General Info: Maldives 32 questions

[owly]

The FP Maldives 32 seems to fit my criteria fairly well from everything I can gather about it. It appears well designed, with decent bridge deck clearance on a bridge deck that begins well aft as it should, and has a good helping of beam. It also seems to be built using infused foam sandwich construction, which offers less noise, as well as insulation, and lighter than average construction. With a displacement of 6600 lbs....no payload listed anywhere (as usual), I would expect the empty displacement to run around 5K, but who knows? The less than standing room cabin makes sense on a boat this size, one of the reasons for it's apparent lack of popularity, but that doesn't matter to me at all.

The length, general design & layout generally fills the bill for me (single hander), but I've never seen one close up and personal so I have some questions. The first two are bridge deck clearance, and empty displacement / payload. The next being construction.... presumably it is entirely sandwich, including decks and coach roofs. I really am not a fan of galley up on a boat this size, and have other ideas for that space. Unfortunately from the photos and Utubes, it appears that the bridge deck area beneath the settees does not open out into the hulls, which means limited counter space for a galley down. Questions like that one cannot be answered from what I've seen. I need to see one up close, but most of them seem to be in Europe. I presume that there is stowage beneath the settees, and it is likely that this is an important structural area. I can see that the sail area is 592 square feet. The mast appears from the photos to be a bit over 45'.... probably 14M, and I presume that the sail with the fractional rig is distributed about 66/34 main/jib. It is obviously a performance oriented boat...if a boat with fixed keels can be considered such, and I'm not a performance oriented sailor. Blue water voyaging is my interest. It does not look like a boat I would be afraid to set out across the Pacific or Atlantic, or round the world on. It should be safe and stable, and have enough turn of speed to dodge the worst weather, and enough inherent stability to ride it out if necessary with it's generous beam, and apparently seaworthy design, though the pop top could be a vulnerability in an extreme situation.... very extreme.



I'd appreciate any answers etc, from owners and folks who have sailed on these... It is about the only factory built boat that seems to meet my criteria in this age where bigger is better





H.W.

[Rapanui]

We had our Maldives for 10 years cruising the UK south coast and North and West France down to South Brittany. We had a family of 5 and cruised with up to 6 onboard.

You have got most things right in your analysis, it has good bridge deck clearance and rarely slams, it is not infused but hand layup and cored except below the waterline where it is solid layup. Not heard of any osmosis issues. Its light, partly because there is virtually no heavy wood furniture. I am 6ft 1" and headroom was not a problem, there is enough in the hulls and head and apart from the galley you rarely stand in the saloon. If you can use the pop top, you can stand in the galley, if not, for long cooking sessions I would sit using a cheap plastic stool.

I too did not initially like galley up having had 2 cats galley down, but I was converted in short order. Give it a try, particularly single handing you can keep a 360 watch from there or watch the cooker from the cockpit. Great for making coffee during long night watch. Converting to galley down would be very difficult. We added an oven and replaced the ice box with a electric fridge which worked well.
We added davits to carry a dinghy (carrying on the foredeck was a non starter, a rough fast sail ripped the attachment rings off the dinghy and we nearly lost it). On the davits we added solar panels as well as 2 semi flexible solar panels one each side of pop top to give about 300W of solar.
There is some stowage under the settees along with about a 30 Imp gallon water tank. This was a limiting factor in our cruising, may be not so much for you, so we also carried 2 off 5 gallon plastic cans of water.
The boat sails extremely well and in very light winds. I effectively sailed ours single handed although the family was onboard. A Raymarine Autohelm 2000 did most of the work. In wet or cold weather I would let the Autohlm steer and keep a watch dry and warm from the saloon. Basically, in any wind the boat sails faster than you can motor so the Yamaha 9.9 high thrust is the perfect motor. I would not touch a Maldives with an inboard conversion, it wrecks the performance.
I regard the design as safe but I know of a couple that have been capsized. A capsize sideways would be very difficult to do but those i know of that went over were pitchpoled running in strong winds. Basically screaming down a wave and burying the bow. Good seamanship and the ability to reef or drop the main on a run are required. As standard, our main came with luff slugs, which I changed for Rutgerson roller ball batten cars. Others have added Harken or other tracks with ball bearing batten cars. That is essential.
Maldives is ocean capable if in good shape and sailed well, they are scattered pretty widely around the world (ours is now in Lazarote). The big caveat is not overloading, but single handing you should easily be able to store enough and be safe. There are not too many design areas of concern, but I would give the rudders, rudder stocks and bearings a good look before going too far offshore. The stocks are aluminium and they can corrode and the rudder mouldings can seperate and get water intrusion and corrosion on the aluminium structure inside.

