Hi all, Next weekend I'm going to look at a Ballad with an eye to purchase. I've been very encouraged by the comments on this site about the general qualities of the boat, but I'd love to hear if there are things that I should be on the lookout for- hull deck join? chainplates? leaks? deck delamination? blisters? etc. etc. The boat is old as they all seem to be, and has an MD6A that appears to be recently rebuilt. Any advice at all would be appreciated. I'm trading in my Santa Cruz 27 racer for the comforts I need at my age, so this is all a bit new. Cheers Nick Thornton  |
Bay the boat if ok and sell the MD6A and put in new
motor. I have been the owner of B1316 with a MD7A for 25
years. Med venlig hilsen Holger Nielsen Vindbyg책rdsvej 20 DK 3450 Aller첩d Tel: +45 4817 1587 Mob: +45 4093 1587
|
 | A couple of areas--you may have some compression in
the deck just above the aft chainplate.
In my boat, the "hanging knee" (mini bulkhead) that
the starboard aft chainplate was attached to was
compromised because some stupid person put a hole in
it to put in a stereo speaker, and rain had come in
and compromised the bulkhead. This was an easy fix,
though--I just replaced the bulkhead. I've also had
issues with leaky chainplates over the years, but I
think I have fixed that problem by using silicon
instead of polysulfide (recommended by my surveyor) to
re-bed them.
The hull-deck joint is very well thought out (best
of any production boat I have ever seen). I have some
thermal delamination caused by the sun beating on the
deck, but have never had any moisture problems.
Every boat has its idiosyncracies, and even though the
Ballad is a very sturdy boat, I would NEVER EVER buy a
boat without a survey. You don't know how the
previous owners have treated her, or who they have had
working on her. At least, when I bought my boat, I
knew that I needed to put some money into her to get
her fixed up the way I wanted, and there were only a
few surprises.
Cathi Jones
Lyric, Hull No #205, Baltimore, MD
--- NThronton wrote:
>
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>
> New Message on Albin-Ballad
>
>
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> From: NThronton
> Message 1 in Discussion
>
> Hi all, Next weekend I'm going to look at a Ballad
> with an eye to purchase. I've been very encouraged
> by the comments on this site about the general
> qualities of the boat, but I'd love to hear if there
> are things that I should be on the lookout for- hull
> deck join? chainplates? leaks? deck delamination?
> blisters? etc. etc. The boat is old as they all seem
> to be, and has an MD6A that appears to be recently
> rebuilt. Any advice at all would be appreciated. I'm
> trading in my Santa Cruz 27 racer for the comforts I
> need at my age, so this is all a bit new. Cheers
> Nick Thornton
>
>
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|
 | Do you know what the hull number is? We kept going with our MD6A for years. They don't build them like that any more!! Which country are you in? Janie Duchess #111 |
 | Hi Nick We have never put together a checklist for buyers. Or at least a checklist for buyers have never been published in this forum. And nobody would be able to pull one right out of their head. If anybody feels like we should collect an "Albin Ballad buyers checkpoint list" I would be glad to create a subsection for that purpose. Possibly in the form of a list, that could be easily printed, and used while looking at the boat being offered for sale. However, this would be taking on a huge collective responsibility. What if some serious problem was ignored because it was not on the list? To you Nick I would suggest hiring a pro surveyer, or that you browse through Ballad Exchange, and make your own list of problems you want to look out for. Make sure you have several sheets of paper in front of you, because there are so many little things that might later cost you time and money. We bought our ballad because it was not expensive. It wasn쨈t trashed either, looked OK, but in many aspects it was definedly worn down. Many things have been replaced by us, and it would most surely have been less expensive to have bought one of hte most expensive Ballads on the market, especially if we consider the old Volvo Penta MD7A engine which we havent replaced yet. So it has cost us a lot of money, and me a lot of time. But I would not have missed a minute of it. I love working on the boat, and today, even though I am not finished, it represents my personal idea of a proper yacht, as well as my pride of workmanship. So buying a Ballad will almost always also be bying a project. But it doesn쨈t have to mean you are buying a lot of financial surprises (of the negative sort). Hire a surveyer, and ask him to find all financial risks in the boat. Or create your own checklist out of all the postings on ballad Exchange, and trust your own judgement. If you do the latter, I wold just inform you that it has previously happened that all bulkheads and chainplates have loosened from the hull inside a Ballad, while making an Atlantic crossing, or the loosening of chainplates while banging masts with a nieghboring boat in a heavy swell in a harbour. The two incidents I know of, just haven't been described on Ballad Exchange yet. I hope they will soon. Now I expect you to be more worried than before you asked your question. Or you have realised that sailing is like living: You do your best, take some chances, run a few risks, enjoy the ride, take the trouble as it comes, and all you really need is good friends. Jesper Milling |
 | hi all, thanks so much for your thoughtful replies. Jesper, I think you hit it on the head by saying that sailing (and buying a boat) is like living. Lots of surprises! I live in Alberta Canada, and will be keeping the boat on Vancouver Island, sailing it mostly through the summer. Not being hugely away from retirement, I forsee maybe doing a bit of extended cruising, and would like a boat that is up to it. I'm guessing that light air performance will be a hit especially coming from a 27' boat that weighed 3300 lbs, but you know, you drift along till you think you want to get somewhere, light up the smoker and get there- fast boat or slower, its the same deal. So, yes, a survey and mechanical are ALWAYS in the cards, I just wanted to look around for some potential game killers before dropping a bunch of money on the next level of inspection, that and get a feel for the boat. At $20000 or so, there'll always be something... Thanks again for your replys |
 | Nick, My family of four and I cruise hundreds of miles a year in the waters that you anticipate sailing in. It is spectacular. Our Ballad also has has the original MD6A engine which has served us well. Once you get to know it, you will find that it is a profoundly simple and robust machine that is easy to work on and maintain. But you do need to develop that relationship with it. Engines in recreational boats don't get used enough to wear out, they die from neglect. When things get nasty in the Strait of Georgia you will feel pretty good about having a Ballad under you. Good luck, Tony Allport Pleiades, #191 |
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