Steel Bruce Roberts Spray 33 as a circumnavigator?

[Intifada]

Myself and my partner are in the process of purchasing a steel BR Spray 33 but long ongoing delays getting it in the water (boatyard's fault, not the boat) is making me reconsider. There's still no definite launch date, but apparently "soon". It's an ideal liveaboard, which is what it will be for the next year and a half before setting off on a circumnavigation.
The main criticisms I hear are that they are slow, especially upwind but I always knew that with a limited budget we would have to compromise - the "ideal" boat is out of our price range.
We both love the boat but now half of me wants to wash my hands of it and the other half says stick it out. I'd love people's perspectives on this boat. Cheers.

[OldManMirage]

We need more info and pictures. Spray replicas were almost always amateur built, I don't know of anyone who built them in a semi-production process. So its hard to say what yours might be like. Did you get a survey ? Being steel there would things to look for, i.e. rust and welds and such. I'm no expert.

The boat itself is not necessarily slow, but they also came rigged in all kinds of ways, again because of the "home-build" factor.

Need more info !!

[Northernguy59]

There is a youtube channel “Sailing Emerald Steel”. I think the boat is a spray but I could be wrong. They built the boat themselves and have sailed it for many years and lived aboard on a tight budget.

[Cyrus Safdari]

There's no plus for a steel boat at that size especially in tropics and if you're basically sailing Tradewinds
Really good old fb is better IMHO

[GrowleyMonster]

I am probably biased from spending most of my life on ships and dealing with rust almost every day, but I hate steel and would never have a steel yacht. It is supposed to be pleasure boating, not chipping, ospho-ing and painting all the time. Fiberglass is way less hull maintenance. Almost zero, actually.

There are Bruce Roberts designs inspired by Spray, in a lot of different sizes. The 33 should be fine for two people and yeah, you could circumnav with it. Slow? Who cares? When you step aboard your boat, you are already at your destination!

I have a Bruce Roberts, the Offshore 44, but built in fiberglass. It is a great boat. Well, sort of a great boat. The hull is tremendously thick and stout. She's not particularly slow, either. I was doing better than 8kts over about half of the self-delivery voyage, and in the cockpit was like being in your livingroom. Motion was very easy and she was very dry. All the fittings and electrical and piping was crap, though. Why? Because a Bruce Roberts is a design, not necessarily a turn key ready to fly boat. So build quality is all about who actually built it. In my case the hull was laid up in a yard and done quite well with no corners cut. Only thing is, they built it almost a foot wider than the stock drawings and when I brought her home, I was barely able to squeeze into the slip that I had measured and found was plenty wide enough for a BR Offshore 44. So a Bruce Roberts is like a box of chocolates. You never know what you're gonna get. Most of the time you will like it, though.

A true Spray replica is unusual for a yacht in that there is no cockpit. Of course that makes for more space below, but you are not as protected as in most boats. You are high and sort of protected by the deckhouse forward of you, and if you are not trying to go to windward you can rig all sorts of dodgers and such to stay warmer and dryer while standing watch, but you might or might not be happy with that. I know some not so accurate Spray copies do have cockpits. Mostly they are distinguishable by the unusual hull shape. Big bull shoulders and not so big back aft. For Slocum it made for a boat that self steered quite well over a wide range of points of sail, once he put up a mizzen mast and sail to balance the boat better than as he found it. I do hope you read the book a couple of times before you get serious about sailing your Spray, and if you do curcumnav, carry a copy along with you. It is in public domain so you can download a copy from Internet Archive. Other goodies there are old editions of Bowditch that use a much different sight reduction system than we use now, as well as Lunars for finding Longitude when your time is of doubtful accuracy, (that was before radio) and other cool navigation stuff. Also Ashley Book of Knots. Very entertaining on a long passage and actually sort of handy, and you can learn some cool and useful knots from it.

Anyway while a steel 33' Bruce Roberts Spray is not the best boat at all for what you want to do, it should gitter done okay. There are just so many details that could be non-standard because well, that's just the nature of a Bruce Roberts. And no, I don't think she'll be fast. But like I said, once you are on your baot you are already at your destination, wherever she takes you.

There are actually a lot of boats out there for under $20k that are practical round-the-world-ers. Some way less. If you have doubts about the Spray you are looking at, walk away. There are other boats. There will always be other boats.

Finally, don't fall in love with a boat until it is actually yours.

[Fore and Aft]

Intifada nothing wrong with a Roberts Spray if you accept the trade off that less speed means more room. I am always surprised how roomy they are inside. The Spray owners I have met in all size yachts seem happy with the boat and the compromises they have made. Every boat is a compromise, they is no such thing as the perfect yacht.
I think Maureen Jenkins sailed a Roberts Spray 33 across the Atlantic single handed. She wrote a good book about it.
Cheers
https://www.abebooks.co.uk/servlet/B...-srp1-_-title2

[Ballsnall]

Although Bruce Roberts deviated from the original hull design quite a bit, they are still a fine vessel for trade wind sailing. The main reason they are said to be slower is really due to the change to Bermuda rig and lack of sail area. Unbeatable for comfort and load carrying capacity so make a great cruiser. Due to the large wetted surface, keeping a clean bottom is important.

Yes, Emerald Steel is a Bruce Roberts spray and quite a good passagemaker I hear although she is gaff rigged.