Gulf 29 wisdom?

[Buddy_Y]

Hello All:

I'm moving up a wee step from my barebones Catalina 27, and I'm considering a Gulf 29 -- a pilothouse sailboat. I've been searching around for reviews on the net, but apart from dry spec sheets of the model and a single owner's review, I haven't found any wisdom about them. Anybody have an informed opinion?

Thanks!

[GordMay]

Not the 29, but you might be interested in the discussion on the Gulf 32:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...ouse-1754.html

[Buddy_Y]

That thread you pointed to me is indeed informative. The design definitely has some less-than-perfect aspects, like pretty much everything on the market (that I can afford). Thanks for the reply!

[Brent Swain]

The gulf 29 is an excellent boat,especially if you can get the one with he outboard rudder. That greatly simplifies self steering and inside steering via a trimtab on the rudder.
Brent

[Buddy_Y]

I'll keep an eye for the rudder type, Brent, but I don't think it was an outboard one. (Don't hold me to that, though.) I have actually put in an offer on the boat as of today (albeit a low one that made the broker fume -- hey, I think the boat is overpriced, and the boat's been on the market for quite a time, so I'll start low).

Right now, this particular Gulf 29 has had the interior helm removed; the broker says the present owner removed it to give himself a long berth in which he could sleep, being a tall fellow with a vee-berth full of kids. (People's priorities....) However, the boat has a lot of electronics, from a chart plotter to knot meter etc, so my plan is to just add in a wheel-mounted autopilot (such as a raymarine wheel pilot) and hook it into a console/laptop inside the cabin to make a 'sail by wire' interior helm. If I get the boat, I'll be on the 'electronics' discussion board asking for opinions about that; first, though, I need to get the owner's price down quite a bit.