Feeling / Kirie Boats

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reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
My house is located on shallow water and I really would be most comfortable with a boat that draws about 3' 2" or less. I thought I had settled on a Beneteau 311 with the centerboard option. yesterday I found out about a Feeling 32 with a centerboard option.

Anyone know about the Feeling boats and how they compare?

Or anyone have have any other thought on shallow draft (3' 2" or less) sailboats?
 

taichi

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Feb 21, 2010
57
Hunter Hunter 23 Oshkosh Wisconsin
I've owned two 26 footer centerboards and now have a little Hunter 23 wing keel, but have sailed on some larger wing keel boats - The centerboard boats point worlds better than a shallow wing keel. The drawback seems to be in the maintenance of the centerboard hardware. The old Clipper Marine 26 had major problems and wasn't very well designed, the Ranger 26-2 I had was stout, simple, and never had an issue. I've always like shallow draft boats for gunkholing so I can get in where others can't and stay for free instead of needing a marina & so I was very interested in Feeling boats a few years back - have seen very very few that ever made it to the US but in France they are well respected boats. It sounds like you are on a larger budget but there are some older boats out there like Irwins that commonly built centerboard boats that worked well. I hate to even bring up Seewards but I will - they are centreboards but also made to be trailerable so very narrow beam, flat bottom and so very tender. A wide body boat with a Lead Keel/centerboard would be the ticket. Precision makes a great keel/centerboard boats but not big enough for your wants I think.
 

reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
Thank you for your information. We are looking for something around 28 to 32 feet; our last boat was a 28 footer and the things we want don't seem to available in anything smaller. We like/need a usable stand up head we would also like refrigeration for cold drinks and snacks instead of dragging ice from the freezer.
 

taichi

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Feb 21, 2010
57
Hunter Hunter 23 Oshkosh Wisconsin
Don't know were you're located but if you expanded your search to Canada, Bermuda & the caribean you might find a bigger variety - then just hire some crew to sail it home for you - generally much cheaper than trucking it.
Older again but check out Irwin 34's or 39's - great layout. or search yachtworld keyword - centerboard. More out there than you would think.
 

bria46

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Jan 15, 2011
286
Oday 272 Waukegan, IL, Sarasota, FL
My boat is an O'Day 272. It has a winged fixed keel drawing 2' - 11". She points really well and is very stable in high winds and waves
 
Oct 6, 2008
857
Hunter, Island Packet, Catalina, San Juan 26,38,22,23 Kettle Falls, Washington
When you get over 26 feet your options go down and the cost goes up. You might also look into San Juan boats. I know they made 28' boats and some were swing keel and there was a recently listed 30 foot SJ that was posted as a swing keel. I wasn't aware that any 30's were swings but it's possible. Sorry, but I don't remember where I saw that posting but it was in the last week.
I sail a SJ 23 that I really love.
Good luck,
Ray
 

reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
Thank you all for the great info.

We are looking for something no older than a 1990; I'm not very handy so any updates (other than installing electronics) would have to be done by a yard so not economically feasible.
We like the Seaward 32 but our budget is really 70,000 or less;hard to find a used 32 for that price. The 26/25 is just to small inside.
 

Ed A

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Sep 27, 2008
333
Hunter 37c Tampa
These are really good boats.

Thank you all for the great info.

We are looking for something no older than a 1990; I'm not very handy so any updates (other than installing electronics) would have to be done by a yard so not economically feasible.
We like the Seaward 32 but our budget is really 70,000 or less;hard to find a used 32 for that price. The 26/25 is just to small inside.
These are nice boats they sail very well and handle very nicely.
My friend has a elite 364. deep draft.. but great boat. very hard to beat in light or medium air. not structual problems his is a 1984 i think.

There are not a lot of them in the us. the feeling brands are more common in us.

The boats were built in France to a high qualitystandard. Good lamination, nice apointments and good hardware.
I like them alot!
 
Jun 2, 2004
5,802
Hunter 37-cutter, '79 41 23' 30"N 82 33' 20"W--------Huron, OH
Hey Ed, how the hell are you?! :) Is that Don's boat, the Elite 36? I was only on her the one time but remember well what a nice interior. Someday I might even get to sail on her.
 
Apr 15, 2009
302
C&C 30 Annapolis
Might be worth checking out something from Compac Yachts. I believe many of their models were shallow draft.
 

reworb

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Apr 22, 2011
234
Beneteau 311 Ft Myers Beach
Thank you. I enjoyed reading your review; sounds like a very nice boat. It has a very very nice interior, much nicer than what are in the big three's boats, and I'm a former Catalina owner who loved my boat. We only sold it because the draft was troublesome at our new home.
 
Oct 25, 2011
576
Island Packet IP31 Lake St. Louis, Montreal
Take a look at the Island Packet 31. It's wthin your budget but the last one was made in 1988 or 89. "Deep" draft is 4' and they did make a centerboard model with a draft of 3' 2"

Tons of room and great build quality.

Matt
 
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