Hi all,

First post and just wanted to start by saying what a really useful forum this is.

Like a lot of first posters to this forum I'll looking to pick your brains regarding a first boat and the one that has piqued my interest is the Cavalier 28. I've been crewing on a similar size boat for about a year and so while not totally oblivious to what I'm getting into, I'm very much a newbie.

I'm based in Botany Bay and am initially looking to use it for twilight racing. As my experience grows, I'd like to take my young family day sailing and then onto proper racing and cruising to Pittwater, Port Jackson and Port Hacking - only in very good conditions.

My problem is that I've heard conflicting accounts about a Cavalier 28's suitability for what I want to do. While some say that it is a good family boat which is easy to sail, I have also heard that it can be a difficult boat and may be too much for an inexperienced sailor, particularly where young kids are going to be involved in the future.

Is it possible the first person was talking about a Cav28 set up predominantly for cruising and the other was referring to one set up purely for racing.

Any insights from previous owners would be greatly appreciated.

Hi,
I owned a Cav 28 for around three years. I did a season or two in twilight races and they go well for their size, pretty well to windward and hold their own down wind. The primary use for me was day sails and the occasional week end for two. They are a good boat for this and we really liked the open, airy cabin. I felt that, for my use, mths boat was a good compromise between performance and comfort.

I sailed with a number 2 jib on the furler and the boat was a bit of a handfull above 20 knots. Winching in for a work was difficult and it helped to have a good crew on the main sheet. If I was sailing with small children I would fit a smaller jib, reef the main, sail conservativley and enjoy!

When we sold the boat and went larger we looked for a cav 37, mainly because the performance / comfort compromise suited us and we wanted that in a larger boat.

Thanks for all that really useful information. It certainly has given me a bit more confidence in proceeding down the path I'm going.

Coolrunnings, one of the things that drew me to the cavalier was the active association. Unfortunately, they've finished racing for the season but I'll drop them a line and see if I can get a trip out with one of their members.

Cisco, I noticed that the majority of the boats I've kept my eye on have a Bukh engine, but I was under the impression that they were good little unit? Still, I'll be looking for one which has either had the engine or rigging done recently - I might be waiting a while if looking for both

Osmosis is always a concern but I've sailed on enough boats of this vintage, and older to know that example which have been looked after make great yachts.

Thanks again.

My cav 28 had the Bukh 10 hp single cylinder. Power was adequate, thought the single cylinder engine has a lot of vibration and so you really did not want to be motoring for long periods. Mine was a reconditioned engine and was trouble free over the time I owned it.

Obviously I would be getting a survey on any boat I was going to get but I note that surveys (generally?) don't include the engine. I'm assuming that's cause without taking it apart you can't really tell anything other than it works or not.

I'm not the greatest mechanic in the world and while from what CoolRunnings was saying I may be up for some on the job training, I'm not confident that I could tell of any engine problems by sound and vibration. All the inboard engines on the older boats I've been on have sounded quite rough to me, but they seem to keep chugging on. Absolute bliss when they're turned off and we're under sail.

How have others dealt with this issue? Would surveyor's give a verbal indication based on experience that wouldn't be part of their report?

I have a Bukh DV10ME in my Santana 28. If it starts and runs right now buy it. You can replace it down the track with a recon. engine very cheaply. They are also an easy engine to work on even for novice mechanics like me. Mine suffered from water in the fuel due to neglecting to change the CAV filter by the previous owner, but it still goes OK. Good luck.

You need to be regular here JayEm. Look like Swandive all gone.