Posted by Jacqui MacConnell (jacimacc@…>)
Loren and family: I purchased a 1986 Freedom in
Seattle in Fall of 2004. I had similar concerns, and
had been looking at Freedoms for ten years before
buying. My favorite alternate marque is older Wm.
Lapworth Cals. Not the creature comforts of a Freedom,
but - on your theme - great boats are not necessarily
fresh off a yard line. We raced Cals a bit. We met and
enjoyed the company of some real Cal 40 contenders who
still do.
It may be of interest to you to learn that the Freedom
38 is literally a Freedom 36 with a two foot swim
step, or “sugar scoop” extension. Occasionally in a
listing, or an owner’s description, you’ll see F 36+2,
or the classification of the whole group as F 36/38.
It was my good fortune to come upon one of these. So
as you look at Freedom 38’s, be sure to also review
the 36 listings. The yard, TPI in Rhode Island, used
to make the extension kit available. Unsure about that
now.
As a Cal fan, I was also concerned about cored hull
below water line issues. Some few Freedoms
have had difficulties, but I am almost sure it was not
due to original design or construction. Rather: bad
owner decisions, or acts of nature. If played with
nicely, these serve.
I would offer you a couple resources. In seatlle, in
the Shilshole area, is an excellent surveyor who is
also an Etchell racer. His name is Jerry Edwards. He
is with Reisner, Edwards, et al. When Freedom still
had a national distributorship chain, Jerry was a
Seattle West Coast dealer. He had various trips and
trainings back to RI, to the mother company.
It was my amazing complete chance that he was the only
surveyor who was available quickly when I needed one
two years ago. He’d had a cancellation, or something.
Talk about some one who literally knew these fine
strange animals inside and out!
Sparrow (then Nereid) passed with flying colors.
Including moistureometer tests. It was a brisk and
sunny Fall day. He looked out just past the breakwater
at light chop. He looked at me, and the buyer and
seller’s brokers. And said with a grin," want to go
out? I can show you what she’ll do." We did.
Especially nice for me because so many buyers were
lined up behind he me to buy Nereid, should I falter,
that I’d waived any sea trial. I had only sailed a
great F 32 up in Juneau, years before.
The first time we tacked, my excellent broker Leslie
Senn ran forward. And then called back.
“Where are the sheets going? There’s nothing to bring
in.” “That’s right,” said Jerry, “just come back here
and sit in the cockpit.” The other lazy young racing
broker (no names mentioned and not now in the
brokerage business) watched a couple more manuevers,
and decided he might need to buy a Freedom. Though
this was his listing, he hadn’t trialed the boat. So
big, so comfy.
He’d assumed it wouldn’t perform. Not like the Santa
Cruz 51 he crewed. Why bother?
Jerry next set the Autohelm on lock down, took his
hands off the wheel, and we pirouetted nicely in
obedient perfect circles under sail, doing no hands no
engine, man overboards. I never got a chance that day
to play with my own boat. Think Christmas train set
syndrome here. It wasn’t until after we sailed away
from Shilshole a month later as brand new owners, that
I got to sail an F 36/38. I have never sailed anything
I liked better. I LOVE this boat.
We race. Just the Wednesday night club stuff. I was
worried the hotshot crew I attracted might be bored.
Too little to tweak. Not so. And one of our crew was
in Olympiad training earlier in his life.
She’s a beauty, and do we have fun. By the way, we
also win, if there are winds above 10 knots. I
believe, but am not the best person to talk to about
this, that the hull is somewhat flattened or
“planing” in cross section characteristic. So that may
be a non-fit for you regarding the possible pounding
you mentioned. I do know several of these have
circumnavigated, and there has been one book written
by an owner who did that. Others may know it’s title.
Please phone Jerry Edwards at Reisner, McKuen, Edwards
surveyors. Tell him Jacqui’s still in love with the
boat she bought without sailing it. And thanks again!
And please also consider coming up here any time as
my guest and sailing away for awhile. See for
yourselves. She’s heavily insured, very tractable, and
you can get out of sight of land if you like. I know
she’s good for it.
Kindest regards in your search,
Jacqui MacConnell, Bellingham, WA State 360 671-3434
AKA Captain Jac, SPARROW
— loren beach <sailaway10@…> wrote:
We are looking to maybe purchase a Freedom in the 38
foot range, likely
built in the early 90’s. There is nothing affordable
in the current
crop of new sailing RV’s that interests us. i.e.
either the deck
layouts are designed only for motoring or the
interiors are designed
only for “gracious dockside living.” We have owned a
very fast 34 foot
cruiser/racer for almost ten years. We need
designed-in comfort for
sleeping, cooking, and navigating for offshore trips
of up to a week.
With Freedom, the big worry is the balsa cored
hulls. A prominent
surveyor that we know sez that if the hull passes,
at this age, it
should probably be OK. Well, Probably.
The fact that the J dealers spend so many hundred
words trying to
convince me that the current models are “very much
improved” than the
ones they sold 20 years ago does not reassure me. I
know too many
sailors that have had to put 20 to 30K into
repairing bottom coring on
older boats, and not just from J, either.
Anyone with long term experience with the Freedoms?
Any that needed
re-skinning and re-coring done??
And, of course, how is the motion in six foot seas
off shore for
several days? I have found, over the years, that
having more V to the
bow sections helps – how is the hull shape on your
Freedom? Much
pounding? (Yeah, I know – it’s somewhat
subjective…)
It’s just that we have been looking at bigger boats
for a long time,
and it is becoming more and more apparent that our
“next boat” may have
already been built – about 20 years ago! Go figure?
Thanks so much,
“Four-Foot-itis” in Portland, Oregon
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