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I've enjoyed crewing on a Northshore 38 and a 48, and and am thinking of buying a Northshore 34.
I am looking for some critical comments so feel free to let loose!
I might be a little biased ;) as i bought a NS 27 last year, but I have found the build quality to be very high. I assume it would be the same for other NSs.
After fitting a new hatch and running cables for various things both of which required grinding into the cabin roof and drilling core holes (in furniture), the laminates and thickness of glass have been impressive. They used very good materials and were (still are) well respected boat builders.
The boat sails well and am sure it would be competitive in races. We recently sailed up the harbour in a 2.3 metre swell and it handled the sea competently for a 27 foot boat.
Guess the cast iron keel would be my only negative, however the keel bolts are sweet after 30 years.
I have owned an NS 33 for almost 15 years now.
The '34 is an evolution of these with a sugar scoop attached for extra length and the rudder skeg hung.
In my opinion they are without peer in this type of class and here is why.
Australian built quality and Northshore has built more than 700 yachts so they had it well figured out.
Lay up of all was in Vinylester resin and I have never heard of osmosis in any.
Good sized cockpit and accommodation down below compared to a lot of yachts of similar size. I'm 6'2'' and have not scalped myself given the generous headroom.
Some say they are tender which is BS and I would rather a yacht that sails well in light to medium airs than something else that only gets going over 15 knots.
My wife and I have sailed up and down the coast in all sorts of conditions and I can honestly say they have no bad manners.
Punching into heavy seas against a strong wind will test you, but with a no3/4 headsail up and keep the thing sailing flat, they will still chug along okay. Downwind, they track very well and we made 15.6 knots best speed once.
In this size range, you won't need lazy sheets/braces for spinnaker work and we use ours regularly two up.
Parking them into a berth or mooring is normally an easy exercise and the turning circle is very good.
The gelcoat and finish 24 years on still looks better than a lot of Bavarias and Beneteaus half it's age.
As Keen has mentioned the cast keel may urk some, but I stripped ours back and resealed in '05 and no bleeding has occurred since.
A recent survey drew very favourable comment from the inspector on the build quality of these yachts.
Finally, there are some particularly good buys out there, so go and get one! C.R.
Just a note of thanks to Keensailor and Coolrunnings for their knowledgeable comments. I looked at the NS 34 sports last Sunday and I am waiting for them to come back to me with a price.
I'm not real keen on the aft head idea- I like the more spacious traditional layout with nav area and galley aft then dinette / head and hanging locker and V berth. I feel its a better use of space.
