Thank you for your copious comments and insight, Rick. You've echoed
much of what I expected to hear and your viewpoints are greatly
appreciated.

I've looked at the T31 Pilothouse that you linked. Truly a beautiful
boat if we could work it into our budget. Perhaps we should take a
closer look.

Again, thank you for your insight.

Jess Vail

On 07 May 2006 23:22:21 -0700, Sonadora <sonadora@sail2live.com> wrote:
> >>If any of you are
> >>uncomfortable with the aspect of making their opinions public, feel
> >>free to answer off-list.
>
> Ha! The day this motley crew stops making their opinions public is the day
> the world stops rotating.
>
> >>Also, if any of you have a Baba 30 currently
> >>for sale, feel free to forward information, photos, equipment lists,
> >>pricing, etc.
>
> Jess, check out www.yachtworld.com. I've just spent a ...um... little bit of
> time checking out the Baba listings and I'm surprised at how many there are!
> Seems to be a buyer's market.
>
> You'll want to search on each of these terms:
>
> Baba
> Tashing
> Tashiba
>
> However, the BEST Baba 30 (actually a Tashiba 31) on the market right now is
> Tom Currier's 'Chinita' (you might have to copy/paste this)
> http://yachtworld.com/core/listing/pl_boat_full_detail.jsp?slim=quick&boat_i
> d=1265899&units=Feet&currency=USD&access=Public&listing_id=32744&url=
>
> Without question, for a boat this size - Baba or otherwise - you'll not find
> anything nicer.
>
> Now as far as the Baba line goes I was going to ramble on about this, but
> then I remembered that Bruce Pappas has all the info you need here:
> http://www.babaowners.org/
>
> So, making my opinion public, I'll give you a little insight into our
> wonderful Soņadora. Now, she's not perfect. If she was, she'd be too good
> for us. But she is a heartbreaker and I think that term works for most
> Baba-philes. That's how we got into this mess.
>
> Ours is of the older vintage. Hull #22 of 300-something hulls. They were
> still trying to get it right when they built ours. More than once there was
> a 'what the hell were they thinking???' moment. Check out my site and read
> about my chain plate adventure:
> http://www.sail2live.com/boats/sonadora/chainplates.html. There are
> countless stories like mine, but it seems that towards the end of the model,
> TaShing got it closer to perfect.
>
> The biggest thing to realize, especially with the older boats, is that you
> can have two models of the same year and they can be very different. One may
> have an aluminum mast and one may have a wooden mast. Even two boats with
> aluminum masts may have different masts depending on the dealer who sold it.
> That goes for a lot of the rigging, though in general all were cutter rigs
> in the earlier models. I think the Tashiba models were available as sloops.
>
> Also, be prepared for an experience that rivals the fiercest of religions:
> teak-ism. Check the e-mail archives for a recent discussion about this. This
> topic pops up about every 6 months. You'll learn why it's 6 months once
> you've owned a boat with copious amounts of teak.
>
> And oh, about the teak? That's where the heartbreaking comes in. I recall
> one person who came onto the list wanting to know how to REMOVE the teak on
> the boat...permanently! Wow. This person probably thought public tar and
> feathering would have been better. So, ya gotta love the teak. If you're not
> up for the teak, there are probably 100,000 other boats you could consider.
>
> With all that said, these are wonderful, wonderful boats. They sail much
> better than you would be led to believe. They are built as tough as a steel
> boat (check out 'My Baba Fell Over' in the archives). For any boat of the
> late 70s/early 80s, the fit and finish are way above average. Though some
> items are of concern 20 years later. Namely, the chain plates. There are
> some extreme examples of chain plate rot though most of us have been lucky.
> What happens is that water gets in where the chain plates pass through the
> core. The core holds the water and it eats away, little by little, year
> after year, until the chain plate is history. This may not be apparent above
> or below deck so the only way to really know is to remove the chain plates -
> all of them.
>
> Also, those salty bronze opening ports get a bit long in the tooth in terms
> of the seals. It's a simple affair to replace the seals. Do the glass while
> you're at it. I had all new laminated glass cut for around $250. There's a
> link floating around here somewhere where you can find the seals.
>
> On our boat, teak-to-deck connections have been on the leaky side. This
> summer I'm on a mission to stop most if not all. They can be very elusive.
>
> That terrific bowsprit is something to take note of as well. It is built
> with laminates of teak and holly. One of the holly laminates on our bowsprit
> has dry rot. We will have to get that replaced before we do any serious
> adventuring.
>
> In terms of pricing, it seems there's a wide range. I've seen 'em around
> $30k up to over $100k. In any case, you'll get what you pay for. The price
> mainly reflects the cost you'll put into it sooner or later. The ones at
> $100k are turnkey and fit for anything you'll encounter. Ours was way at the
> low end and after 5 years we've only done about 20% of what we'd like to do.
>
> So, if you're ready to be emotionally involved in your boat, a Baba is the
> ticket. As Cindy once said to me, "She wants to be pretty." That's probably
> what got you to post here in the first place.
>
> Cheers,
>
> Rick Beddoe
> s/v Soņadora, 1978 Baba 30
> http://sail2live.com
>
> p.s., there's like 20 or 30 guys named 'Rick' on this e-mail list, so last
> names are a plus.
>
>
>
>
>
>
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Received on Mon May 8 06:38:41 2006