18ft skiffs
Printed From: Yachts and Yachting Online
Category: Dinghy classes
Forum Name: Dinghy development
Forum Discription: The latest moves in the dinghy market
URL: http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/forum/forum_posts.asp?TID=9943
Printed Date: 18 Jul 25 at 2:00am
Software Version: Web Wiz Forums 9.665y - http://www.webwizforums.com
Topic: 18ft skiffs
Posted By: 381
Subject: 18ft skiffs
Date Posted: 13 Oct 12 at 6:22pm
|
Hi I am new to the forum, having looked back through old threads I see there was some old threads regarding 18ft skiffs and some people on the forum own some??? Basically in a position where I have found this on ebay http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18ft-Skiff-GBR-30-Murray-Hull-/271079651407?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item3f1d9b384f#ht_651wt_1397 - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/18ft-Skiff-GBR-30-Murray-Hull-/271079651407?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Sailing_Boats_ET&hash=item3f1d9b384f#ht_651wt_1397 Was just wanting some advice from people who may know about these boats. It looks like some cheap fun, I look forward to seeing what people have to say about these boats as having little knowledge I dont know what to expect! Cheers
|
Replies:
Posted By: JimC
Date Posted: 13 Oct 12 at 6:35pm
| They tend to be vicously expensive fun... Its not the purchase its the running costs and maintenance overhead plus the problems of finding a team of people who will put the same level of committment in you do... Figure on breaking something and having to fix it every time you take the boat out. |
Posted By: TomB
Date Posted: 13 Oct 12 at 6:54pm
|
i know the guys selling the boat. 18ft skiffs are great fun( I did the JJ this year and a fair bit of the uk circuit), and they are expensive but remember the costs are split 3 ways so probably not a lot more expensive than any other high-performance boat. its a lot of bang for your buck ------------- 49er 884 "its win or swim attitude boys" -awesome aussie skiff commentator |
Posted By: radixon
Date Posted: 13 Oct 12 at 8:07pm
|
The BLYM lot had one, team Ericsson if I recall. ------------- |
Posted By: Iain C
Date Posted: 14 Oct 12 at 12:32am
|
Do it. At the lower end, they are not half as expensive as you might think. They are also not as fragile as Jim makes out...however you have to be fastidious with maintenance, and make no mistake, if you crash one hard, people get hurt and things do break. However at the top end it's a law of diminishing returns, a lot more money for a smidge more boatspeed and competitiveness. However the 18 guys are all great, and so very welcoming even if you turn up in a shed. Buy your boat, learn to sail it, book your event and you too can be sat on the startline wih messrs Greenhalgh, Winning and Hamlin going "whooooaaa, what they hell are we doing here?" Such fond memories of just about the best days's sailing in my life! http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/photo/40501 - http://www.yachtsandyachting.com/photo/40501 ------------- RS700 GBR922 "Wirespeed" Fireball GBR14474 "Eleven Parsecs" Enterprise GBR21970 Bavaria 32 GBR4755L "Adastra" |
Posted By: GO
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 12:51pm
|
Hi
Yep, agree with Iain, these are the best boats in the world, simple. Have sailed 2 different boats with varying budgets...
1st - B18 many moons ago, low budget but we had a good maintainance programme which kept us close to the big boys enough to keep us interested. learned a lot and only did UK circuit but loved every second - best moment: beating Trevor Barnabas in a race at the Internationals in Fowey & racing in 20+kts off Sunderland against Robinson, Southy, Ovi etc, awesome
2nd - Full on campaign with much bigger budget, Euro tour & JJ's. Spent a bloody fortune, worked out it was £275 each time I stepped on the boat (granted we did spend £17k putting new deck, racks & sails on it [Gill]). Again a whole load of fun and nothing quite compares with doing 25kts down the middle of Sydeny Harbour with 30 other skiffs! Best moment: Winning the Sonderborg grand prix in epic conditions, still gives me goosebumps now!
