Looking for an Irwin Mk11 CC

[123Adrian]

Hi Folks
Thanks for allowing me to join your site. I am looking at an Irwin Mk11 CC 'Splice of Heaven' which is up for sail in Sydney. Can anybody tell me about the 38CC as a potential live aboard, or about the boat mentioned.
We plan on cruising the east coast of Australia. Any info welcome. Thanks in advance.

https://yachthub.com/list/yachts-for...8-sloop/283732

[Adelie]

Welcome.

I would suggest updating your profile with your general location and your boat make & model or “Looking” in the "Boat" category. This info shows up under your UserName in every post in the web view. Many questions are boat and/or location dependent and having these tidbits under your UserName saves answering those questions repeatedly. If you need help setting up your profile then click on this link: https://www.cruisersforum.com/forums...ml#post3308797

I would happily help more if the link above is not enough.

[Celestialsailor]

Welcome to the forum

[TrentePieds]

Adrian:

There have been no responders to your request for information about the Irwin 38.

I would think that that is because your request is far too broad. The specifics of the design you will get from SailboatData, the quick and handy reference to a plethora of boats, and the sales literature to which you linked certainly fills in the blanks for the specific vessel.

A boat's "potential as a live aboard" obviously depends only to a very small degree on the vessel's technical specifications, and much more on how YOU do your living, on what YOUR current life habits are, on which ones among them you are willing to jettison because they may be dysfunctional for a seafaring life, and which new habits you will have to develop because they are essential to the seafaring life while you do not yet have them.

The trick is to get a felicitous match twixt those two things: The vessels specifications on the one hand and your personal habits on the other. For that reason we cannot on the basis of what we now know give you a sensible answer. AFTER you tell us about your sailing experience, and that of any persons who are destined to make up the crew, we can BEGIN to be helpful.

If you are a novice, then be aware that this particular vessel would be a handful for a novice. A novice would be likely to come face to face with disappointment and discouragement before he had a chance to move out of the novice category. An experienced sailor, man or woman, would find much to appreciate, and a few things to deplore, in this particular design.

Be aware also, if you are a novice, that basic boat-handling I could teach you in a weekend. To become a competent skipper up to facing such waters, while holding other peoples' lives in his hand, as the Tasman Sea or the west coast of Ireland when they snarl, takes a lifetime.

So, as I said: To answer your questions sensibly, we need to know a good deal about YOU. The vessel is something of a subsidiary issue.

All the best :-)

TrentePieds

[Celestialsailor]

I don't think that it is too broad of a question as it might be that is posted in Meets and Greats. Perhaps repost it in Monohulls.

[BobHorn]

We lived aboard an Irwin 41 CC for six years and cruised the east coast of the US and the Caribbean. My wife wanted back on land so we sold the boat and bought a house. Got the bug again and found an Irwin 38 CC. Beautiful interior, new electronics and all that. The only issue was that the mizzen mast support had sagged to the point where the door to the aft head would not open. The layout was about the same as the 41 but I thought it was a little cramped. I think it was one of the 38s with the centerline berth in the aft cabin. My wife liked it so we made an offer. When we had it hauled there were bunches of blisters, a big depression in one side and the rudder leaked water the whole time it was hauled. We decided not to buy it. I understand the owner later sold it for parts.
We kept looking, could not find another Irwin, so ended up with a Whitby 42, also a CC. Pretty much the same layout as the Irwin, but with the big engine space the salon and cockpit are quite a bit smaller.
Loved the Irwin, sorry we sold her.
Bob

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

We kept looking, could not find another Irwin, so ended up with a Whitby 42, also a CC. Pretty much the same layout as the Irwin, but with the big engine space the salon and cockpit are quite a bit smaller.
Loved the Irwin, sorry we sold her.
Bob

The Whitby is a much better vessel.

[TrentePieds]

Celestial:

Not being persnickety here, just trying to be helpful to the OP :-)

Why, precisely, do you think the Whitby is a better vessel? Again: Not trying to be persnickety. I just think a flat out assertion is not very helpful to the OP. I think he [and I :-)] would really like some reasoned arguments as to WHY you think the Whitby is better than the Irwin.

TP

[Celestialsailor]

IMHO, I feel Brewer is a better designer than Irwin. I also feel the quality of builds were better at Whitby boat works. Construction wise, I think they both had problems and as BobHorn pointed out the blister problem. The Whitby had it's faults also and especially the rudder post from what I have read.

[BobHorn]

I would say that the Irwin is a Chevy and the Whitby is a Buick? Nothing wrong with that, we've owned Chevies for quite some time.

As far as blisters go, when the second owner bought the Whitby, the bottom was so bad they stripped the gel coat and epoxy coated the whole bottom, $10,000 at the time (2000). No blisters since.
Irwins were built to a price, most, or all, lockers were hanging lockers. No shelves, much cheaper to just put in a rod. We spent a lot of time putting shelves in the lockers, adding storage cabinets and such. The most important change I think we made was to replace the plastic ports with through bolted metal ones. Might have saved the boat crossing the Mona Passage.
Only major issue we had in the eight years we owned her were leaking fuel tanks. They are foamed in place, the foam collects moisture and the tanks develop pin holes in the bottom. Whitbies had major problems with the keel tank, easy fix though, don't use it, still would carry 120 gallons of diesel in the saddle tanks.

All in all, she never let us down, really sorry we sold her.

[Celestialsailor]

Originally Posted by BobHorn

I would say that the Irwin is a Chevy and the Whitby is a Buick? Nothing wrong with that, we've owned Chevies for quite some time.

As far as blisters go, when the second owner bought the Whitby, the bottom was so bad they stripped the gel coat and epoxy coated the whole bottom, $10,000 at the time (2000). No blisters since.
Irwins were built to a price, most, or all, lockers were hanging lockers. No shelves, much cheaper to just put in a rod. We spent a lot of time putting shelves in the lockers, adding storage cabinets and such. The most important change I think we made was to replace the plastic ports with through bolted metal ones. Might have saved the boat crossing the Mona Passage.
Only major issue we had in the eight years we owned her were leaking fuel tanks. They are foamed in place, the foam collects moisture and the tanks develop pin holes in the bottom. Whitbies had major problems with the keel tank, easy fix though, don't use it, still would carry 120 gallons of diesel in the saddle tanks.

All in all, she never let us down, really sorry we sold her.

It's funny, I almost used that exact line, "I would say that the Irwin is a Chevy and the Whitby is a Buick" when TrentePieds asked me why I thought the Whitby was better. I agree that plastic ports are usually a dead giveaway that a manufacturer is trying to cut financial corners. Even my 1977 Hallberg Rassy 35 had fixed ports in the cabin until I replaced them with Stainless opening ones. Although the general construction was great.

Contrary to common belief that all f/g boats get blisters, my HR never did or anyone I knew that had one. My theory on that is boats that had a slower (cooler) lay-up and were able to cure longer and sat in the mold longer, did not. But I'm sure that will start an argument on CF.
I just build new stainless water tanks (formerly aluminum) and an aluminum fuel tank. Over time they rot from the inside out. I had to cut f/g furniture out to do the water tank replacement which is why I used stainless as they will last along time and yes, I foamed them in.

On the Fuel tank, I used aluminum again because stainless is not approved for it. However I insulated it with carpet and only spot foamed it in. I also added a separate tube and fitting, on top of the tank to withdraw water as a maintenance feature. By withdrawing a few ounces out of the tank eliminates the problem.