I've owned a Mistral for about 6 years. I did a total refit of the boat so I got to see pretty much ever inch of it.
In general, this is a very nice design. She sails well and has few overall problems but for sure, some do exist.
The Mistral could be purchased with either a fiberglass cabin trunk ( Zephyr design ) or a wood cabin top. The interiors were also finished off by several different yards so you can't always compare the problems on one boat to what you might find on yours.
That being said, here is what I found on 981-A. My boat, 981-A was built with the fiberglass cabin trunk.
The port lights on the fiberglass design are a challenge to keep from leaking and it will take a few tries to get it right. I have a technique that now works.
The gutters around the cockpit hatches are way too small and with a modest rain, water will run into the two large lockers. This seems to have been an area of neglect by Alden. I was aboard 50" Alden designed in 1984 and selling for $500K and it had the same problem. ( I plan an enlarging the forward gutters on mine.)
The boom, if still original ( 16.5 ft) is too long. The previous owner of my boat said the boom would hit the back stay on a jib and that the boat experienced too much weather helm. I was able to pick up a 14.5 ft boom for my boat and with that, it sails well with little weather helm.
My chainplates were not fair to the shrouds on my boat. They should have been bent at or above the deck to the angle of the shrouds. Not being fair puts a lot of stress on the turnbuckles. I had to build a tool to bend these.
My boat had a lot of delamination below the waterline. The boat I bought was left abandoned in the water for over 10 years, and routine maintenance before that was probably marginal. My boat, being the first off the line may also have been built as a plug to make the mold. In any case, you should have the bottom checked carefully. I repaired mine in probably 40 to 80 hours of work.
The original wiring was poor and I replaced all of it. Field Aircraft Services use thin gage aircraft wiring on my boat....didn't last.
The good news is that for its age, this is a very good boat. The solid RFG decks eliminates the problems that cored decks have. The hull is heavily built and the glassed in ribs give added stiffness to the hull. Though the boat only has a 25% ballast to displacement ratio, it is not a all tender due the the relatively hard bilge. The boat sails nicely in light air but handles a strong breeze well. The previous owner used to race my boat in S.F. Bay. He said he would sail with the 150% genoa and full main up to 18 kts of wind, go to the first reef on the main from 18 to 28 kts, and then go to the second reef point at 28 kts, all the time leaving the 150% up. He said his biggest reason for reefing was due to weather helm. I can't confirm this....I don't sail my boat that hard.
I'd definitely buy this boat again and would recommend it to a friend. It's a very classic style and I get complements on it just about every time I take it out.
Hope this helps.
Bill Merrick
S/V Carmina
Shilshole Bay Marina, Seattle WA
