making judgements in abstract.

If you have a couple of better-known designs in mind for comparison the process instantly becomes much easier.

It’s also important to remember that ballast ratio, which is one of the most frequently recommended figures for a rough assessment of stability and seaworthiness, can be very misleading.

From the early to mid-1970s through to the late 1980s and beyond it was not uncommon for boats to have relatively shallow draught by today’s standards, with most of the weight in the top half of the keel.

The deep keel on recent designs with most of its weight in the bulb is therefore likely to have far more righting moment, even if the figure for ballast ratio is a lot lower.

In the case of Minestrone, the available parameters pointed to a boat that would be fast downwind and that would surf readily thanks to relatively light displacement, minimal rocker and a very flat run aft.

On the other hand, a narrow waterline beam and a low ballast ratio on a keel with no bulb meant she could be expected to be rather tender.

On the plus side, the transom is wider than other mid-1970s designs, which improves control downwind and reduces rolling, while the large rudder also promises to help keep the boat on course unless pushed very hard.

She was somewhat underpowered by the standards of today’s performance boats, so I was able to fit a larger rig, setting it up to be able to shorten sail quickly and easily when necessary.

In the five seasons I sailed her Minestrone provided some fun cruises, including cross-Channel and exciting racing, occasionally hitting 12-13 knots on downwind legs.

Given she was used as a dual-purpose boat for both cruising and racing, other advantages included the wide beam and high freeboard that create a lot more internal volume than might be expected on a performance-oriented boat of this size.

She is also a relatively lightweight boat, with a big rig, but low stability by today’s standards, so it was also no surprise that she needed to be sailed actively, with frequent sail trimming which made her an energetic and occasionally tiring boat to sail on a 50- or 60-mile passage.

Keep options open

Minestrone was by no means the first little-known design I’ve bought.

Few people have heard of the Discovery 3000 which was built in Greece, predominately for the charter industry, between the mid-1980s and mid-1990s.

Neither had I when I first saw adverts for a fleet being sold off with individual boats at unmissable prices back in 2001.

The hull shape is similar to that of the Westerly Fulmar, with the advantage of a lead keel, though it’s a bit fuller in the forward sections and there’s a sugar scoop transom that gives easy access to the water for swimming and makes boarding a tender an easier and safer operation.

The interior layout is similar to that of the Moody 31, with an aft double cabin and aft heads/shower, albeit with a lot less joinery and an interior that was clearly cheaper to manufacture.

For a project boat that had been left with hatches open over a very wet Aegean winter, this was a positive advantage, as the accommodation areas were quick to clean up and it didn’t take long to get sailing.

Over the past 23 years, Ammos has proved to be a great boat that offers a good mix of space, comfort and sailing abilities, even in near-gale conditions, yet at the time she was a fraction of the price of the (admittedly slightly larger) Fulmar and Moody.

I hadn’t initially planned to keep the boat so long, expecting to upgrade to a larger and newer vessel that would offer more speed, as well as a little more space and comfort.

Instead, the lure of short-handed long-distance offshore racing intervened, particularly my partner Kass’s wish to compete in the OSTAR single-handed transatlantic race from Plymouth to Newport, Rhode Island.

Not having a great deal of capital invested in Ammos made it feasible for me to keep that boat so we could continue to enjoy cruising in the Aegean islands while Kass looked for another she could buy for racing.

It’s a luxury that would not have been possible had Ammos been a lot more expensive to buy and refit.

Buying a boat: Think outside the box

Safety and stability requirements for offshore racing now exclude some affordable designs that have enjoyed considerable success in the past, including the Sigma 33.

There are newer boats of a similar size that meet the standards, including the Sun Fast 3200, but demand for short-handed raceboats is such that prices, even of early examples that are now nearing 15 years old, are typically more than £80,000.

That figure was well out of our budget, even had we sold Ammos.

In the search for a more budget-friendly alternative, the Sigma 36 stuck out as a good proposition.

They are robust and have a very well-proven track record in races including the OSTAR, Round Britain and Ireland, and the Azores and Back Race (AZAB).

The same was true of the newer, but much more expensive, J/109.

When Zest, a 36ft one-off Rob Humphreys’ design built of strip cedar and epoxy, was advertised for a good price, the Sigma 36 and J/109 made a good basis for comparison.

Zest was launched in 1992, so the design is more than a dozen years newer than the Sigma, with 75cm (2ft 6in) more waterline length and a significantly deeper lead keel that confers more stability as well as better performance to windward.

Compared to 2004’s J/109, Zest’s draught is only marginally greater, but the newer design has the benefit of a bulb keel, which increases the righting moment.

Nevertheless, on the plus side, Zest’s keel is around 25% heavier, giving a ballast ratio of 45%, compared to 36% for the J/109, which helps even out some of the differences.

Despite the greater ballast ratio, Zest is only 74kg heavier than the J/109, and a useful 700kg lighter than the Sigma 36.

This is partly due to her construction, which creates a very strong and stiff lightweight structure that can only be significantly bettered with carbon.

A big rudder mounted further forward than that of the Sigma, and therefore further away from disturbed water near the transom, provides excellent control, even downwind in heavy weather, when we have surfed with good control at speeds of up to 17 knots.

The tiller steering is excellent for short-handed sailing, as the boat is steered using autopilot for extended periods, while all key sail handling and trimming operations can be handled at the front of the cockpit.

Yet it’s still easy to grab the helm at a moment’s notice if necessary.

A boat’s physical dimensions are a big factor in the ability to resist capsize or inversion due to wave action in severe weather and, despite being nominally the same length, Zest is actually slightly larger than the other two designs, with greater overall length, beam and waterline length.

Having sailed almost 30,000 miles over the past decade, Zest is now very well-proven.

She survived the 2017 OSTAR/TWOSTAR storm that claimed four of the 16 boats still racing at that stage and placed fourth overall in the windy 2019 AZAB, ahead of all but one of the seven Sun Fasts that were competing.

Maintenance is key

Today far more people look for a Westerly Centaur than for a Sabre 27.

Yet when new, the Sabre was considered by many to be a superior design to the Centaur, with more interior space and better sailing qualities.

It was quality control of the fit-out, including a propensity for deck leaks at the toerail and deck hardware, that dampened enthusiasm among new boat buyers of the day, with the result that many fewer were sold.

On any well-maintained boat these issues should have been ironed out decades ago, so owners today don’t need to worry about these issues any more than they would with any other design of similar age.

Regular PBO contributor Ken Endean has spent extended periods aboard his Sabre 27, London Apprentice, including visiting much of the coastline of the UK and northern Europe.

Equally, I’ve long thought the Elizabethan 30 makes an excellent low-cost alternative to the extremely popular and capable Contessa 32.

The latter has a legendary reputation for seaworthiness, partly as a result of being the smallest boat to weather the 1979 Fastnet Race storm and reach the finish in Plymouth.

On the other hand, it has cramped accommodation by today’s standards and can be very wet when sailing to windward in a blow.

It might be a surprise to recommend a smaller boat as an alternative, but the David Thomas-designed Elizabethan arguably offers all the key qualities that make the Contessa such a popular choice; the exception is the option for one-design racing, yet even the very best examples rarely change hands for more than £15,000.

That represents a lot of boat for the money. Of course, everyone has different objectives when buying a boat.

Being clear about these well in advance of searching for a vessel makes it easier to compare different designs and decide which of those available stands the best chance of meeting your needs and budget.

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