opinions on Irwin

[Jeff H]

"Why are they holding thier value as well as they are while they are aging?"

Irwins are not holding thier value, at least as compared to equal age and sized boats of a decent build quality. That was the whole basis of this thread, which, to paraphrase, started out asking "Why do you see Irwins for sale at such 'decent' prices?"

Respectfully,
Jeff

[29cascadefixer]

Ya know what ? I betcha that ( cough-cough), Bass Boat was really the prototype for all multihulls- BWAHAHAHHAAHAHHAH-
Hey wait-- oh no-ouchouch-
Cascadefixer ducks and runs, bobbing and weaving for the outside door.

[exposure]

From the multihull history books....



"Truly an innovator, Prout developed the four masted concept before they launched the first Prout 12 Dining Room model back in '62. Later a center "leaf" option was added stretching it to 15 feet and kicking off the Elite series..."

[irwinsailor]

The "Irwin Guy" Captian Gene Gammon tells me that "One of the Hinckley family owns a Irwin 52". Irwin muct have been his second choice after Hinckley.

[Jeff H]

Yes, and a member of the Hinckley family tried to kill Ronald Reagan, so what does that prove? Insanity runs in the family or something?

Cheers,

Jeff

[CSY Man]

Ouch........

[Sailing Junkie]

I can testify firsthand that the center cockpit Irwin 44 is a piece of junk and has no business ever going more than 30 miles offshore.

I had to be rescued by Coast Guard helicopter 160 miles offshore in the dead of night when the Irwin 44 I was helping to deliver started to fall apart in a storm in the Gulf Stream.

I knew the minute I stepped foot on the boat that I had no business going offshore in it, but in an almost deadly lapse of judgement, I went anyway. And everything we said could go wrong with this boat offshore did.

The standing rigging is extremely inferior and totally incapable of withstanding the stresses of offshore sailing. When a shroud parted, we jury rigged a line down the broken shroud to a track and car on the deck, back to a winch. After a few hours, the un-backed track started pulling out of the deck, so now we had a gaping 18 inch tear in the deck that was pulling open every time the rig flexed in a wave.

There were no hand holds below deck in a 14' beam boat, no hand holds on the companion way steps, no positive latches on any of the cupboard doors, no lee cloths or boards on any bunk or berth on the boat, a front loading fridge mounted fore and aft with no fiddles so that when you needed to open it while on port tack, everything fell out. OK, so we can only eat while on starboard tack - it's a new diet fad! Lazarette covers on deck were just drop-in with no latches or hinges of any kind attaching them to the boat. They had to be duct taped shut to go offshore. Propane locker cover had a hinge on one side, but no latch , no weatherstripping and no drain, so it filled with water the minute the seas kicked up (and the tanks were not secured, just set in, so they floated free and banged around when the locker filled with water).

I could go on and on, but you probably get the picture. These boats were made to sit in a boat slip or calm harbor on a mooring, and be used as an island hopping floating condo. If you need to move it, put it on a ship! You would have to put so much money into one of these boats to make it viable offshore that it becomes cost prohibitive. There are too many affordable, well-built offshore boats out there to even consider buying one of these and trying to shore it up.

That's my story and I'm sticking to it!!

[CSY Man]

Ouch again....

[harryrezz]

Yeah - what Sailing Junkie said!
If you want a big boat to tie to a marina and party on an Irwin will do. If you want a boat to safely carry you and your family to far-flug parts of the world DON'T BUY AN IRWIN!
As to why there are so many of them - Chevy builds more cars than most, but does that make them better than a BMW or Mercedes?
As to why they are for sale all over the world - After being lucky enough to get wherever they are without drowning, most people are smart enough to abandon ship wherever they happen to be, and they're trying to recoup some of their investment.
'nuff said - end of issue!

[GordMay]

“Chevy” vs “Beemer”

Although BMW and Mercedes (and others) may make better (under certain criteria) cars than most of General Motors offering; they may not represent better “value”, or justifiable expense. I, for instance, will never have either (premium car), as I can’t afford, and don’t need, to. The(nearly ?) adequate “Chevy-type” will get me around, at a cost I can more nearly afford.

eg:
Gold plating might make for a better wire (conductor) than does tin - but “tinned” wire is adequate for most purposes, and the premium cost for “gold” not usually justified (cost-benefit evaluation).

I wouldn't set a 30 mile offshore limit on any boat! It's either too far, or not far enough.
Any boat than can go 30 mi. offshore, can go further.
Any boat that cannot (go 30 mi. or further) can't go further than I can swim.

On the other side of the coin:
I had a customer who couldn’t “afford” a Cadillac, so he drove a Bently (or Rolles - I forget).
His analysis indicated that the $50,000 Caddie would be worth about $25K in a few years; whereas the $100,000 Bently would be worth about $125K after the same time.

[BC Mike]

WO Bentley the man the car is named for, spelled his name with the extra e, probably the same way his dad spelled it. Gently, the name of our boat does not have the extra e, but our horse Bentley does. Charles Rolls did not have an e in his last name but Henry Royce did. Henry would know about polarity as he made electrical motors and relays before he built cars. If you use a single word for the Rolls Royce it would be more correct to call it a Royce because that is who built them. Rolls was a car salesman.
BC Mike C