Hi all, As ex - Irwin 52 owners now downsizing, we were very pleased with the I-52, quite acceptable even to to windward in spite of what Ted always referred to as "The Large Half Angle at the Bow", ie the boat was fat forward and that big immersed wedge on the looward side when on the wind shoved the bow up to weather, produced a fair amount of weather helm, which worsened with heeling angle of course. We understood all that and acccepted the reality that every cruising boat is a mass of compromises.. Also the 52 had enough waterline to produce fast passages even tho the hull was obviously not optimized for speed! So my question is: what are owners' experiences with their 43 and 46 ketches and sloops to windward? with and without C'bds? I expect that internal furling mains RQ make things worse as usual, but again an acceptable tradeoff. Sloops vs ketches? Must the mizzen realistically be dumped when hard on the wind? What other bad habits do these boats have? Any comments on the adequacy of the usual Perkins 4-154? Rudder problems, shafts, tanks, hull flexing/delamination, hull/deck joint, etc? We can deal with the usual work list for a used boat but if major structural issues have become common as these boats age that would put us off...! Thanks in advance for your replies, R Michael