Tobago 35: 1995 FP Tobago 35

[fullafrisky]

Any experience or opinions on this cat. Looks like a fixer upper but is this boat originally a soundly built boat with good character

[Nordic cat]

I have a 1994 Tobago, actually Hull no. 1.

These are French boats that I liken to French cars. Nice design and innovative, reasonable price with a quality to match the price. Generally OK boats.

Look for cracks:
1.) Aft saloon to deck/side deck area
2.) Bows and down to the underwater areas, where the 2 hull halves are joined. If you find cracks in the bows, then clean off any anti-fouling under the waterline along the joint and get a surveyor to look at it.

Check for leaks and cracks around the chainplates.
Check for leaks around the bolts that hold the aluminium air intake covers to the engine rooms, this is not critical though.

Open up the steering system at the wheel and check out the state of the (push/pull) teeth if it is the original steering. These are not very good quality and wear out fast.

Check out the escape hatches for sealing and corrosion, as well as state of the plastic handles used, if in doubt have them replaced.

Check rudder bearings for wear.

I have seen some FP's with a bit of osmosis along and just above the waterline - nothing serious, but run your fingers along there and feel for small bumps.

Check for cracking where the davits go through the hulls, as well as where they go up against the backrests. This is a very poor design, and I have made reinforcing struts to take most of the load.


I hope this helps, otherwise just give me a shout..

Regards

Alan

[fullafrisky]

I certainly appreciate your info. Thanks! I will pass along your comments to the surveyor.

If you can think of anything else, just let me know. Does the boat handle well off shore and is the interior set up adequate for long term travel or live aboard?

[Nordic cat]

The boat handles well, the largest waves I have been in were around 10 ft. but very short and sharp. she handled this well, with a fair amount of noise under the bridgedeck. Clearance is a bit on the low side, but structurally no problems there, just the noise.

The bunks are fine, matresses a bit uncomfortable for long periods, but easy to fix. Condensation under the matresses is an issue as in all boats without ventilation under them, but again easy to fix with some of that netting stuff.

Storage is OK but in rather large volumes without seperation, so you will need conatiners of some sort. Acess to under bunk storage is via the bunks.

Nav station is useless as such, too small, so you have to use the saloon table. Saloon seating is in a curved shape, so you can't use it as a sea berth if you have inexperienced crew on watch and you want to be nearby.
For tropical cruising the refrigeration setup is very inefficient with the compressor air cooled and in a space with very limited ventilation. I would change it to a water cooled system to save energy. The rear side of the fridge is not well insulated, look at adding at least 2 inches of insulation where possible.

For cruising in light to medium wind I would suggest that you add a bowsprit and a gennaker, as the boat is sorely under rigged, and if loaded for cruising will not do more than 40-50% of windspeed.
If you go for a gennaker, or for deep sailing with the genoa, I would add a couple of padeyes around where the chainplates are. I use these for mounting a barber-hauler to trim them genoa or gennaker. Also I use them to mount a preventer cum vang when the boom is further out than the main traveller track to optimise sail shape. Otherwise the boom just lifts.

The main sheet traveller on my boat was useless for trimming in anything above 15 knots of wind. I exchanged it with a better system designed for the high loads, and with a 1 x 4 trimming sysytem. Even with this sytem, i have difficulty in hauling the traveller inboard at anything above around 20 knots of wind, so I just urdered an Andersen line tender. Antal makes them also.

The sheet winches on my boat where too small, as I don't like to have to head up and unload the foresail for trimming, so I have upgraded to larger Andersens.

I would change all the fixed rigging if this has not already been done. Also chech the main halyard sheeve at the top of the mast.

Check that you can charge the house bank from both engines, and that you can start both the engines from either the house bank or the start battery.

For serious cruising I would go for an autopilot directly attached to the rudder arms, and not the belt driven wheel pilot as these can better be tuned to different sea states and wind directions to minimise power consumption and keep a better course.

Check the balsa cored decks for delamination/moisture as I know some FP boats have had issues with this.

Get a surveyor who knows multihulls!

Good luck

Alan

[fullafrisky]

Thanks for the time and effort. I do appreciate your candor and suggestions.

[Erikte]

Hi

Just wondering have you bought the boat?

I would have loved but to soon for me and still in Norway so not an option for me yet!

But was curious about baying a boat later from the same place.

Erik

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by fullafrisky

Thanks for the time and effort. I do appreciate your candor and suggestions.

What did the surveyor say?

[fullafrisky]

Originally Posted by Erikte

Hi

Just wondering have you bought the boat?

I would have loved but to soon for me and still in Norway so not an option for me yet!

But was curious about baying a boat later from the same place.

Erik

I have not yet pulled the trigger, so to speak. The bidding process is somewhat complicated in that each week you make a bid on the boat under their protocol terms, and the bid is offered to the present owner (bank) and the owner either accepts, counters, or rejects. If you are rejected, you must go through the entire process the next week. The present bid is considerably higher than the price listed in the offering. I like things quick, cheap, and easy. This one seams like a very expensive date without any guaranties. Kinda like "prom night".

As an aside, I picked up a "Trojan virus" while using the website to view the repo boats.

[Therapy]

Originally Posted by fullafrisky

I have not yet pulled the trigger, so to speak. The bidding process is somewhat complicated in that each week you make a bid on the boat under their protocol terms, and the bid is offered to the present owner (bank) and the owner either accepts, counters, or rejects. If you are rejected, you must go through the entire process the next week. The present bid is considerably higher than the price listed in the offering. I like things quick, cheap, and easy. This one seams like a very expensive date without any guaranties. Kinda like "prom night".

As an aside, I picked up a "Trojan virus" while using the website to view the repo boats.

Thanks,

One thing I don't have to worry about.

Now I am off to run the scan.
Did you tell them about the virus?

[Sonosailor]

Wrt the cracking around the joints where the molded pieces go together: It is true. However, I'm no expert, but was able to turn that around without expert assistance. My guess is that these areas are properly reinforced on the inside of the joint, and the outside is done with some product that does not include fibreglass (an epoxy product?). I took a beltsander to these areas and ground down around 3/16 inch, more where I found darkened glass, and rebuilt it back out with a very wide patch of matting and roving, many layers. Had to do it in overlapping 18 inch sections on the underside, pulling the layers tight with sheets of plastic and duct tape. Shaping and gelcoating did take a fair bit of time, but I suggest you end up with more strength than the factory intended. I admit this would be tough for a person who works, and is far from the boatyard.

[Sonosailor]

I have more information on Cat Tales here: Tobago 35 Personal Perspective