So its a few days since we posted the blog about wanting to sell Goanna. We now have a yacht broker putting pressure on us to sell it here through him but we would love to sell her to one of our friends.
We would welcome any feedback on the information we have given you. If you are vaguely interested let us know. We would love to talk to you.
Ok we haven't had her long....we have only used Goanna for a few weeks and NOW we are trying to sell her? whats going on.....if you know Ants well (if you're getting this email you probably do) he has wanted/ lusted after a Ocean going French centre boarder for many a year, he fancies sailing her eventually (while his body still allows him to) back to Australia.....he had this particular boat as a favourite on his computer for the last few months and she is still for sale and a bargain.
And then this month we sold our old house which made a purchase possible...But we are not wanting to own three boats so something has to go.....and.......today we made a handshake agreement to buy a 10metre centreboarder (and a bit of a project boat)
So Goanna is not a blue water cruiser, she is a good coastal and inland water cruiser and a lovely holiday boat. Its perfect for two people, good for three and even with four on board for the last two weeks its cosy but still OK.
7000 euro (or $10500AUD on todays rate) will buy Goanna walk in walk out.
For the Netherlands we have both found her to be easy to sail, easy to manoeuvre and berth. All the rope and sail handling is light, we hardly use the winches. It motors at 4.5knots and 5 to 6 knots seems to be its comfortable sailing speed. Here are a few photos and the low down for you:
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| 1.6 metre draft, two bladed fixed prop and spade rudder shallower than the keel |
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| Reengined with 15hp Vetus, excellent engine |
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| Keel Prop Skeg detail |
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| Off to the travel lift |
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| Winter cover still in place, their cradle. Good safe storage |
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| Before renaming "Goanna" |
Goanna is a Kelt 800 8.0 x 2.95 x 1.60 and polyester built in France in 1977. Sounds old but in good condition. All Dutch boats are in fresh water most of the time and stored on the hard for 6 months of the year.
Sleeps 5 with v berth and 2 settee berths and a quarter berth. Jabsco toilet with pull out basin above it. Hanging locker on starboard side of toilet space.
Very good waterproof vhf, compass log and depth gauges, AM FM radio (with intermittent fault), house battery 105ah deep cycle and 80ah start battery (both new), and a 600w pure sine wave inverter with a 4 outlet Australian plug board.
2 burner gas stove with 2 bottles in cockpit locker, electric fresh water to galley from 80 litre tank.
Very good mainsail and genoa with spare fair genoa. All ropes for mooring and sailing, fenders, full boom cover with "verandah" and smaller cockpit cover.
We stored Goanna on the hard at Zeewolde jacht haven, an easy 90 minutes by train and bus from the airport. The full years storage including travel lifts, water blasting, mast up and down, winterising and our winter cover on cost us 1500 euro. We were in the water eight hours after arriving from the airport and we were able to cook dinner and sleep onboard in a fully serviced marina on the first night.
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| Very good genoa and a fair spare in the locker |
In good weather sailing on the dyked freshwater seas is very pleasant but when its windier the short seas make it better to head to the inland waterways. There's canals, rivers and lakes and around every corner there seems to be old historic villages and towns with waterfront berthing, cafes and almost always a cheap supermarket.
We budgeted 50 euro/day total for the two of us and we are easily staying within budget. That includes everything: berthing, food, booze (50c/half litre can of beer ) diesel (under one litre/hour), gas for cooking, 50 cents per marina shower or water tank fill and the occasional cafe lunch or coffee. The top end budget depends on how often you eat ashore.
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| Very good condition mainsail, most ropes led to the cockpit |
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| Good upwind sailer, 4.5 knots in 6 knots of wind |
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| Typical Friesland mooring about 9 euros/night with onshore facilities |
This is really doable for anyone with a bit of boating experience, the waters are well marked, the charts are good and after two or three times the locks and many amazing opening bridges aren't threatening. Our 10 weeks are flying by. So much to do and we wont get to Denmark or south to Belgium or France this year.
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| One of the cockpit tents |
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| Cockpit table and cushions suitable for up to six |
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| Plastimo Furler |
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| Good anchor locker with CQR, chain and rope |
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| good helming postion |
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| Big useful cockpit locker |
Speed and depth
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| bulkhead compass |
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| Engine controls ready to hand |
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| Lazarette easily accomodates our two folding bikes |
the second boom tent in one configuration
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| and with back verandah zipped on |
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| useful extra space under boom tent verandah...spare room |
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| saloon with table stowed on centre bulkhead and settee berth with foot extension |
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| Table down at full size |
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| starboard settee berth |
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| pull out chart table (we don't use it) |
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| Engine serves as companion way steps, works well |
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| compact useable galley with good two burner stove |
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| Forward cabin |
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| v berth with in fill |
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| collapsable water tank under v berth |
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| v berth made up |
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| standard pump out jabsco toilet |
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| pull out handbasin |
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| storage opposite toilet area |
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| port side quater berth (head to head with settee berth) |
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| Small electric fridge we added to boat...fine for Netherlands summer |
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| And the reason is...a 10m French centre boarder world capable yacht appropriately called 'Le Bateau' |
And now for the nitty gritty! We bought Goanna last July in very good condition for 8000 euro. We have spent about 500 euro on new batteries, 240 volt pure sine wave inverter and the small fridge. We want to sell her for 7000 euro on a walk out, walk in basis and have the deal happen in the next month or so.
I can honestly say (as someone who has bought too many boats) she is ready to go and certainly the best value boat I have ever owned. To compare this with Le Bateau for which we are paying 18000 euro, and her sails are only fair, no canvas work at all and stripped out there is no comparison, but we want a world capable yacht.
Our friend Kerry Hall will be back in Oz in 10 days and can happily talk to you about Goanna after 18 days on board (no, he is not on commission!) His mobile is 0407975437 or email at hall.kerry.51@gmail.com .
Yes so it is a big ask for someone to trust us and take the plunge, but we wouldn't mention it if we didn't truly believe it.
Obviously we can give all the helpful advice (or not if you don't want it) and most likely we will be in the Netherlands next European summer to possibly be right on hand for the new owners.
If our Aussie friends don't buy Goanna in the next little while we will just sell her here to a local (he says with confidence).
If you are interested in looking at our next project boat "Le Bateau" just search "Goliath Neptune 99 NL" and the advert should show up.
Hope to hear from you. antsandjane@gmail.com is best point of contact but easy for us to Skype call as well.
Cheers Ants and Jane
Not sure if everyone is getting the full blog some people have reported nothing on page so this is a check
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