Advice On The First 47.7 Good Or Bad

Hi there my name is johnny iam seriously thinking of buying the 47.7 tall rig and deep draft.i will be living aboard for about 5 years.i am sailing from miami to the Caribbean,i know the deep draft will be a problem in the bahamas and some other place but the pay of is for me a much safer boat to handle in big seas and security for me, knock downs ect,anchoring out in a little deeper water is fine with me. then sail to the med for a few years.and eventualy back to australia where i live, and on to Thailand.i have sailed on all types of yacht in the south pacific so i have experience in the real world.my budget is around 250.000 us.as i see it you get a lot of yacht for the money the boat is fast and lots of room down below,any advice on the 47.7 would be appreciated good or bad.thanks.johnny

 

I have 2 years / 20 000 Nm in a 47.7, including 2 Atlantic crossings and 6 months in the Caribbean.

The boat was brand new when I started and fell apart in pieces after about a year. It's designed for club racing and cocktail parties, not serious sailing.

The tall rig buys you good performance and no extra worries.
The deep draft buys you very litte performance and a lot of troubles.

That's my 2 cents...
/j

 

that sounds very strange, the FIRST 47.7 is very strong when racing in the sydney hobart and other races in the south pacific,always placing first or second in the class,

 

I am not referring to performance. It is quite nice.

I'm talking about the boat staying in one piece, not after a single race but after many months of sailing. I had to rebuild the rudder twice (#1 bearing box loosened from hull, #2 bearings came off the stock). Then tear out the interior in the forecabins and reassemble the beams to the hull, since they delaminated from the hull. This is a common problem (I learned from the user group meeting) on Beneteau's that get sailed a little more frequently than the average club racer.

I guess what I want to say is I would not pick the same boat if I was to repeat my First 47.7 experience.

Here's my 47.7 track, BTW ;-) :

 

JesperW, thanks for your input you know what you are talking about,what was the year and hull number of your 47.7.do you know if they tried to fix these problems,Was your boat new when you bought it.
Cheers,johnny

 

Hull # 100, got it new in 2000. I have no clue about later hulls, but I honestly suspect they don't care. They can't afford to. It's cheaper to fix the breakages for the few that actually use the boat. After all 99% spend most of their time moored...

 

My budget is around 250,000 us. i dont know of another 48 foot yacht that is fast for passage making and good to life aboard,for the money i would love to buy a swan but i just cant do it money wise, do you know of any.i plan to put a water tight bulk head in the bow ect and really beef the yacht up for blue water.
cheers johnny

 

Same reasoning why I got mine !

But it also made me become an alloy fan these days... Maybe this one ?

 

jesperw,thanks for your valuable input,iam going to buy the 47.7 tall rig and deep draft, why dont you like the deep draft?do you have any other tips for me,as they would be much appreciated .
cheers johnny

 

Jesper, it is as well you came along to tell us about your experience Scary stuff, I build alloy Beneteau have tremndous buying power, it would cost about 150000 for me to produce just a hull decks , cockpit etc in alloy here, that is why I have to shift to Poland

 

Good advice Jesper, thanks for sharing.

The lesson is as always, yachts are built to a price, how else could they come out so cheap for a 47 footer (or 35' 40' etc..). If you want to tiptoe around I guess a wafer thin fibreglass yacht would suffice but in my opinion, better to spend the money on a 10 year old Hallberg Rassy and sail with confidence.

I wonder what other misery stories are out there? Misery, as ultimately these defects have to be fixed which costs unbudgetted $$.

 

They are built to a price... take good advice, you will get a lot more real boat for the money.

Shallow draft is good, its not a deep keel that provides safety its a good design... more boats have floundered on land than at sea, being able to park in area's that are inaccessible to others, cross river bars that others can't and just plain get places with less concern for the tide etc etc etc... for cruising a shallow draft boat rules. For a cruising yacht give me a good centre boarder with good windward ability any day over a deep keel & you can keep French production boats I value my life more than that.

 

A 10 Year Old Hallebrg Rassy Is 500.000 To 600.000 Thousands. I Dont Get It, I Have A Budget And That Is It, Like I Said I Will Have To Really Have To Beef The 47.7 Up!!, And Watch The Weather A Little .i Would Love To Have The Hallebrg Rassy But That Will Never Happen.

 

Dunno which website you look at my friend but there are 16 H-R's between $225 and $250,000 on yachtworld (see below). Like folks said, quality costs money so no, you're right, you cant get a 3 year old 47 foot H-R for $250 thou. But you can get a well built and extremely seaworthy yacht for that money.

http://www.yachtworld.com/core/list...=quick&N=1508&pricderange=$200,000 - $300,000

PS there seems to be something wrong with your keyboard, every first letter is coming out in capitals...

 

It's tough to beef up the hull of a fully built glass boat in any meaningful way. Easy to add/change/strengthen gear, but you are really stuck with the hull as built unless you tear it down to the skin.