Also interested in buying a Feedom 40/40

Boat handling, ideas, questions...
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hanrahan
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Joined: Thu Oct 14, 2010 11:56 am

Also interested in buying a Feedom 40/40

Post by hanrahan »

We are currently looking at a Freedom 40/40 in the Caribbean. We would really value your opinion on the Freedom with respect to build quality, unique characteristics of the un-stayed rig, sailing performance, sea kindliness and ease of maintenance. We are particularly interested in your thoughts on a furling jib.

Could you also offer some comparison to other 40-42's on the market in the same price range.

Thanks for your help,

John

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GeoffSchultz
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Joined: Thu Dec 04, 2008 8:39 am
Location: BlueJacket: Guatemala
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Re: Also interested in buying a Feedom 40/40

Post by GeoffSchultz »

You might check out http://www.freedomyachts.org/viewtopic.php?f=10&t=10234 for some prior answers.

Regarding a furling jib: I have a camber spar and like it a lot, especially for down wind sailing. (Gentlemen NEVER sail to weather...yeah, right...) However, many 40/40s have furlers and they seem to like the quite a bit. They do have the large advantage that you don't have to go forward to drop them, which under certain conditions could be very nice.

An unstayed rig takes a while to get used to, especially in higher winds, as you can look up and see the mast bending. However, that's a good thing as the wind is spilling off of the top of the mast, which is what you want it to do. Other than that it's fairly normal to sail. You don't expect airplanes to use wires to support the wings anymore. Why are they still doing it on sailboats?

One of the downsides of the 40/40 is that access to systems is reduced due to the size of the living areas and storage. For example, access the starter or the water pump on the engine can be a challenge as they're close to hull/refrig-bulkhead. Of course, with any boat everything is a compromise. A big question is where do you plan to sail, what systems are on board and/or what do you expect to add, how well were the existing systems maintained, who do you expect to do the maintenance, how many years experience do you have maintaining boats and how handy are you? This will all change your experience greatly.

I don't know if this answered many of your questions, but feel free to ask away.

-- Geoff

P.S. I just looked at the link that you sent me via e-mail http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1997/Fr ... in-Islands and it appears that the boat is in very good shape cosmetically and appears to be factory stock. I assume that Bill and Georgia maintained it, so it should be in good shape. The price certainly is attractive.
BlueJacket
1997 Freedom 40/40
http://www.GeoffSchultz.org

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