Contessa vs Folkboat

I loved my Folkboat and lived on it for 6 years.

HGO2,

Yes, I agree.

I had a very old Yanmar in my Compass 29. God knows how old it was when I got the boat.

Every couple years or so when it got a bit lazy I would give it a valve grind (by hand) and it got a new lease on life for another few years.

I had the Compass for about eight years and did thousands of miles in here and all the engine cost me was a water pump body, regular oil and filter servicing, valve past, a couple of alternators and my time was free.

I guess I'm lucky in that I am a good bush mechanic and know my way around the older diesels reasonably well.

My latest boat has a 4 cyl Perkins in her. Apart from servicing I haven't had to play with the motor as yet but the motor is original in a boat that was built in '82 so the motor is 35 years old.

The previous owner had just had the injectors serviced and replaced the heat exchanger when I purchased her. He also had an electric oil primer pump fitted so that when you start the engine it already has 10psi of oil primed in the system before the motor turns over.

Hopefully it will serve me well. The old 4 cyl Perkins were great motors as long as you serviced them well.

The Contessa sails beautifully and is roughly 2% quicker than a Top Hat or Folkboat. Whether that's significant depends on whether the extra pace allows you to get where you want to go before darkness or bad weather hits! :-)

My mother had two Contessas, with a 36' cat in between, and they were both very sweet, but like the Folkboat they are a lot smaller down below than the Top Hat. I can't quite recall but I think the Contessa has less freeboard but more beam than the Folkboat.