Signs of the timesįirst is the rig: the size of the foretriangle/genoa and the presence of a babystay. With boats of this generation, however, you typically find a number of age-related issues that you either have to live with or do something about. The Maxi 84 is a reassuring, responsive and respectably quick boat to sail. In terms of speed, pointing ability and the pleasure of sailing, it was all pretty good. Credit: David HardingĪs well as being inclined to sail in a pretty straight line most of the time, the Maxi 84 has an agreeably light helm because of the balance on the rudder blade: a good slice of it is forward of the transom.Ī full-length skeg – as on the Sadler 29, for example – offers better protection to the rudder at the expense of some balance. Overhead, fastenings for deck hardware can readily be reached. So many boats of this sort of age and price are handicapped by sails that should long since have been turned into something else.Ī starboard quarter berth runs beneath the cockpit. In our case we had brand new sails, about which Ali has written in the last couple of issues, and they undoubtedly helped enormously. It’s easy to see why owners of Maxi 84s generally seem to speak of them with enthusiasm. So how does she perform? Pretty well, is the short answer. There’s a lot more you can tell by looking at the Maxi’s drawings and statistics, much of it reflected in the way she performs. Having the rudder on the transom and a relatively broad stern by the standards of the day leads to a good amount of useable cockpit space. The keel is relatively long and, combined with a skeg running from its aft end all the way to the transom-hung rudder, promises good directional stability. Credit: David Hardingīeneath the waterline we see a fin keel bolted to a stepped, moulded stub, which helps both to lower the centre of gravity and to make the boat better able to cope with hitting the odd rock – always a consideration in Scandinavian waters. An old mainsheet block deputisingfor the exploded genoa car.
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