Next message: Harry James: "Re: [world-cruising] Re: largest inland waterway in the world"
For what it's worth. I have a Hans Christian 33 cutter. It's deck
stepped. I agree with anyone that says there is too much wood on it,
but that is so far the only thing I don't like about it. When it's
ugly out there, the boat handles it better than any other sea boat
that I've been on. I've been commerical fishing and sailing Alaska
waters for 20+ years. Our boat won't win any speed contests, but she
is stout, and has all the comforts that I love. I especially like the
head and separate shower in the bow with a large pullman bunk near the
center line. I love the fact that I can put her on a grid instead of
dealing withfinding a travel lift. The storage areas are well laid
out and useful. We haven't experienced any problems with water/fuel
tanks or deck leaks. Maybe that will happen in the future. The
important thing I learned when boat shopping is that it really paid
off not buying a project boat (I've been there and done that...it
doesn't really save you much!). I also learned that size is relative.
I had a Pearson 33, a Sagitta 30, Monk 42, and a Sunfjord 38. The Hans
Christian overall length is actually 41, and has alomost double the
space the Pearson had. The Monk 42 had about double the living area
that the Hans Christian has. I learned to really go on board and look
around. I was particularly surprised that the Hans Christian 38
actually had less useable storage area (to me that is) than the HC33!
We opted for the smaller boat because of the usable space verses the
way higher cost of the larger boat in not only initial cost, but in
outfitting and maintaining a larger boat (lager anchor gear, higher
moorage rates, more wood to sand, bottom paint etc..). My advice is to
look a a lot of boats inside and out with a good surveyor!!!:)
Good luck!