[Rapanui]

See also this CF thread
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...st-217624.html

[Rapanui]

And this thread
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ns-211426.html

[owly]

Thanks for the information.... it isn't all that easy to come by. I hadn't known that the bottom was solid glass. The biggest deal about foam sandwich as far as I'm concerned is reducing condensation, which really is only a big concern in cooler climates. Elimination of wood finish inside a boat is a positive for practical reasons, but it eliminates some of the natural beauty of wood. It also eliminates a great deal of maintenance.... and as you said, weight. Headroom as I said is not an issue to me in comparison to slamming and windage... it has to be a trade off in a small cat.. If one wants to sail close to the wind, and in rough conditions, clearance and windage are huge. The rudders under the hulls are another trade off.......... They are efficient, and they are also vulnerable, but the LAR keels should strike anything first. My favorite design is where the stern with the transom is separate, and hinges upward if there is a rudder strike. That's an ingenious and a viable solution for a boat with an outboard like this. The davits are a no brainer....... I wouldn't be without them, as I would be using a plywood dinghy that can be rowed or sailed. I consider a watermaker a non-negotiable piece of equipment when voyaging to remote areas... At least you know the water you get is potable, and available, and water tankage can be a problem, and requires treatment........ fine for some things, but miserable for drinking. I'm spoiled by very high quality spring water at my home, straight out of the mountains, no chemicals.


Don't laugh, but my objection to galley up is that I want to sleep there while single handing. I sleep in a recliner, and have done so for so many years that I cannot get decent sleep in a bed, though it would be possible to create a berth that would give me the sleeping angles I need to be comfortable. Single handing, this location is perfect, as it affords a full panoramic view, and offers access in just a few seconds out to the cockpit..... I'd relocate the table forward, and use one of those light weight "zero gravity" recliners... essentially high quality lawn furniture. For my use, I do not need much of a galley... some counter space, a burner or two, and a sink, plus some stowage and a refrigerator, which would not need to be right there. I would probably retain one aft double berth intact,that would serve my needs for storing personal things & clothing, and would suffice for the occasional crew, and perhaps one of the forward singles. The other two would serve other purposes. I'm a minimalist at heart, and would probably not even have pumped water, just jugs with spigots that were located conveniently.


H.W.

Originally Posted by Rapanui

We had our Maldives for 10 years cruising the UK south coast and North and West France down to South Brittany. We had a family of 5 and cruised with up to 6 onboard.

You have got most things right in your analysis, it has good bridge deck clearance and rarely slams, it is not infused but hand layup and cored except below the waterline where it is solid layup. Not heard of any osmosis issues. Its light, partly because there is virtually no heavy wood furniture. I am 6ft 1" and headroom was not a problem, there is enough in the hulls and head and apart from the galley you rarely stand in the saloon. If you can use the pop top, you can stand in the galley, if not, for long cooking sessions I would sit using a cheap plastic stool.

