I’ve been looking at a few Class 40 boats. As we discussed before our budget is short of putting us into a position to acquire a Class 40 boat. I still think it’s worth the investment to go and check some of them. Since I plan to travel to the East Coast for work, I figured I should do a small detour to check this one.
This boat has some history, not all good. FR Nautisme built two, this one and #29. They had some good results, finishing 6th and 7th in the 2006 Route Du Rhum (out of 22), and 3rd and 4th in the 2007 Transat Jacques Vabre (out of 27). #29 sank in 2009, with the crew being airlifted out of the boat. I couldn’t find exactly what happened. #25 suffered a crippling grounding in 2014 and changed hands to the current owner. #25 raced in the 2014 Atlantic Cup and finished last on every leg, most likely showing that it is not exactly competitive anymore, although I suspect that something else was going on as the boat was far behind. As far as the class is concerned, this boat is likely a goner, meaning it won’t attract a buyer who wants to race her in the Class40 class.
Under-equipped
As can be seen from the listing the current owner did a lot of work, mostly to the keel structure, the engine, the deck hardware, and then some electrical work as well, which is good. On the other hand, the boat is severely under-equipped. The “white sails” are old, and the boat would need to be shipped to the West Coast. By under-equipped I mean that there’s no redundancy in much if anything at all. Energy generation solely relies on the engine and a small alternator. The house battery bank is only 240 Amps. There’s only one primary auto-pilot (most likely original), no watermaker, and no telecom equipment besides VHF. Last, the boat requires new standing rigging. Even if I try to be conservative with my estimates, it looks like I need to budget for a minimum of $60,000, and that does not include new sails.
This is very common in the used sailboat market. Most used sailboats have outdated equipment. To put things in context, how much would you give for a 10 years old laptop or cell phone? On a 13 years old boat, the electronic equipment has reached its full depreciated value several years ago.
In addition, I have to think about who will buy the boat from me when I return and for how much. When putting all this together the asking pricing appears to be on the high side. From what I learned, I do not think that the owner is looking for a quick transaction. Note that I counted about 27 Class 40 boats available for sale. And another 9 available for charter, out of a total of 150 registered boats. Almost 25% of the Class is looking to change hands, at least temporarily.
I do like the looks of the boat though …
