Dear all,
I am thinking about buying a Parker 325/335 and was wondering if any of you could please answer the following questions/advise me on the following:
Apologies for the amount of questions, I have not been sailing that long so do not feel experienced enough to reliably work some of these out on my own before purchase, so your experience would be very useful and gratefully received.
1: Am I correct in thinking that the keel lifting ram and the metal plate that is just in front of the keel, bolted to the outside of the hull with six bolts, both hold the keel in place? In the event of one failing, can the other one safely hold the keel on its own?
2: I read a review that mentioned the lead part of the keel has been known to drop off. How is the lead part connected? Is this only possible with poor maintenance?
3: If I buy one, I would like to keep her at Looe harbour which dries out at low tide, and in certain weather conditions is not flat calm! Looe has a firm sand/shingle bottom. The one I've looked at had a three bladed prop. Does the prop not hit the ground when drying out? Or do they sit on the keel and an area of the hull forward of the prop? If so, how clear of the bottom is the prop when dried out? And if the prop does hit the ground, has anyone made an extended skeg with a 'foot' to stop sinking into the sand etc and protect the prop? Would the grp skeg that the propshaft comes through be strong enough to have an extension skeg scraping around a bit while the boat is settling on the bottom in rough weather, or does the boat settle firmly on the keel, before gently (or at least without any twisting motion) lowering the skeg?
4: What angle do they dry out at - level, bow up or down? Has anyone made some sort of prop to allow adjustment of pitch to make staying aboard regularly whilst drying out comfortable?
5: Having had a brief look at one, it appears as though the hull is single skinned. The two bilge pumps that were fitted (1xauto 1x manual) both seemed to be right at the back of the stern (although I couldn't actually see where they collected from). If the hull was punctured further forward, it looks like the cabin would flood with no way to pump out, apart from the shower pump. Is that correct, or is the hull double skinned so any water entering the hull would make its way back, or to wherever the bilge pump collection points (strum boxes) are?
6: How easy is it to fit an anchor windlass? Does an area need reinforcing, or are there areas already prepared for it? Is there enough room in the anchor locker for a windlass and full length of chain? Or would it need to be above and behind the anchor locker? Would this even work without an internal chain locker and gravity working on a length of chain to clear the chain away from the windlass?
7: The Parkers are a fair bit lighter than some other similar sized boats. Does the fact that the vast majority of their ballast is in the foot of the keel, mean that they are as stable as heavier boats, that have the weight of the ballast spread out from the base of the hull to the bottom of the keel? Or are they noticeably less stable?
8: Touching on the lightness again, the mooring/anchoring cleats look a fair bit lighter duty than others I've seen on similar sized boats. Is this simply because they do not need to be as strong given the lighter displacement? One of the main destinations we intend for the boat is the Scillies which can get pretty rough at times. While we would always attempt to get into very sheltered anchorages/moorings or dry out during storms, is the boat designed/able to take rough conditions at anchor if need be, or would it be advisable to uprate the cleats/mounting points for this? Am I worrying too much about this?!
I'd be very grateful for any thoughts on the above.
Many thanks for your time,
Anthony
1 The metal plate in front of the keel is a mounting for the keel guide block. ( See drawing posted elsewhere on this forum). The keel is held in by the ram and four large nylon sliding blocks bolted to the upper half of the keel. If the ram mount failed they would stop the keel falling out.
2 On the 325/335 the lead extends 500mm or so up inside the vertical part of the keel and is held in by 18 machine screws so it is highly unlikely to fall off. Attachment of the wing on the P31 is different and a failure there is a bit more plausible.
3 A drying mooring and a hard bottom is a challenge for any boat, the 335/325 prop is fairly well protected by the skeg. I believe one or two boats have had bits added on to the skeg to help.
4 On a level base, the boat dries level, sitting on the wing of the keel and the skeg.
5 The hull is single skin and meets the RCD safety requirements for offshore sailing. These boats are strong, Bill Parker was very insistent on "stiffness". Also the keel case acts as a major structural support. On our boat the strum box is under the engine, others may be different. In the forward part of the boat there is s good deal of compartmentalisation so a leak might well be contained.
6 There is lots of room in our anchor locker for a manual Lofrans Royal windlass, 40m of chain and 40m of eight-plait. Several boats have had an electric windlass fitted on deck just behind the anchor locker.
7 These boats are towards the lighter end of cruiser weights with a relatively high ballast ratio. Whish is part of why they sail so well. Most of the ballast is the 1000kg lead wing. The usual description for this sort of boat seems to be "performance cruiser".
8 I suspect you are worrying a bit too much. In around 15000 miles and some fairly challenging conditions we have never worried about the security of the deck gear. We are heading for Scilly this summer so we shall see!
If you want to have a chat by phone, PM me.
Martin
P335/50 Tringa