I too did not initially like galley up having had 2 cats galley down, but I was converted in short order. Give it a try, particularly single handing you can keep a 360 watch from there or watch the cooker from the cockpit. Great for making coffee during long night watch. Converting to galley down would be very difficult. We added an oven and replaced the ice box with a electric fridge which worked well.
We added davits to carry a dinghy (carrying on the foredeck was a non starter, a rough fast sail ripped the attachment rings off the dinghy and we nearly lost it). On the davits we added solar panels as well as 2 semi flexible solar panels one each side of pop top to give about 300W of solar.
There is some stowage under the settees along with about a 30 Imp gallon water tank. This was a limiting factor in our cruising, may be not so much for you, so we also carried 2 off 5 gallon plastic cans of water.
The boat sails extremely well and in very light winds. I effectively sailed ours single handed although the family was onboard. A Raymarine Autohelm 2000 did most of the work. In wet or cold weather I would let the Autohlm steer and keep a watch dry and warm from the saloon. Basically, in any wind the boat sails faster than you can motor so the Yamaha 9.9 high thrust is the perfect motor. I would not touch a Maldives with an inboard conversion, it wrecks the performance.
I regard the design as safe but I know of a couple that have been capsized. A capsize sideways would be very difficult to do but those i know of that went over were pitchpoled running in strong winds. Basically screaming down a wave and burying the bow. Good seamanship and the ability to reef or drop the main on a run are required. As standard, our main came with luff slugs, which I changed for Rutgerson roller ball batten cars. Others have added Harken or other tracks with ball bearing batten cars. That is essential.
Maldives is ocean capable if in good shape and sailed well, they are scattered pretty widely around the world (ours is now in Lazarote). The big caveat is not overloading, but single handing you should easily be able to store enough and be safe. There are not too many design areas of concern, but I would give the rudders, rudder stocks and bearings a good look before going too far offshore. The stocks are aluminium and they can corrode and the rudder mouldings can seperate and get water intrusion and corrosion on the aluminium structure inside.

[Rapanui]

There is quite a lot of storage volume in the Maldives under the bunks, we had 5 onboard and 2 folding bikes and we don't travel light so space for a water maker would be no problem. You would need to enhance the electrical system and charging. From memory, there was space for 2 batteries under the chart table on a shelf so you could probably fit larger capacity ones to make a combined combined start and house bank. These days you could easily get 600W of solar from 2 panels over the davits for not much money which should be sufficient for fridge, nav and watermaking.
The table is forward but is massive and one option would be to remove the starboard half and use the space for your recliner or maybe cut the aft end of the table off and align the recliner athwartships in the resulting wider passageway between the galley and table. I am not sure what structural strength the moulded in galley counter adds but it is the aft main transverse structure (fwd one is under mast) as we jacked up the boat there to move around the yard.

[owly]

Originally Posted by Rapanui

There is quite a lot of storage volume in the Maldives under the bunks, we had 5 onboard and 2 folding bikes and we don't travel light so space for a water maker would be no problem. You would need to enhance the electrical system and charging. From memory, there was space for 2 batteries under the chart table on a shelf so you could probably fit larger capacity ones to make a combined combined start and house bank. These days you could easily get 600W of solar from 2 panels over the davits for not much money which should be sufficient for fridge, nav and watermaking.
The table is forward but is massive and one option would be to remove the starboard half and use the space for your recliner or maybe cut the aft end of the table off and align the recliner athwartships in the resulting wider passageway between the galley and table. I am not sure what structural strength the moulded in galley counter adds but it is the aft main transverse structure (fwd one is under mast) as we jacked up the boat there to move around the yard.

Thanks for the links to other threads... I'd already checked them out, which is unusual for me...I usually just ask without thinking to look for an answer first ;-)


The little dog house that contains the galley is obviously not structural to the boat itself as it stands alone in the middle of the deck. It's only significant functions beyond containing the galley appears to be to provide a place for the pop top to seal along the aft edge, and a hinge attachment for the doors, as well as in some cases a wheel is mounted there, and it's a good place for instruments. There is no question that the cabinetry contributes to the necessary stiffness... any designer / engineer worth his salt integrates things structurally wherever he can... remove that structure and it's like a box with the top cut our... flexible and floppy... fortunately structural engineering is not rocket science, and it would be pretty simple to build the needed structure into it without the cabinetry. That location is the ultimate one for what I want. Napping, reading, relaxing,.. any time you don't want to be in the cockpit, it would afford a full view of everything around you at a glance.


