Advice for prospective 379/389 owners - esp on lift keels

[tomsis]

Hello everyone! My buddy and I have just sold our Moody 31 Mk 2 bilge keel: a venerable and much loved boat, but showing her 35 years. We have narrowed the search down to a SO 379/389, although we do want to triple-check the 409s for size as we haven't seen one in the flesh. The questions we were hoping for some advice on are:

- Views on the performance and weaknesses of the 379 lift keel. We liked the ability to dry of our Moody. We sail in N Wales.
- Views on water in the bilge. One of the examples we saw had quite a bit there (c. 3 buckets). Thoughts on possible sources?
- Views on the reliability of in-mast furling on 379s.
- Need for bow-thrusters.

I may post these Qs into the equipment section of the forum as well (should I, or just this one?)

Many thanks indeed.

Tom

[tomsis]

I should add - do drop me a note if you are selling one!

[Charlie-Bravo]

Not model specific, but some thoughts.

I had a Moody 34 bilge keel prior to getting the SO35, and still miss the ability to dry out and have less tidal restrictions, but am now happy with the 1.85m keel , and just plan trips around the keel depth, and adding extra for safety. The boat handling whilst mooring / berthing is a great improvement, and the sailing to windward seems to gain more ground and speed than the Moody. The Moody took 15 knots to start sailing well and enjoyed 25 knots of wind, the Jeanneau gets going in 8 knots, loves 15 knots , but in 25-30 knots does get pushed about a bit being so much lighter, never dangerously, but she isn’t rigged for storms, and she has a ‘tender hull’.

In the end, all boating is fun, all boats have their pro’s and con’s, and each to their own,  we are only here once.

I looked at lifting keels and twin rudder set ups , but in the end thought that there was more to cause trouble, Moody had a Brunton prop, the Jeanneau a fixed two blade, a downgrade I thought, but I’m happy that it doesn’t have swiveling bits and bobs to fall apart and spoil my day, less trouble = nicer days,  I wasn’t sure the lift keel would actually replicate the versatility of the fixed bilge keel boats, most of which are quite strong and designed to land on their keels frequently.
I'm sure a Jeanneau lift keel would be great for occasional drying , and would be able to sneak in and out of harbour a bit earlier and later, but I am not convinced that it’s actually of great value over a conventional fixed keel, just a slightly different tack on the game of sailing ….. just my thoughts, and not trying in any way to sway your choice.

Bilges should not be wet, even in an old Moody,  if they are wet then something needs mending, just a matter of determining how the water got in and getting it fixed,  many possibilities.

All furling set ups can have ‘issues’, but with a bit of love, newish sails (old baggy sails tend to jam things up) and good control lines, they make sailing short handed much easier, at the cost of less performance , I’m never in a hurry, sailing a little slower gives me more sailing time, I prefer furling sails,  others hate the idea and relish scrambling around on deck getting a reef in, and they sail faster as a reward for the deck scramble.

Bow thrusters ……. well you don’t actually need one, it’s another thing to go wrong,  and with a bit of technique, mooring in tight spaces in a cross wind / tide can be achieved without one, occasionally I confess to having wished to have had one when entering a strange to me tight marina in a bit of a blow , and  having said that, if my boat came with a thruster I wouldn’t decommission it and blank off the tunnel, …. but it didn’t, so I invested in a greater quantity of fenders and haven’t failed to dock ………. yet.

Might see you in the Irish Sea , and hope you find your dry bilged boat.

CB

[tomsis]

CB, thanks so much for all that. Your words make lots of sense! We're going to lok at versions with and without the lift keel. One we have seen has quite a basic design that seems to not have too much to go wrong, but these are boats so of course everything that can go wrong will go wrong at some point.

Anyone have direct experience of the 379/389 lift keel? 

Thanks, Tom