Now our previous boat was sold, we are getting serious about buying a new boat. The super seal 26 is very high on our list because it seems both adequate for performance sailing on the IJsselmeer, but -when the keel is up- also for 'strolling' on shallow inland waterways and for visiting the freezian islands.

In spite of thoroughly browsing this forum (and some other parts of the net) some important questions remain. So let's pose them myself:

- what is the air draft (bridge clearance) of the superseal 26 when the boat is fully rigged and ready to sail. (our home lake, the Gooimeer, is separated from the IJsselmeer by a fixed bridge that has enough clearance for most 26 feeters, but some 28 feeters with a fractional rig DO have a problem)

- the Gooimeer, our home lake, is somewhat shallow and therefore much smaller when your draft is over 1.3m (4 feet and some inches). Can you still sail the super seal properly close wind when you lift the center board/keel (and rudder) up to that draft? I suppose there's more leeway, but how bad is it and, more important, can keep the boat under control?

- can you sit comfortably inside the cabin. (Is there enough headspace when sitting - we are both (although Dutch..) not extremely tall)

- The last question is a bit less specific to the seal: Is it usual in England to ask the current owner who's selling for a VAT certificate? (it is important to be able to proove with paperwork that VAT was ever paid in a EU country for a vessel when bringing it into Dutch wathers)

I hope there's someone around here who's willing to answer my questions! Thanks in advance.

David Vos
(Netherlands, previous Jouet Sheriff owner, sailed to the solent on both a contest 36 and a comfortina 38, and back. Might prove to be able to sail a super seal 26 from the uk to holland)

David,
I remember sailing in the Oosterschelde and didn't want to wait for the bridge lift at the north end of the Zeelandbrug and saw that the centre span showed 12.2 m on the digital readout.I have always assumed that Elsa's air draft was close to 12m and risked it. I scraped under.
But be warned ... not all Super Seals are identical and mast heights may vary a little.

You can certainly sail the Super Seal with the keel lifted to the rudder depth (ca.0.9m) with full control. You won't go to windward quite so well (why did Ron Holland design it so!) but you will still outsail any similar sized bilge keeler.Inevitably,the higher you lift it, the control and performance to windward will deteriorate.
Since the keel (centreboard) is relatively unballasted, downwind performance can be enhanced with a partially lifted board.
A narrow chorded wing requires length (depth) to get a grip to windward and speed is needed to do this. So a partially lifted board in very light winds will give more leeway.
I have sailed across the IJsselmeer several times with the board fully down with only a cursory glance at the chart for the few spots that might require a lift.It's a perfect boat for the swatchways of the Frisian Islands. Have you ever read 'The Riddle of the Sands'?

I am small, 5ft 6ins ...(1.7m?) and scrape my head slightly along the roof of the cabin but can stand clear under the main and centre hatches.Sitting headroom is comfortable for quite tall people (even the Dutch!) though tall and 'large' people might find the 'heads' a little cramped.

Many buying boats in England, if they knew the boat had always been registered here, would not consider it necessary to look for a VAT certificate. Some would. You certainly would if the boat had been sold/bought abroad at any time.I would have thought it would be wise to ask for it.
Hope this helps.Good hunting!
The Super Seal is a fantastic boat .. why have I not wanted anything else for nearly 30 years!

Chris. Elsa SS26 103.

Chris,

thank you very much for answering my questions...I think the hunt begins! (though we do have some alternatives)

The Zeelandbrug has a vertical clearance of 12,9 meters at highest tide (HAT) - The digital readout excludes a safety margin. 'Our' bridge, the Hollandse Brug, has a vertical clearance of 12.6 meters.

An air draft of 12m should be fine, but if someone here has more input on the air draft of a SS26 I would be most happy to hear.

I will read 'The Riddle of the Sands'!

