I am looking for the boat for my retirement age, have 29' sailboat now, but
will buy a bigger when I have the time to spend onboard.
One boat of interest is Island Packet 38, the older type (not 380) Are they
of good quality? Have noticed the price is relative high for such an old
boat. It has been my impression that American built boats, at least older,
has a low quality, but I must admit hat I have seen only a lot of Bayliners
imported cheap from US.
Island Packet seems to be the ideal live onboard for its size.
regards
Jan

Jan wrote:
I am looking for the boat for my retirement age, have 29' sailboat now, but
will buy a bigger when I have the time to spend onboard.
One boat of interest is Island Packet 38, the older type (not 380) Are they
of good quality? Have noticed the price is relative high for such an old
boat. It has been my impression that American built boats, at least older,
has a low quality, but I must admit hat I have seen only a lot of Bayliners
imported cheap from US.
Island Packet seems to be the ideal live onboard for its size.
regards
Jan

I've driven alot of different Island Packets, both as a charter captain
and doing deliveries. What year is the 38 you're looking at?

All the IP's I've been on were very well made, even details in plumbing
and electrical were top notch. Although they are not to my "personal"
liking (they are heavy and slow, whereas I prefer lighter, faster
boats), they are very popular amongst the live-aboard crowd. There is a
very active fleet here in the US and they have annual rendez-vous on
both coasts. You might want to Google to see what you can find. I just
tried and found this link:

http://www.iphomeport.com/

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Jan:

I owned and cruised an Island Packet 37 for two years. IPs are one of the
better built boats in the world. The hardware and installation is first
class, the decks are not cored with balsa, but with a light resin based
filler (doesn't rot, but is heavy) and the accomodations are very roomy. But
they are heavy and slow. But they are strong and safe.

The early IPs such as the 38 have a funny through-the-knees steering gear,
which is stong and stout, but is tough to handle standing up or sitting on
the high side (due to the small wheel diameter). The newer ones, such as my
37 have a more conventional wheel.

As someone else noted, iphomeport is a great source of IP info. There is
also an owners picture website. Maybe homeport gives you that link.
Subscribe to sailnets Island Packet mailing list and you will get all of the
IP info you could possibly want. IP owners are usually quite passionate
about their boat.

David

Thanks to both above. Certainly a boat I will concider. Not so well known in
Europe though, have only seen 1 seconhand IP 35 for sale.
regards
Jan