Hi all.

Im looking to get my first sailboat and came across the Hutton 28. I am interested in Cavalier 28 or Grinde 27 but not yet in my price range unless a fixer upper does come along.


It's priced right for me and has a nice layout, bigish kitchen and dinette area. I will use this for solo sailing from Sydney to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Is this a decent boat?


1 concern I have is the displacement. It says 2.2k, a ballast of 1k. Does this seem right? (In comparison a cav 28 is 4k, ballast 1.2/grinde 3.5k, ballast 1.6k). All 3 boats are with 5% LOA.
Again I'll be using this as my first starter boat, then once I save in 1-1.5yrs I'll upgrade to what I really want.


If you could share your experience and thoughts on this that would be great. Or if you have a similar boat displacement that you have sailed long distances or overseas feel free to chime in. (This boat is with in my budget and is acceptable to me but just unsure)


Thank you.
Benj.

Would be very careful. 2 prior links are not exactly glowing.........

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Hutton-28?page=1

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Never-sailed-before?page=1

They weren't designed for such a trip - rather harbour and close offshore JOG races. The displ is correct - see first link above. Getting long in the tooth now and the build scantlings weren't in the "robust ocean going" category by any means. Re-sale could be a problem.

Other links mention water flooded rudders and numerous other issues - can't find that link at the moment.

I would save up for 12-18 months and "get what you really want" also bone up on your siling skills if needed - so as to give yourself a far better chance of getting there. What do you "really want"..............

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r13 said..
Would be very careful. 2 prior links are not exactly glowing.........

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Hutton-28?page=1

www.seabreeze.com.au/forums/Sailing/General/Never-sailed-before?page=1

They weren't designed for such a trip - rather harbour and close offshore JOG races. The displ is correct - see first link above. Getting long in the tooth now and the build scantlings weren't in the "robust ocean going" category by any means. Re-sale could be a problem.

Other links mention water flooded rudders and numerous other issues - can't find that link at the moment.

I would save up for 12-18 months and "get what you really want" also bone up on your siling skills if needed - so as to give yourself a far better chance of getting there. What do you "really want"..............

Yeah.
I did read a couple of posts. I'm only looking to sail for 1yr while I save up. I know a guy who has sailed the pacific on a 23ft boat.

I'm still looking for a boat for now. But definitely keeping an eye on my "forever" boat in the next 1-2yrs.

Only a Lake boat + easy to buy = hard to sell !

Be Patient,and something will turn up,but have to be quick to grab a bargain .

Where is the Grinde 27? Very popular in Northern Europe and I'm pretty sure it's what this young woman sails.



There are hundreds of really cheap boats around at the moment so be careful and just a little picky.

I'd be dubious about a Hutton heading to New Caledonia; I've used the storm trysail each one of the three times I've done the passage. The hull may be OK but the standard rig is a deck stepped small section fractional with a long topmast and single spreaders. While I love fractional rigs, IMHO for deep sea work you either need a much bigger section and a keel stepped mast or double spreaders and perhaps jumpers.

I also wouldn't be heading out to New Caledonia with only one year of sailing under my belt. That won't prepare you for when things go wrong at 3 am when you have been running low on sleep for days. Sure, you'll probably make it but I've also known people with a lot more experience than you have, who ended up getting rescued or worse.

I had a 2.2kg displacement 28 footer that I used for coastal sailing and I've done 1.5 Sydney Hobarts on boats of similar size and displacement and I wouldn't be worried about the Hutton's displacement - just the fact that as others have said, it was not designed for deep sea offshore work and they were always (IIRC) on the cheaper end of the market.

The OP has PM'd me and I have sent him a detailed response. I thought however that I should come here in the interests of public safety and repeat a bit of what I told him.

I had mine built and was decidedly unimpressed with quality. The cheap looking ply bulkhead looked like it had been cut out with a chainsaw when it was fitted before the deck went on. The beam under the mast step was visibly significantly out from its intended horizontal.

That makes everything else highly suspect including the steel keel jacket bulging into an asymmetric state after lead poured in; hollow stainless steel rudder immediately filling up with water and -at every slip-rust marks around the upper laterally extending flange through which the keel assembly is bolted to the hull.

Never trusted the keel attachment although the boat appears to still be around on the same mooring that I had sunk at Clareville beach 40 odd years ago. True that it was reasonably fast (with the tall rig version which I had) and has a lot of internal room for the size. The simple non cored hull and deck seemed to be fairly solid. I coated mine with three layers of epoxy underwater before ever launching due to mistrust of what sort of resin and gel coat had been used.
Due to keel worries you couldn't however pay me enough to do an overnight passage on one. Stick to the harbour or short daylight offshore jaunts-preferably with everyone on deck and a plb in hand.

There are amazing opportunities out there at present,if you have the time,and patience to look about .

The number of abandoned boats will escalate,as the mooring situation becomes more fraught .

THEY have a captive market,but regulation/expense,make it too hard,and people just disappear. The system gets so far,and then stalls at abandonment once sticker attached. But they still float !!

Was thinking of upgrading,but too many horror stories,mainly from lack of due diligence - why does it have to be so hard ?

Old enough to remember when public service was,by definition,helpful !!!

The trick is to have boat/mooring fully guaranteed,or else end up in the Marina = THE PLAN ?

Rant Over !

Hiya Benj,
The problem with lots of room in a little boat is it lends itself to being filled up with stuff, adding more and more weight.
She's only a light little thing, I'd be very wary about New Caledonia type dreams.
I'd be interested if Julesmoto's has an opinion about her manners when loaded up with the sort of crap you need for blue water passages.
Cheers!

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shaggybaxter said..
Hiya Benj,
The problem with lots of room in a little boat is it lends itself to being filled up with stuff, adding more and more weight.
She's only a light little thing, I'd be very wary about New Caledonia type dreams.
I'd be interested if Julesmoto's has an opinion about her manners when loaded up with the sort of crap you need for blue water passages.
Cheers!

Don't know sorry - always kept mine light.
It was relatively beamy at the water line so I wouldn't have thought that a little bit of weight would have unduly affected it. It's not like a folkboat or something narrow. Frankly I never really thought about the issue with mono hulls. Obviously it's a big problem with cats.

The tall rig was supposed to come with extra ballast in the keel but Carl and Paul we're a bit cavalier so who knows. In the end I think the tall rig was specified by most purchasers. I know my old boat was re-rigged relatively recently so most others would probably have been as well. It's years since I have thought about it but the method of keel attachment would make replacement of keel bolts exceptionally easy but then I would worry about the state of the relatively thin flange through which they are bolted and indeed the whole steel keel jacket itself not to mention the integrity of the flange to keel weld. Last time I saw my old boat for sale there was something about the keel having been the subject of work so who knows what that implies about it and others like it.

Interestingly I just noticed there is a free one on Facebook marketplace up at lake Macquarie which has lost its mast.

Anyway I think the weight issue is moot as you don't need a lot of weight to sail around the harbor.

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Benj1 said..
I will use this for solo sailing from Sydney to Vanuatu and New Caledonia. Is this a decent boat?

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Anyway I think the weight issue is moot as you don't need a lot of weight to sail around the harbor.

Thanks JM, I was alluding to the OP's intent to go blue water cruising. They look roomy for a 28'er, hence my comment.