Moral of the story, do it, accept you ain't getting your money back and you are going to spend more time on the beach than you are sailing, accept the bruises, accept the travelling, accept that nothing will ever compare ever again....you will have an absolute blast and if you get to Garda, Carnac etc you will have memories that will blow your mind everytime you think about them!
have fun ------------- Graeme |
Posted By: TomB
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 3:28pm
such a good post and probably the only way that you could own an 18. if you try to rationalise it, then youll talk yourself out of it. ------------- 49er 884 "its win or swim attitude boys" -awesome aussie skiff commentator |
Posted By: pondmonkey
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 3:52pm
|
It's your money, do with it what you want. Older folks will tell you the only thing they regret is the things they didn't do.... sounds like justification to just go and buy it. However also consider the one thing you'll never get back. Time. If you want to spend your time sailing, not bimbling, with friends, old and new, in a competitive boat without astronomical running costs, will the 18ft Skiff deliver this? It's your choice, drink the kool-aid if you want to, but don't be surprised if it has a bitter after-taste. ------------- |
Posted By: Dougal
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 4:23pm
|
If you can afford it, go for it. I would definitely do something like that if it wasn't for the kids. Even if it goes horribly wrong you'll still have something to talk about on forums like this in 20 years time! But seriously, give it a go and let us all know how it turns out. (Or buy a Solo and become Pondmonkey's new best friend...)
|
Posted By: pondmonkey
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 4:39pm
|
Dougal- I'm just acting as foil to the above over-enthusiastic postings encouraging it. It's a 1998 £25k 'all carbon' boat on ebay for five-hundred quid for a reason. The OP openly admits he doesn't know what to expect, and thinks it looks like 'cheap fun'. I was part of a consortium which bought something similar. I think I sailed it twice, which is two more times than some of the others who joined in. It spent far more weekends unused or in for repair than it ever got on the water. Not that it mattered - one of our consortium entry criteria was that it wasn't anyone's 'primary boat' and it only cost us each the same as a big night on the lash... But if you're buying one of these as a replacement to another boat 'just for a laugh' and 'a cheap bit of fun', then I reckon you could be in for a bumpy, potentially disappointing road. But of course, I know I shouldn't be 'negative', especially about a 'skiff' of genuine antipodean origin, hence why I have not said 'don't do it', quite the contrary, you only regret what you didn't do or what you've wasted your time on. I guess it would be better contextualised if the OP could cite where they plan to sail, if they have two regular crew members, what his/her sailing background is and what their intention is with regards the running costs/event costs etc. if we're to provide objective feedback. But this isn't available, so it's left to anecdotal responses only. As for buying a Solo- don't do it, not unless there's no other option. There are far nicer boats out there... if you can find some folks to race them against that is.
------------- |
Posted By: Dougal
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 4:56pm
|
What you say is valid, but I just find that the older I get the more I wish I'd taken risks like the one this lad/lass is thinking of when I was younger. I don't think anyone here has said it isn't a risk, but just think about the potential for fun. If I didn't spend all weekend rigging/de-rigging Oppies, Toppers and Fevas then I would definitily be looking for something slightly loony to sail.
Anyway, what it boils down to is that it will be great fun when it is going, but the costs and repair time are significantly higher than other boats. Personally, I would do it.
(I'm still trying to think of how to get another pop at Solo's into this post
 ) |
Posted By: 381
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 5:55pm
|
Thanks for the opinions, my main thoughts were wether this was a good enough boat to look at skiffs and have some fun at uk events and just playing around. I have sought advice from someone who knows the boat, who whilst has said it wont be up with the top fleet the boat wasnt last in the 2011 uk fleet and his thought were that it provided a good base to learn 18 footers, supposeldy the m18 which this is, is better as time goes on than the older b18s? can anyone back this up? Watch this space Thanks again!
|
Posted By: pondmonkey
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 6:56pm
A promotional photo should do it.... ------------- |
Posted By: RS400atC
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 7:16pm
|
At the current price, it seems a bargain, provided you have someone to sail it with and somewhere to keep it. Are they comically expensive to insure? I suspect it might have to be TPO. Even if you are just doing it for fun, I think it would need a lot of hours on the water, it's going to be a big change from any other boat. If next year's weather is like this year, it could be frustrating, with lots of days too windy and slow progress. Maybe you'd want a more sensible 'steering from the wire' boat to build your boat handling skills first? |
Posted By: Dougal
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 7:38pm
This sort of thing?