Lots of stowage on a multihull is a mixed blessing at best....... to easy to overload. I feel confident in saying that most multihulls are overloaded most if not all the time. It would be interesting to weigh one of these on a travel lift completely empty, and again loaded for cruising.... or any multihull. On this boat, I would be surprised if the empty boat weighed any less than 1500 lbs under it's displacement.... That's a guess based on numbers from other similar boats... and those are difficult to find.

In any case, I'm a minimalist at heart, and would expect to remove a great deal of unnecessary "junk".... stuff that many people consider essential... from any boat. I probably will end up with lithium batteries, a composting head, etc. Every system is something else to maintain. Many are complex and expensive. The outboard is a plus in terms of weight, and serviceability, as well as eliminating through hulls,and being removable. There is just one, and I like that even though it means reduced manouverability, and it means I will not be motoring through the doldrums.... I love diesels.... I've worked on them for years, but two diesels as many cats have adds many many extra maintenance points, and crawling about in a narrow tight space. This boat just makes sense to me in so many ways.



H.W.

[Gpryce]

I own a 1992 Maldives, located in the Fort Myers area if you are interested in looking at one.

[barnakiel]

I had a long conversation last time in Le Marin. There is always a handful of these anchored and docked there.


French sailors say these are very good boats for islands hoping and local cruising. They do not like them for ocean passages. The explanation is these are early designs and there was less data back then. In open water conditions if big waves are running it is easy to overpres the boat and end up digging holes in the wave that is ahead of you. The result depends on how much wind is pushing you and how lucky you are.


So the French consensus is that the newer cats are better (on ocean passages).


But the Maldives is still very present in the French West Indies and much sailed there. Also, their prices reflect the existing demand.


I for one would absolutely love to have one out there in the Antilles.


They are sunny weather / open air boats too - not something you get a lot in the UK, or any Nordic location.



Cheers,
b.

[owly]

Originally Posted by Gpryce

I own a 1992 Maldives, located in the Fort Myers area if you are interested in looking at one.

I'd love to............but I'm thousands of miles away. I'm quite familiar with your area... or was 40 years ago ;-) But haven't been to FL since.


Thanks H.W.

[owly]

Originally Posted by barnakiel

I had a long conversation last time in Le Marin. There is always a handful of these anchored and docked there.


French sailors say these are very good boats for islands hoping and local cruising. They do not like them for ocean passages. The explanation is these are early designs and there was less data back then. In open water conditions if big waves are running it is easy to overpres the boat and end up digging holes in the wave that is ahead of you. The result depends on how much wind is pushing you and how lucky you are.


So the French consensus is that the newer cats are better (on ocean passages).


But the Maldives is still very present in the French West Indies and much sailed there. Also, their prices reflect the existing demand.


I for one would absolutely love to have one out there in the Antilles.


They are sunny weather / open air boats too - not something you get a lot in the UK, or any Nordic location.



Cheers,
b.

That strikes me as an issue of seamanship.......... Having too large a rig for the boat is like having too much horsepower in a motorcycle, or having a loaded gun... you can kill yourself easily if you are careless. If the mast was shorter, and the rig smaller, the same folks would complain that it was a pig with poor performance......... a lose lose situation for the manufacturer.



H.W.

[Rickytennoury]

Good morning !!! Muy name is Ricky , i am from canary island and my english is not so good, i,m sorry..
Muy wife and me have a Seaward 24 and de want sold it, de want buy a Maldives 32 and our plan is to live and go around the world. I have some questions..
Is possible this plan with a maldives 32?
Interior height in kitchen and bathroom?
I have read that there is a Maldives 32 in lanzarote, dos anyone have information to visit it??
Many many thanks to al and i am very sorry muy level of english.

