rider
Advice needed-
I am new to sailing and I just had some small sailboat (2 ppl) experience.
I had seen a 2nd hand sonata and I’d like to buy it. Some advice needed as follows:
1. Can a person like me operata a sonata, do I need some training or sth?
2. How to examine a 2nd hand sonata? What should I check?
3. What kind of O/B engine that sonata should equip with? is a 4 hp can do? or it needs a larger power one.
4. I hv seen the boat, but the condition is very bad down there. Is it possile to rennovate my myself? and how?
Thanks for any advice, e mail is much appreciated.
surfgineers@yahoo.com
Administrator
Mmmm – hard to know what to reply to all those questions but here’s a start and maybe others will chip-in.
1) A Sonata is a good next step for a competent dinghy or keelboat sailor. However, it’s still a ton or so of boat with a fair bit of sail area and four and a half feet of keel dangling underneath to hit things with, so the emphasis is on ‘competent’. If in any doubt whatever then take a day skipper training course or find a friend who’s willing to show you the ropes.
2) There’s no way to tell you what to look for in a few words. Pay for a survey, employ an expert and trusted friend or look around a good nautical bookshop and find one of the books that tells you how to buy a small boat.
3) 4 hp is fine.
4) What it looks like ‘down there’ – i.e. below decks, doesn’t matter too much – you can prettify it at your leisure, as long as the big bits, like the main bulkhead under the mast are sound. It’s more the ‘up there’ at and above deck level and the outside of the hull that can cause expense and anguish. You can turn a wreck into a competitive boat if you have basic D-I-Y skills, a little money and a sound hull but bear in mind that boat bits such as winches and even smaller parts like cleats and blocks are horrendously expensive. How do you know if you have a sound hull? Sorry – you’ll have to pay a surveyor to find out.
Good second hand sonatas are not too expensive. I’d buy a good one to start with and spend my spare time sailing rather than renovating.
Jack Hardie