Arne,

do you have a view on the construction of the Hydra's hull, especially in terms of basic rigidity/thickness and the keel issue?

I'm looking for a boat that can stand rough seas (and time), which the Hurleys are famous for.

However, I'm starting to warm up for the idea of making Hydra unsinkable for so much less buoyancy needed than my other two otions (well, it might be ok with the H20, but probably not with Galion 22).

Or has anyone added enough buoyancy to a 1 600 kg, 22ft boat unsinkable - and still have enough room to keep the boat usable?

Annie and Jami
The thing is that boats under 26' are cheaper than dirt in Scandinavia, these days (in sharp contrast to houses).

I just spotted an ad of a Hydra in Stockholm, at 10.000SEK ( around 920£). The conversion of the rig and other changes will normally add up to more than that, so even if one can get a Hurley for 500 or 700£, it will not change the equation.

However, in the end one should buy the boat one likes.  If I have sounded like a Hydra pusher, I apologise.

Cheers and good luck, Jami!

Arne

The Hydra's light weight has one big advantage: I could take the boat home for winter with the Joe 17's trailer (with light modifications) and tow it with my car - the trailer has a loading capacity of about 1000 kilograms. 

Maybe I could also take the boat to the lovely, lovely coastal waters of Norway!

The same could possibly be done with the Hurley, but only if I take the rig and everything removable on another time. This way the boat might just be under the legal limit. So no Norway with the Hurley :(

Another advantage would be that the Hydra would probably be easier to make unsinkable (a'la Roger Taylor), in case that would become important.

(But then again - I just love the lines of Hurley 20 along with the extremely strongly built hull. Phew.)

Jami Jokinen wrote:That's true, of course.

Where did you find the information about the headroom being 1,5m in the Hydra?

I'm open to suggestions - would you (or anyone out there) trust the Hydra in a force 7 or 8 as much as the Hurley, which has been tested in these conditions? I can't judge myself.

In Curt Gelin's book, "700 båtar i test" (700 boats tested). If you can read Swedish, I can scan it and send it over to you. The clever thing with the Hydra, is that they have built an elegant hull and then  increased the inner space by both raising the deck, and then adding a trunk cabin on top of that.

Arne

Jami Jokinen wrote:Yes,

Edit #3: I wonder, if a 800kg, 600cm boat would be THAT different from my 500 kg, 540 cm Joe 17?

The ballast ratio, Jami. The ballast of the Hydra is almost as heavy as your present boat. The tester of the Hydra said she really deserved to be called a midget ocean cruiser. Just look ad the bulbed fin keel, and even more, at the rudder-skeg combination. It can hardly be made better.

Arne