David

oops, one more question: how do you know that a boat has always been registered in England? (In holland, there is no such thing as a boat registration)

David

David,

From the Seal 26/27 Technical handbook, the mast of a Parker 27 is 399 inches.
As the Seal 26/Super Seal 27/Parker 27 all have the same sail plan, it is a reasonable assumption that the mast of an S26 is also 399 inches. By measurement of both side elevations of the S26 reproduced in the handbook, & calculation of the relative height of the mast to the freeboard, the height from waterline to tabernacle base is 56" = total airdraught 455" = 11.6m [excluding masthead lights, VHF aerials etc].
http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/about/regalia.aspx  ].

http://www.parkerseal.org.uk/about/fleet.aspx  ], I believe that the greater headroom applies to the Super Seal 27 as well as to the Parker 27, ie from sail number 110. For me the real decider was how difficult it was going to be to get into, and use, the toilet when under sail! So my advice is to try both before you buy!

Another factor to consider is that the settee berths in the saloon are quite low - indeed I find them uncomfortably low, unless I raise my bottom with another cushion - there is headroom to do this in a P27 - there may or may not be in S26.

The whole issue of VAT status for older boats in the EU is a nightmare, and is subject to different interpretation by different authorities in different countries. If you are really, really lucky, the seller may have the original purchase invoice duly receipted to show that it was paid, ie absolute proof of VAT Paid. Otherwise there is neither a simple or a perfect solution.

If you have no VAT Paid proof, but if you have proof that the boat was already in use in the EU on 1st January 1985 AND you can prove that the boat was moored in the EU on 31st December 1992 [even if only for that one day!], then it is possible to claim VAT Deemed Paid status, which is a recognised status under the EU Single Market transitional arrangements.

If not, or the boat was put into service after 1st January 1985, you are forced to fall back on gathering as much evidence as possible to show that the boat was first sold and registered within the EU, and has remained within the EU ever since.

In either case, I recommend that you contact HISWA [the Dutch marine industry's federation] and see what help or guidance they can offer you.

In the UK, Part 1 Registration under the Merchant Shipping Act- if maintained throughout the life of the craft - does provide legal evidence of ownership [but not of VAT paid]. However for pleasure craft Part I Registration is usually only used where high value marine mortgages are involved. Part 111 Registration is much more common, but is purely voluntary, and not always maintained by successive owners.

By this stage, you won't be surprised to hear that if the roles were reversed, I wouldn't buy a used boat in another EU country if it didn't have absolute proof of VAT Paid status.



Geoff Sheddick
Parker 27/146 "Stroller'

---

Thanks to Geoff for clearing up the VAT question. I did use the word registration rather loosely. Part 1 regitration required all financial details but few small yachts used this. The part III registration (SSR) has no requirement for VAT details.Yachts do not have to register here unless visiting the EU.It was brought in over a quarter of a century ago as a result of a change in EU regulations for visiting yachts from Britain.
I can only hope that, as Geoff says, if you buy a yacht here that the original bill of sale is in the ships papers (it should be) and this would confirm whether VAT was paid or not.
Thanks too to Geoff for the more accurate measurements of air draft. It seems that it would be safe to reckon on the 12m I suggested.

Further to Geoff's suggestion that the 27 is better from the headroom and space point of view ... it also has the advantage that the keel lifts fully into the 'housing'. The Super Seal 26 was designed to have some keel still below the hull after a 'full' lift. This can be a problem when drying out on hard sand in that, without some other strategy (see website),there can be quite some strain on the lifting rope if you are not there at the time to relax it.

Erskine Childers' 'Riddle of the Sands' written just after 1900 is an early spy story set in the German Frisian Islands with an adventurous small lifting keel boat exploring the swatchways. It was the first serious warning to the British that it was not the French we should be worried about but the Germans. I thought I had better point out the gist of the story.
Chris.

Thank you both for your input! I won't buy a boat without a VAT certificate or the paperwork to get one. I have also bought a copy of the technical handbook.

David