Maybe you could post some "fit and finish" shots of the Benny after 15
or 20 years of sailing....I'm sure you'll find they will look far
worse that any yacht built in the early 90's.....did you not wonder at
the almost stunned exclamations of your surveyor?


Ozzy, you really should know better than that. The surveyor was shocked
at her condition because most 35s5's have been raced hard. No boat
looks good after being put away wet too many time over 15 years. But in
this case the boat was unused for some years and hardly raced at all.
She was used by a dot-com company for entertainment for several years
and the interior was untouched. I looked at an older 345 that was also
in great condition because it was maintained properly. My 35s5 was
built in 1990 by the way. Her fit and finish is above average, "better
than most production boats" as noted by two surveys. She's certainly
nicer than the well regarded C&Cs we looked and a match for the Caliber
and Island Packet. Some construction points for you. Hey deck is
typical cored, with solid sections in loaded areas. Her hull is NOT
cored and uses a lighter weight stringer network for rigidity, key in
weight saving along with her honeycombed interior pieces. 35s5's are
not known to have a weak deck. I found one with one area of wet core
due to a mast impact and bad repair. My deck is bone dry.
In every respect it exceeds Mooron's vessel, both in design and
execution. It's faster, larger, more comfortable in most conditions and
certainly more versatile and fun. There are a zillion boats like
Mooron's...heavy, full keeled beasts with traditional interiors. I
bought the 35s5 because it was one of the few 35 footers that combined
fine performance with splendid accomodation...large sleeping areas, two
private cabins, a large head, swim platform, large cockpit and so on.
Mooron sees a bright well fit varnished interior and can only assume it
must be plastic. This only proves he's sailing an ancient, if
ploddingly capable craft, but remains desperately out of touch.
Them's the facts.

RB
35s5
NY