 |
Posted By: Dougal
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 7:39pm
| (whilst Solo bashing is always entertaining, we should probably let this get back on topic...) |
Posted By: haroosh
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 7:49pm
Absolutely. The Murray design is much easier to sail ( especially bear away) than the old b18's. I was most fortunate to have several goes helming a Murray (Rockport) for a friend and sailed at Carnac which was a huge highlight. The boat was lovely to sail but the 2 guys in front of me knew exactly what to do. If you have 2 others keen to have a go then it's worth a shot. You don't get many chances at experiencing something like it. Have fun! ------------- Keith RS100 GBR 116 (XLR8) |
Posted By: gbr940
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 8:44pm
|
Can agree with the "do it" camp...you won't regret it - that Murray is a good starter boat and the fleet will support you, I know most of them and they all chip in to help each other at events. PLUS it's only money, you could do something boring like buy a "sensible" boat which wouldn't be half as fun. GOOD LUCK!!! ------------- RS400 GBR1321 |
Posted By: frow3n
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 8:59pm
|
I'm only 15... but done some good skiff sailing! An 18 footer is always the top of the world, I really want a chance to get to sail one... but that will come eventually. All I can say it is sail one while you can... there's always going to be the point where you can't keep up with the boat in terms of physical ability.. :S go for it! ------------- Laser Radial 201357 29er 1907 Queen Mary SC |
Posted By: pondmonkey
Date Posted: 17 Oct 12 at 9:53pm
Well in that case go for it. You sound pretty keen, you'll probably regret it if you don't. But one word of caution- set yourself some clear objectives on how much TOW you would expect to get from investing say, the next couple of years in it. If you're struggling to meet that, or its forever broken on the shore, do yourself a favour and move it on to another cash / time richer punter. ------------- |
Posted By: GO
Date Posted: 18 Oct 12 at 4:06pm
|
Agree on the B18 / Murray call, B18 was much harder to sail, saying that the rigs have moved on massively since then which has helped...go for the M18 everytime though.
On the insurance front, I'm not sure about now but there was a gentlemans agreement that only the hulls, Foils & trailers would be insures to keep the premiums down, masts can usually be fixed or you can usually pick a good second hand double spreader CST rig for a sensible price secondhand.
Do it!!!!!!! ------------- Graeme |
Posted By: fudheid
Date Posted: 18 Oct 12 at 5:52pm
|
yep insurance on ours was as 'gentlemans agreement' we didn't break anything so not to expensive. Fleet was very helpful when we were sailing and i'm sure is the same now - everyone wants to be in a competative fleet. The travel and setup time got to us after a year or so as we kept it at weymouth to sail with others but the travel to plus the setup/faff/bimbling....As mentioned time on beach is more than time on water! you need to be commited to get the best out of them we sort of agreed to 3 weekends in 5 on the boat The opportunity to sail what is imv the formula 1 of sailing is like playing for a premier league football team, a chance not many will take. There is nothing like triple stringing upwind faster than just about anything on the water, uhoh i think i am convincing myself to bid! ------------- Cheers you only me from over the sea...... |
Posted By: RS400atC
Date Posted: 22 Oct 12 at 1:57pm
|
4 hours to go and £1500! Still has to be good value for scaring yourself? |
Posted By: jasperthedog
Date Posted: 29 Oct 12 at 11:33am
|
Hi All, I have just got back from Shaldon in South Devon and there is an 18ft Skiff on the beach all wrapped up. It has a council disposal notice attached ready for removal. If somebodys looking for one it could be a good deal, or if anyone here owns it I would get down there a bit sharpish before it gets carted off. |
Posted By: SMc90
Date Posted: 06 Jan 13 at 6:52pm
|
Three mates of mine from uni bought one (now for sale again on Apollo Duck). I was lucky enough to have a couple of sails. If you do it you have to have three guys who are well up for it and are as committed as you. One lad just lived and breathed the bloody thing, but the other two soiled themselves whenever xc weather predicted anything greater than a fart in a can. As they had to travel 2 hours to sail it they very rarely got out, and if they did make the trip down to Pwllheli and the wind got up they were either too hungover from the previous evening or couldn't be bothered with the faff in putting the small rig on! It also took an absolute age to put the bloody thing together! If people are interested in one check this out. I confirm that it all works, although the jib car needs replacing or something. It's has recently been refinished and has new pro grip and has a pretty awesome trailer. ------------- "...sitting in a bath tearing up £10 notes..." - Why did I not listen!!! |