IF BUYING A FE83..

[Peter]

What should I especially look for when buying an FE83? Is there any kind of "hidden" problems to be watching out for? All comments are appreciated! How does this boat perform under sail in low winds/high winds?

[Happy owner]

I think the general condition is the main thing you should look for, FE83 is about 20 yrs old model (+/- 2 yrs). If the previous owner has kept the boat in proper condition, there shouldn´t be any bigger problems. Look at the bottom of the boat, if the keel looks ok and there are no marks of hitting any rocks and no marks of the body getting wet, you should go for it! Perfect situation might be if the previous owner had bought new sails, then you won´t have to get new ones in few years.

How does she perform in wind? In my opinion: perfectly! It´s very easy to sail for a beginner (as myself) in low wind, and it´s not getting out of hands in harder sea. And the wind and the waves in Finnish coasts are quite easy to handle.

Go and get it!

[harald]

As discussed earlier in this forum the boat is 20 years old and the general condition is indeed
the thing to look out for. All running rigging might have to be replaced soon and the same
goes for the deck-gear and engine. These are potentially very expensive upgrades.

We had a gallup here on the forum and most owners have experienced water-logged rudders.
The symptom is usually a wet spot on the stbd side of the blade, some 20 cm from the bottom.
This is the place where the blade has been filled with some kind of foam at the yard. The hole
has been filled with putty afterwards and this place along with where the rudderpost goes into
the blade are where it leaks. One owner reported a very strong construction inside the blade
but then again your mileage may vary, others have reported a different kind of "guts" inside
the blade.

There has been some talk about osmosis but at least the cases I've heard of are restricted to
between the very thick layer of gelcoat and has not penetrated into the glassfiber, yet.

If the engine is still the original seawatercooled one you would probably have to think about
doing something about it. We have an article about this here and there's another article in
Segling 8/2001. Although the article is about the YSE-series engine the same thing probably
goes for the GM as well, it's the head that corrodes the most. This part can be replaced,
a new head complete with valves and such costs about 500€+.

Earlier versions of the boat had "bottenstockar" that did not go down to the top of
the keel recess, later versions have a stronger type of construction. Here's a small
picture of the type of bottom we have:




One good indicator of a heavy grounding is if the boat has new "durkskivor", especially
in the after part of the cabin. Also look for cracked wood around the upper part of the
ladder. A heavy grounding would lift the bottom of the boat nearer the hatch, thus trying
to push the ladder up the hatch...

There has been some talk about the houdini front hatch leaking and dripping (especially
during rain) water on the front berth. In our boat it was the screws that where leaking, not
the hatch. We fixed this by replacing the screws with bolts.

There's a few. There are many more things to look for but none of these are catastrofic.
There is no real weak point in the boat as to my knowledge. No "röstjärn" ripping out of the
hull or keels swaying/dropping. It's a safe choice in my opinion, the biggest single
questionmark is the engine but since the boat is 20 yrs old you probably knew that already