There are any number of good to excellent Taiwan sailboats in the
45-55' size. I've owned my current 52' boat for 17 years (US built)
but I almost bought a new CT-49 or Tayana 52 directly from the
builders in Taiwan instead of buying a used boat.

The short answer is - no I have nothing against heavy boats. Mine is
fairly heavy at 42K pounds but on a 46' waterline.

The problem with the Vagabond 47 & cousins etc and some poorly built
Cheoy Lee's as well is that they were - guess - poorly built - as in
wired, plumbed, chainplated, sparred, rigged, tanks, decks - that's
what poorly built means - not just lots of wood and satin varnish. How
do I know - 9 years of cruising and 18 years of talking to cruisers.

These boats are best left as liveaboards in marinas and taken no
further than VHF to USCG range offshore.



On Tue, 15 Jun 2004 13:14:58 GMT, Dan Best wrote:

Could you be a little more specific? I don't know anything about the
Formosa 51, but have been aboard a couple of Vagabonds (though I like
the Vagabond 42 better than the 47) and felt that they were fairly well
made.

Is your disgust with them a dislike of all heavy displacement cruising
sailboats or is it something specific to these particular boats?

Thanks - Dan

Ace-high wrote:
They're all total crap - the worst of the worst Taiwan leaky teaky's -
buy something better. For Taiwan cheap boats - maybe a CT49 - not the
crappy CT41's. You obviously haven't looked enough and learned enough.
What do you own now and what have you owned before?