Oliver Love
Im looking to buy a sonata from the Isle Of Man,
its at a very good price, and the condition reflects it, ( as in it needs a bit of tarting) it has all the bits appart from a trailer or cradle but this doesnt bother me as i work at a boat yard and have access to all this,
from the photos i can see that there is no damage to the bulkhead around the chainplates so these are fine and no water ingress. but should there be anything else suspect that i should be looking for. im not fussed about condition just saftey.
as i can sort the cosmetics out at the yard.
also what price would i be looking at for a new suit of race sails?
the mast also appareas to be the older type. from reading the fourm there are two types an iye mast and a proctor, however the current owner said it had a holt mast,
i have attached a picture but what are peoples oppionions, also what is the current section of boom as this boat seems to have an older section.
also i have a mooring sorted in itchenor reach in chichester harbour. are there any other sonatas around the harbour so i could come and have a look before comitting to buy. please feel free to give me a call on 07792469317
thanks olly
Chris Bentley
Hi Oliver,
Chris here, NSA Chairman. Welcome to the Sonata Class. If you have secured a mooring in Itchenor reach, hats off to you. I grew up racing Fireflys in Chi Harbour and it sure has got a lot busier since. On things to look for on buying an old Sonata, pretty much, none. They were built to a very sound spec with hull thicknesses up to 1 inch below the waterline. You are right to check the bulkhead fastening of the chainplates, but you say that is fine. The only other major structural point is the hull/keel joint. A bit of a weep or evidence of movement is nothing to be concerned about because they all flex there and ashore, sit on their keels, afloat, keels hang down. The cure is a Sikaflex joint. But do check that the boat hasn’t suffered a major keel collision. You could see that on the front face of the keel, ie dent, or look at the front keel plate where it joins the hull. This should be an intact, rounded plate that extends forward of the keel profile into the hull. If its missing, or broken, then the boat has hit an immovable object hard at speed. It’s not terminal, the GRP in that area is huge, but check because a surveyor could insist on keel-bolt extraction (insurance requirement) and that is a pain.
Mast; Holt, fine. Holt supplied both a tapered and continuous section mast to our Class in the 80s-90s and they are fine.
Rest of the rig is up to you. With your job it shouldn’t be hard to sort the deck fittings. For sails, depends what you want out of the boat; to race competitively you need to talk to Goacher in Windermere, or, possibly, Hydes. The sail spec of Sonatas is freely available to all sailmakers so, up to you.
No idea if there are any Sonatas left in Chi Harbour, (there were a couple) but the option for you, if you want to race one design seriously, is to travel. You can sail to Cowes but, better, get hold of a decent trailer and come join us travellers. We race our boats all over the UK. Its great fun and you get to see places you would never sail to. See my blog on this site under ‘Sailors Yarns’ about what we did with my boat this year. And come to our 2012 Nationals in the Medway. It will be a mix of abilities, so please dont be put off by the “Nationals” title. It’s more of a party!
Chris
John Lanham
Hi Olly
As far as I know Samurai the only other Sonata racing around Chichester Harobour these days – Aperition is still on her mooring in the Itchenor reach but I think mainly cruises.
Samurai lives in Sparkes Marina (dry sailed) feel free to wander by and have a look at her if you are interested. We race mainly with Chichester Cruiser Racing Club usualy try to do most of the Bay Races the Passage races are great fun (very sociable crowd) as well but don’t often have the chance for a full weekend away. Have a look at the program here ==> http://www.ccrc.co.uk/ccrc/programme.asp?year=2011
Also they have a some Open Cruiser events at Hayling Island Sailing Club (Regatta, Sparkes Throphy and NAB Cup) there was a Sonata called Windsong which turned out for the Sparkes Throphy last year she was kept in Birdham Pool for a while and I believe they were memebers of Itchenor Sailing Club but I have not seen them since last year.
If you would like any further information – I am not really that qualified to offer buying advice drop me an email via this site.
Regards
John Lanham (Samurai GBR8638N)
Chris Bentley