Bigger Boat update

As mentioned, this morning we had a good look at a Southerly 105 up for sale in Burnham

As the broker later commented, nobody ever fell in love with a Southerly, they are utterly devoid of charm and character!

However, the design is very clever and it ticks a lot of our boxes.

The 105 doesn't suffer quite as much from the rudder stalling problems of the later 100s and 115s as it has the original design of lifting deep rudder. As a sailing boat the performance isn't great but it's generally reckoned adequate.

It's the substantial lifting keel that's one of the great attractions for us. No problem with the mud berth or with drying out in creeks or drying harbours with a Southerly. On paper, the interior has a lot going for it with an inside helming position, a very decent sized galley, good heads, plenty of sitting and lounging space in the saloon, a forecabin that's eminently usable by two singletons and a private aft cabin with a walkthough from behind the galley

However, in reality we identified a number of critical flaws.

That inside helm position would be hopeless in any sort of sea. Your basically perched on a cushion high up with no lateral support and nothing to keep you in place if the boat was rolling or pitching. It looks good on paper but is, we reckoned, of little practical use without some serious modification.

Jane identified a similar problem with the galley. There's no hand holds and nowhere to wedge yourself in. Just trying to make a hot drink or a cup of soup in any sort of sea would be a real challenge. Not easy to resolve either although no doubt something could be done.

The aft cabin would work well for us as a private saloon as well as sleeping cabin but the nominal double is at least six inches too narrow. We'd have to sleep in seperate berths (there is effectively a single as well to port) which makes the double a bit of a pointless waste of space really.

The specific example is, we felt, over-priced for a boat with tired carpets, upholstery that's on the verge of being the same, with the original Bukh engine and that needs all the perspect windows in the hull replacing along with the forehatch. The sails are getting on too. The price would have to come down substantially to reflect the need to spend quite a bit of money on her

But when you get right down to it, the bottom line is that despite all the plus points neither of us were enthused by the boat. We didn't dislike it and we could live with it but it just doesn't have the slightest bit of magic.

Hey ho, the hunt will go on (probably for quite a long time 'cos we're in no hurry at all - unless we stumble across something really special in the meantime Erbas will continue to fulfil our needs admirably up until the time when Jane can retire and we move aboard full time. And that won't be for a year or two yet.