In article , DSK
wrote:

Peter Wiley wrote:

... I don't have any problems with people owning lightweight plastic boats
- they do go fast and point high, plus you get lots of exercise
changing headsails with each 5 knot wind change. Just that nobody
should think they're good for much else.

Agreed, but with reservations. You mention a friend who just bought a
ferrocement cruiser on the cheap, what would you think if instead, he'd
bought a newer former racing of the same capacity, for half the price he paid
for the FC job? DOn't know about over there, but in the US there is no market
at all for retired racers and they are going begging. Some are cheesy junk,
true, but some have great potential as cruisers IMHO. It just requires some
knowledge & judgement to pick among them, as with anything else (cars, women,
power tools, etc etc).

It'd depend on the boat really. Rerigging a racing boat could get
really expensive I'd assume, but it's likely the winches are a lot
bigger than most cruisers would have. Hull construction would be my
first concern. I was just chatting to one of my staff who sailed in the
1998 Sydney-Hobart race and had a carbon fibre hull start to delaminate
in Bass Strait. They also lost nearly everything on the foredeck
including pulpit etc when they dived into a wave. Repairs were very
expensive. If you (or some careless bugger in a steel boat ) punch a
hole in the hull in some flyspeck harbour in the Pacific, how is it
going to be effectively repaired? Do you need 8' plus of water to sail
it? How many crew do you need with the existing rig? What's the
accommodation like?

My approach would be the same as for anything else - decide what the
aims are first, then see if what you're looking at is fit for your
intended purpose, or can be made so at an acceptable time/money cost.
If so, go for it. If not, think of the scrap value to you then offer
less.

Peter Wiley