Dear Group:

I have owned several boats (Taswell 43 and Farr 40). I am looking to
buy a cruising boat and have identified two boats in particular that I
am interested in. One is a Baltic 48 all fitted out for cruising and
the other is an Oyster 485, newer and shinny but lacking self steering
gear, sat phone and few other necessities for cruising. I would like
any constructive comments regarrding these two boats! The Oyster has
a skeg rudder and the Baltic does not, is this important? The Baltic
is a cored hull laminate and the Oyster is solid, again any thoughts.
They both appear to be quality boats, however, I am concerned that the
Oyster is built in the UK and I know they cannot build cars or
airplanes : (

Thanks in advance

Hunter

"Hunter" wrote in message
...
Dear Group:

I have owned several boats (Taswell 43 and Farr 40). I am looking to
buy a cruising boat and have identified two boats in particular that I
am interested in. One is a Baltic 48 all fitted out for cruising and
the other is an Oyster 485, newer and shinny but lacking self steering
gear, sat phone and few other necessities for cruising. I would like
any constructive comments regarrding these two boats! The Oyster has
a skeg rudder and the Baltic does not, is this important? The Baltic
is a cored hull laminate and the Oyster is solid, again any thoughts.
They both appear to be quality boats, however, I am concerned that the
Oyster is built in the UK and I know they cannot build cars or
airplanes : (

Thanks in advance

Hunter

I do not know much about you. I take it you maybe in your late fifty. Why
age is a concert is because you do not want to spent valuable time to equip
or refurbish a boat for cruising. My first choice would the Baltic
providing that I do not have to spent extra money to upgrade the
navigational system, steering system and rudder, electrical, plumbing and
rigging not to mention the sails and furling. On my Beneteau Oceanis I have
a 6 foot 2 inches keel and a skeg. At first I was apprehensive about it.
Now that I have used it I like it and its important to me. In my case it
provides better directional stability. The world's best build boat are made
with a solid core. However, with the quality of labour today you may find
some internal de-lamination that can become as bad as water infiltration in
a cored laminate hull. Racers tend to believe that cored laminate hulls are
faster?? Shooting at point blank without having seen the Oyster 485 they
seem to have a good reputation for cruising. I would do a present value
evaluation between the two boats versus the cost of buying a new boat.

Hunter wrote in news:23e376af-026d-4d28-ba80-
:

Dear Group:

I have owned several boats (Taswell 43 and Farr 40). I am looking to
buy a cruising boat and have identified two boats in particular that I
am interested in. One is a Baltic 48 all fitted out for cruising and
the other is an Oyster 485, newer and shinny but lacking self steering
gear, sat phone and few other necessities for cruising. I would like
any constructive comments regarrding these two boats! The Oyster has
a skeg rudder and the Baltic does not, is this important? The Baltic
is a cored hull laminate and the Oyster is solid, again any thoughts.
They both appear to be quality boats, however, I am concerned that the
Oyster is built in the UK and I know they cannot build cars or
airplanes : (

Thanks in advance

Hunter


Perhaps a little French?

http://www.amel.fr/en/pages-amel/amel54-videos.htm

Might as well go first class....

On 2008-07-10 19:05:18 -0400, Hunter said:

The Oyster has a skeg rudder and the Baltic does not, is this
important? The Baltic is a cored hull laminate and the Oyster is
solid, again any thoughts.

I tend slightly to the skeg, but will run *away* from a cored hull. I
don't yet believe they've worked all the bugs out of cored construction.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/

I think core is fine and, if fact, preferable, if you are in a price range
where are buying a newer boat. Another factor is having time to have the
boat throroughly surveyed for water in the core. You should the immediately
recheck and rebed every place where water could get in around deck fittings
and keep checking.

I was buying in a price and age range and under time constraints that made
surveying a large number of boats at several hundred dollars a pop plus
travel to look at them impractical in view of the number I would need to
look at with a reasonable expectation of finding a sound one. I therefore
chose a solid glass model.

--
Roger Long

The Oyster has a skeg rudder and the Baltic does not, is this
important?

That depends largely on what you want the boat to do. The skeg
supported rudder is usually thought of as stronger, but at a sacrifice
of some maneuverability. If designed & built properly (and one might
assume that a Baltic definitely is) the spade rudder is plenty strong
without a skeg.


... The Baltic is a cored hull laminate and the Oyster is
solid, again any thoughts.

Jere Lull wrote:
I tend slightly to the skeg, but will run *away* from a cored hull. I
don't yet believe they've worked all the bugs out of cored construction.


Oh "they" definitely have, the bigger question is- has the builder
done a proper job bonding the laminate skins to the core? Has the
builder tapered all the core panels around the edges and terminated
them properly? Is the core cut away (and edged properly, again) around
all the thru-bolted hardware? With a Baltic, it would be a suprise if
any of these were problems. A bigger question for used boats... has
any previous owner screwed stuff into the cored areas without
hardening it & sealing it properly?

Anyone who says they don't like cored construction is really saying
that they like their boats to be heavier & less strong than they could
be.

BTW all the Oysters I have seen also had significant cored sections in
the deck & inner grid.

A bigger question in choosing between these boats is if you like the
raised salon layout of the Oyster, or the "afterguard vs crew" cockpit
layout of the Baltic. Isn't it kind of odd that the OP didn't mention
anything about this consideration?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

PS to Larry- The Amel is to the Baltic what a Lexus is to a Ferrari

wrote in news:73221cce-ba90-407f-849a-
:

PS to Larry- The Amel is to the Baltic what a Lexus is to a Ferrari



Aha!

My Taswell was a center cockpit and I liked that as one did not have
to move around the desk in a disorgainized sea. Another benefit of
the center cockpit is a better aft owners stateroom. One of the
reasons I like the Baltic is they appear to over build, three spreader
mast, oversized blocks, wenches.

Bottom line is I am looking for a strong comfortable cruiser n the
48-52 foot range.

On Jul 12, 8:12*am, wrote:

A bigger question in choosing between these boats is if you like the
raised salon layout of the Oyster, or the "afterguard vs crew" cockpit
layout of the Baltic. Isn't it kind of odd that the OP didn't mention
anything about this consideration?

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

PS to Larry- The Amel is to the Baltic what a Lexus is to a Ferrari

Hunter wrote:
My Taswell was a center cockpit and I liked that as one did not have
to move around the desk in a disorgainized sea. Another benefit of
the center cockpit is a better aft owners stateroom. One of the
reasons I like the Baltic is they appear to over build, three spreader
mast, oversized blocks, wenches.

Bottom line is I am looking for a strong comfortable cruiser n the
48-52 foot range.


Baltics are widely considered among the best built boats in the world,
the business was startd by some guys who worked for Swan, and thought
the Swans weren't built quite good enough

OTOH they are more the racer-cruiser than pure cruising vessel. It
would be a good idea to check out an Amel. At this budget level, I
assume you're not averse to doing some travel while boat-shopping!

Fresh Breezes- Doug King

On Mon, 14 Jul 2008 13:06:53 -0700 (PDT), wrote:

One of the
reasons I like the Baltic is they appear to over build, three spreader
mast, oversized blocks, wenches.

Bottom line is I am looking for a strong comfortable cruiser n the
48-52 foot range.

Please post some pictures of the oversized wenches.