x-no-archive:yes "Denis Marier" wrote:

I just finished looking at the Ranger 33 evaluation in the Practical Sailors
and it corroborate your statement.
It is a good coastal sailboat. As with the Westsail32 it is more suited for
blue water cruising. However, getting into the Mistake Cove or Cow Yard
(Maine Coast) in dense fog with a full keel boat could be disastrous in
avoiding the rocky entrance. My friend's full keel sailboat landed on the
rocks with a punched hole in her hull taking on water. He tried to avoid
the rocks but the boat did not turned in time. On the Maine or Nova Scotia
coasts when you land on the rocks in dense fog the Coast Guard are not close
by you are on your own. Many time. I have avoided rocks with the quick
response of the fin keel on my boat. At time, I still have bad dreams about
it.

But if he is talking about blue water or offshore cruising then he
wouldn't be going into Cow Yard in a dense fog if he was sensible.
(and neither would your friend). The kind of boat that is suitable
for that place isn't necessarily exactly the same kind of boat that is
suitable for BW work.

I know that fin keel boats react differently than full keel or
modified full keel boats, but I think there are places where a fin
keel would be a disadvantage just as there are places where a full
keel wouldn't work as well.

In any case, the most important part of the equation is the judgement
and experience of the skipper with the boat that he's skippering in
the place that he's doing it. You rely on the maneuverability of your
boat to get you out of trouble. I would prefer not to get into it in
the first place.


"DSK" wrote in message
...
"Denis Marier" wrote:
Should you not be able to afford a Westsail or Ranger what would be
the next
best pre owned boat for blue water.

Hmm.. by "blue water" are you talking about some kind of cleaning product?
If
you're talking about ocean passagemaking, Rangers are not particularly
good boats
for that specific task. But they could do it, if other factors make the
Ranger a
strong choice.




Frank and Ronnie Maier wrote:
Rangers ain't exactly expensive. Just how low a price range are we
talking about?

Right. For some reason, Rangers have really been beaten down on the
market... IMHo
they are no worse, and some ways much better, than the 'average'
production boat
of their era. In all they're not particularly well built boats.



Frank (In the interest of full disclosure, I didn't participate in the
basic thread here 'cause I wouldn't own a Westsail at any price; so my
opinion is infinitely biased in favor of Ranger in this comparison.)

I dunno, there's a pretty long list of boats I wouldn't take if they paid
me, but
Westsails make that cut

FWIW YachtWorld.Com for-sale listings have a LONG list of boats ~ 32' that
would
be pretty good choices for cruising at $15K. Certainly most of them need
at least
some upgrading, but what they would mostly need in order to be offshore
capable is
a good skipper.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King





grandma Rosalie