Killing a bit of spare time in Melbourne, I headed off to the boat show today.

One yacht, a Jeanneau 349, that was it. The only other thing with a sail was a Hobie kayak trimaran. Pretty sad really.

Melbourne.......the cultural capitol of Australia........one boat fits all.

That's pretty much the reason that I never go to the Melbourne boat show, far to much emphasis on motor boats and hardly anything for the sailing community.

Went there and went home but had a nice coffee with Scaramouch after the boat show waste of money and time other wise
Stood and looked inside the same yacht . checked out some electronics from simrad b and g and ray marine and that was it.

But Sam it's "The most livable city in the world"
Where else can you cough when you go outside the back door and breath in the chimney smoke from the local houses .
God knows what they burn in those houses. They ban smoking but it would be on the nose if they ban chimneys down here .

Hi Freeradical

Interested in your thoughts on the 349 as i am going to be crewing on one in the upcoming race season (Due to arrive in October)

Regards Don

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Donk107 said..
Hi Freeradical

Interested in your thoughts on the 349 as i am going to be crewing on one in the upcoming race season (Due to arrive in October)

Regards Don

Hi Don,

Looks like it would be a great boat for club racing. No backstay, so a square top main should give good performance. It has friction rings for the jib leads which will also enable better fine tuning of the jib. Cockpit looks roomy but the boat on display only had 2 primaries back near the helm with all sheets and halyards led back to jammers near them. I imagine it could be a bit messy and crowded back there in races. No idea how you could possibly race trim the jib, main, vang etc the way it is. Great for single handed though. A couple of cabin top secondaries would be a must for racing.. Not sure if the table in the cockpit could be removed for racing as It does take up a fair chunk of space.

In the cabin, the V berth is quite small, but the main cabin area is very nice, love those hull windows. I thought the cabinetry looked a little cheap, a bit lightweight with sharp edges on cupboards etc. Keeps the weight down though. Cabin bulkheads arent glassed in and I wonder if there'd be much creaking and groaning underway?

Biggest thing I didn't like appearance wise was the visible sealant all around the hull/deck join apart from where there are toe rails screwed on. Even around the transom is a big bead of sealant along the join, its over 5mm wide. Looks like a nice clean edge from a distance, but not up close. I cant help but picture a dirty mouldy seam with bits hanging off in a few years.

Overall, looks like a good cruiser/racer. Enough to be enjoyed either way without too much compromise.

Any idea on how the one you will be racing on is specced out? Sail plan etc?

that is a disgrace !! ....... stink boat show ... its a real shame that sailing is not popular enough to be supported by or support an event such as this . ...........which one is it ?

A few more pics. Gotta say the camera on my new Samsung Galaxy s7 is amazing!

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SandS said..

that is a disgrace !! ....... stink boat show ... its a real shame that sailing is not popular enough to be supported by or support an event such as this . ...........which one is it ?

I quite agree, with Port Phillip Bay being 35 times the size of Sydney Harbour, and sheltered from the big waves by the heads, you would think that the sailing community would be huge, but the boating community is mainly fisherman in their stink boats, maybe the fact that the average depth of the bay is 13 metres has something to do with it, or the fact that it is Australias busiest port, so you have to keep dodging ships coming in and going out, I don't know why otherwise unless it is the cold winter weather.

Hi Freeradical

From what i understand the cockpit table has been has been deleted, it is the performance version with adjustable friction rings for the headsail sheets, winches and clutches on the cabin top either side of the companionway and a bowsprit to fly a asymmetrical spinnaker from

I believe it will be delivered with dacron sails only and there are some Doyle Stratis Ice laminated sails being made for it locally

From looking at the layout on the net i hope we will be able to run the headsail and spinnaker sheets as well as the halyards, topping lift, downhaul, van and outhaul to the cabin top winches and run the main sheets (i believe it has a double ended main sheet) to the rear winches

On the current boat (Jenneau Sun Oddessy 33i performance) we normally have a crew of 5 or 6 ( Helm, main , 2 headsail /spinnaker trimmers, forward hand and one on the rail if we have the 6th) so hopefully it will work out ok

One of the disadvantages i see of the mainsheets, headsail sheets running along the cabin top is it will be difficult for crew on the rail to cross over the cabin top when going about

It should be similar to the one in the photo below which is Gravy7's boat from this forum

I agree that they are designed to do everything from the helm but hopefully we can make it work with a full crew

Regards Don

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HG02 said..
Went there and went home but had a nice coffee with Scaramouch after the boat show waste of money and time other wise
Stood and looked inside the same yacht . checked out some electronics from simrad b and g and ray marine and that was it.

But Sam it's "The most livable city in the world"
Where else can you cough when you go outside the back door and breath in the chimney smoke from the local houses .
God knows what they burn in those houses. They ban smoking but it would be on the nose if they ban chimneys down here .

There is nothing better than the smell of a open wood fire on a cold Melbourne morning, unless it's being curled up in front of one, it's certainly much better than the usual stink of car and truck exhaust fumes, well that is if you have to be in Melbourne in the first place.

don't remember seeing too many yachts at the boat show in all the times l went there,
close to 60 now

now could it be that some of those yachts take up a fair bit of room?
also possible that the Melbourne boat show site isn't as well set up for the yachting market, despite being on the river,
now if it were like Qld there'd probably be more yachts on show,
but at the same time, it is called the Melbourne BOAT show, not the Melbourne YACHT show...
just saying..

For yachts the up coming Sydney Boat show is the best in Australia.