Have a happy weekend..

[owly]

Originally Posted by Rickytennoury

Good morning !!! Muy name is Ricky , i am from canary island and my english is not so good, i,m sorry..
Muy wife and me have a Seaward 24 and de want sold it, de want buy a Maldives 32 and our plan is to live and go around the world. I have some questions..
Is possible this plan with a maldives 32?
Interior height in kitchen and bathroom?
I have read that there is a Maldives 32 in lanzarote, dos anyone have information to visit it??
Many many thanks to al and i am very sorry muy level of english.

Have a happy weekend..

Please keep us posted on the results of your quest.........



H.W.

[Rickytennoury]

Thank you very much everyone for so many tips, they are helping me a lot. I hope to locate the owner of a Maldives 32 in the Canary Islands to visit it ... I have located one in Gran Canaria has many legal problems for drugs, it will end up in the garbage, it is a great sadness ... thank you all I will be informing

[cuffy]

Originally Posted by Rapanui

We had our Maldives for 10 years cruising the UK south coast and North and West France down to South Brittany. We had a family of 5 and cruised with up to 6 onboard.

You have got most things right in your analysis, it has good bridge deck clearance and rarely slams, it is not infused but hand layup and cored except below the waterline where it is solid layup. Not heard of any osmosis issues. Its light, partly because there is virtually no heavy wood furniture. I am 6ft 1" and headroom was not a problem, there is enough in the hulls and head and apart from the galley you rarely stand in the saloon. If you can use the pop top, you can stand in the galley, if not, for long cooking sessions I would sit using a cheap plastic stool.

I too did not initially like galley up having had 2 cats galley down, but I was converted in short order. Give it a try, particularly single handing you can keep a 360 watch from there or watch the cooker from the cockpit. Great for making coffee during long night watch. Converting to galley down would be very difficult. We added an oven and replaced the ice box with a electric fridge which worked well.
We added davits to carry a dinghy (carrying on the foredeck was a non starter, a rough fast sail ripped the attachment rings off the dinghy and we nearly lost it). On the davits we added solar panels as well as 2 semi flexible solar panels one each side of pop top to give about 300W of solar.
There is some stowage under the settees along with about a 30 Imp gallon water tank. This was a limiting factor in our cruising, may be not so much for you, so we also carried 2 off 5 gallon plastic cans of water.
The boat sails extremely well and in very light winds. I effectively sailed ours single handed although the family was onboard. A Raymarine Autohelm 2000 did most of the work. In wet or cold weather I would let the Autohlm steer and keep a watch dry and warm from the saloon. Basically, in any wind the boat sails faster than you can motor so the Yamaha 9.9 high thrust is the perfect motor. I would not touch a Maldives with an inboard conversion, it wrecks the performance.
I regard the design as safe but I know of a couple that have been capsized. A capsize sideways would be very difficult to do but those i know of that went over were pitchpoled running in strong winds. Basically screaming down a wave and burying the bow. Good seamanship and the ability to reef or drop the main on a run are required. As standard, our main came with luff slugs, which I changed for Rutgerson roller ball batten cars. Others have added Harken or other tracks with ball bearing batten cars. That is essential.
Maldives is ocean capable if in good shape and sailed well, they are scattered pretty widely around the world (ours is now in Lazarote). The big caveat is not overloading, but single handing you should easily be able to store enough and be safe. There are not too many design areas of concern, but I would give the rudders, rudder stocks and bearings a good look before going too far offshore. The stocks are aluminium and they can corrode and the rudder mouldings can seperate and get water intrusion and corrosion on the aluminium structure inside.

I also had a Maldives for a number of years I think post quoted is excellent and a very good summery of the boat. Fridge and solar panels on board. I didnt get on with outboard but do agree that inboards would wreck the performance, one of the best features. We had ball bearing cars on a square top main often hit mid teens, with once scarily getting close to 20!