1985 32-3 for sale - posted 21Jan2025
- Thread starter nquigley
- Start date
Prairie Schooner
Jeff & Donna, E35-3 purchased 7/21
Is this your boat? Looks like a nice one. I hope some misfortune is not motivating the sale.
Filkee
Sustaining Member
Love the pull out rack on the galley side.
Thanks. No misfortune - just checking a possible opportunity. I’ve reset my cruising plans for this year to hopefully involve more offshore (solo) sailing than originally planned. Since moving the boat to Mobile AL last fall, I’ve spent a several weeks out in the Gulf of Mexico (a very challenging body of water!). I’ve realized there are several true bluewater cruising boats for sale on the Gulf coast area that might be a better platform - lots more storage, more stable in large confused seas and strong winds. Since I’ll be stuck back in Knoxville for the next ~8 weeks with hip replacement surgery in 2 weeks, then 6 weeks of recovery before I can safety get back ‘out there’, I asked a friend (broker at my marina) to see if we can get a good price for her by the end of March so I can jump to one of available local bluewater boats, and head off in that. If my boat doesn’t sell (for a good price), I’ll happily jump back on board her and head out at that time. She’s fully set up for cruising, so there’s nothing I need to do before heading to the Bahamas and then south.
alcodiesel
Bill McLean
Great name from the old days. Didn't you used to own Traveler?
Yes I did!
Good catch on the 'Vim' history - very few know it.
Vim - Classic Yacht Info
Designed and built for Harold S Vanderbilt with the sole purpose of racing and which led to great involvement of Sparkman & Stephens with the 12-Metre class. Vim was the first twelve to have rod rigging and an aluminium spa package and in the 1939 season in England she beat such famous...
classicyachtinfo.com
Actually, my first boat (a P Class in New Zealand - similar size to an Optimist) came to me already named Vim. In NZ, there's a household cleaner similar to Comet, called Vim - I got some playful teasing from my 10 yo friends while I learned to sail - they said I'd do better if I didn't spend my time cleaning up the harbor (harbour). I didn't learn the historical significance of the name, Vim, until I was thinking of a new name for my 32-3 (it came to me named 'Molto Bene' on the transom - original owner was Italian). I thought my 32-3 might be my 'forever' boat, so it was fun to go full-circle and (re)name it Vim ;-)
jtsai
Member III
I crewed on a sailing trip from Pensacola to Miami on 60' sailing ship Libra. Captain of the ship said the Gulf of Mexico is cul-de-sac where all the energies collide and rebound. He was correct, I have never been so sea sick in my life the first two days!
Interested to hear what boats are on your short list. Good luck with the surgery.
I sold my boat on Monday (31Mar) morning to James Coe. He will be keeping it at Fairhope AL. I strongly encouraged him to join the forum, and I gave him my copy of Christian's book about sailing his 32-3, Thelonius, to HI and back.
My buyer didn't want my Sailomat800 windvane (which originally went on that trip with Christian), so I'll be putting it up for sale here soon.
I'm definitely going hang around the forum to see what everyone is getting up to, but I'm sending a huge thank-you to everyone for this great community and all the advice and information that is shared!
... Two hours after my buyer sailed off across Mobile Bay to Fairhope, I was shaking hands with a guy in the next-door marina, buying his 1977 Westsail 32 (2 pics below for those who are unfamiliar with this design). He still needs to remove some of his stuff from the cabin.
I'm not so keen on it's famed poor performance in very light air ('Wet Snail 32'), but I'm retired - not in a hurry to go anywhere ... I'll just wait for a weather window with MORE forecasted breeze than my 32-3 & I would have been happy in. I'm very happy about it's reduced complexity: tiller-steered with Pelagic autohelm and Aries windvane, full-keel with keel-hung rudder (no large hole in the boat for a rudder shaft), cutter rig with 6' bowsprit giving lots of sail configuration options, absolutely huge amount of storage lockers down below for all my long-range cruising needs (provisions, spares, tools, extra sails, sewing machine, folding bike, dice tank, etc). Plus, when one loads 1000 lb of stuff on a 20,000 lb boat it makes no difference to how it sails, compared to stowing the same stuff on my 10,000 32-3. Its theoretical hull speed if 7kt, I really don't look forward to being in wind and waves that will achieve that on a 20k lb full keel boat :-| It has a 52hp Westerbeke engine (tons of power to push a heavy boat) with brand new transmission, motor mounts and prop shaft. It's sail inventory is very good, with 3 brand new sails and two spare working sails, but I may need a new main later this year.
Anyway, I'm up for the challenge. I'll stay in Mobile over hurricane season, learning how to sail this boat efficiently on Mobile Bay (with the previous owner's help), and doing a few small projects at a planed 1-week haul-out in June. As soon as I can get out of here, I'm heading for the Bahamas, eastern Caribbean and beyond.
My buyer didn't want my Sailomat800 windvane (which originally went on that trip with Christian), so I'll be putting it up for sale here soon.
I'm definitely going hang around the forum to see what everyone is getting up to, but I'm sending a huge thank-you to everyone for this great community and all the advice and information that is shared!
... Two hours after my buyer sailed off across Mobile Bay to Fairhope, I was shaking hands with a guy in the next-door marina, buying his 1977 Westsail 32 (2 pics below for those who are unfamiliar with this design). He still needs to remove some of his stuff from the cabin.
I'm not so keen on it's famed poor performance in very light air ('Wet Snail 32'), but I'm retired - not in a hurry to go anywhere ... I'll just wait for a weather window with MORE forecasted breeze than my 32-3 & I would have been happy in. I'm very happy about it's reduced complexity: tiller-steered with Pelagic autohelm and Aries windvane, full-keel with keel-hung rudder (no large hole in the boat for a rudder shaft), cutter rig with 6' bowsprit giving lots of sail configuration options, absolutely huge amount of storage lockers down below for all my long-range cruising needs (provisions, spares, tools, extra sails, sewing machine, folding bike, dice tank, etc). Plus, when one loads 1000 lb of stuff on a 20,000 lb boat it makes no difference to how it sails, compared to stowing the same stuff on my 10,000 32-3. Its theoretical hull speed if 7kt, I really don't look forward to being in wind and waves that will achieve that on a 20k lb full keel boat :-| It has a 52hp Westerbeke engine (tons of power to push a heavy boat) with brand new transmission, motor mounts and prop shaft. It's sail inventory is very good, with 3 brand new sails and two spare working sails, but I may need a new main later this year.
Anyway, I'm up for the challenge. I'll stay in Mobile over hurricane season, learning how to sail this boat efficiently on Mobile Bay (with the previous owner's help), and doing a few small projects at a planed 1-week haul-out in June. As soon as I can get out of here, I'm heading for the Bahamas, eastern Caribbean and beyond.
Very nice. And what great timing for you! Our dock neighbor has a Westsail 32, but it needs quite a bit of work. From the photos, yours looks great.
Best of luck with your adventure.
Best of luck with your adventure.
Prairie Schooner
Jeff & Donna, E35-3 purchased 7/21
Congratulations Neil. It would be fun to vicariously follow some of your adventures. Keep us posted. All the best!
Jeff
Jeff