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Any Jefferson 82 owners out there?

Discussion in 'Jefferson Yacht' started by TahoeJohn, Aug 19, 2020.

  1. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    I've been looking for a Jefferson for some time now and found this 82' Starship in Florida:
    https://www.chapman.org/p/245/31-and-up
    (down at the bottom of the page)

    It was donated to this school and is now for sale. According to the current captain, the biggest issue is the stability of the ship in rough weather. It's not clear whether this is due to too much weight up high, stabilizers that are undersized, or a combination.

    If there are any Jefferson / Hershine 82' owners out there, I'd certainly love to connect, if possible. Thank you!

    John
  2. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    In absence of any 82' owners piping up here (probably a long shot, anyway), I'm interested in other opinions of this boat. The current captain seemed to know the boat well, so I think it's a safe assumption that stability is indeed an issue, maybe due to the large skylounge up top??

    An approach would be to add a Seakeeper 35 to this boat. That would, at least in theory, resolve the stability issues, plus provide stability at anchor, when needed. Another approach would be to install a larger set of stabilizer fins, maybe at the cost of creating a deeper draft.

    Any thoughts on either, or the third option of just walking away, are welcome. Clearly the price on this boat is what's appealing and, in theory, leaves quite a bit of spending cash for options 1 or 2.

    haul out pics.jpg
  3. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    If the price is the appealing part and at the same time you don't mind dumping a lot of cash into it for stabilizers? Why don't you just buy a better yacht to start with?
  4. Danvilletim

    Danvilletim Senior Member

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    Hmmm. It’s priced that way for a reason. And it’s a brand that will never allow you to get your money back. I’m not sure sea keeper will fix inherently unstable boats. And you won’t really know until you plop down $300$325k installed. Paint will be $300k.

    on the other hand it’s a charity lease. You have to pay for the boat by leasing 3 years. They usually want 50-80% up front but you could try something less and use for 6 months. If you love it invest in it and if it’s a night mare you turn in the keys and forfeit what you had paid. May seem like not a good deal to lose $50-$70k in 6 months but better than dumping 4 times that.
  5. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Yes, this is the dilemma. The primary reason to even consider this is that we'd end up with a boat with stability at anchor, versus spending, say, $800k on that better yacht that only has stabilizer fins that work when underway. But I get what you're saying.
  6. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Thanks for the thoughts. It would be a gamble, agreed. That's why I wanted to bounce the idea off the collective wisdom of this forum. Just getting a better understanding of this brand's reputation is also helpful, thank you.
  7. Capt J

    Capt J Senior Member

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    I've seen good yachts in that price range with zero speed stabilization added by the previous owner. I'd rather anchor in a more protected cove with a quality boat underneath me, than well.......
  8. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Got it, makes sense. This boat is not something I'm going to pursue. I guess I was thinking that maybe some Jefferson 82' owner would pipe up and say "well, all we had to do was blah-blah-blah and now the boat handles great", but that was clearly a stretch. I'll find a much less risky option.
  9. 55 Sea Ray R

    55 Sea Ray R Member

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    For what it is worth Tahoe the last person to ask is someone who owns one. You would want to talk to someone who use to own one.
  10. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Thank you, 55. After the voices of reason here talked me out of that Jefferson, we're now in contract for a Horizon 76. With no known stability issues...
  11. 55 Sea Ray R

    55 Sea Ray R Member

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    Captain J has a lot of knowledge. Might lookup Horizons from a quality standpoint. I was ogin to move up but am going to wait a couple of years. I hit the market hard if 4 or 5 knots won't kill you I was all of the 70 Hatteras going back quite a few years. In my opinion from a quality standpoint hands down they are all ofver the rest of te pack. The owners tend to keep them up a lot better (which can cost all kinds of $$$) if not well kept. My quick observations were Azimut expensive to fix and also have roll issues. Horizon Marquis kind of on the price oriented side of things. The next step Princess and what I perceived to maybe be a step above Princess was fairline. This was only my opinion form reading looking etc. I felt an older Hatteras was an engineered boat with thought put into maintaining seakeeping etc....
  12. Booty Skipper

    Booty Skipper New Member

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    Found this post under another thread and thought you would be interested.
    Good luck with your serch.

    olderboater, Dec 5, 2013
    #56

    [​IMG]
    olderboaterSenior Member
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    The older Jeffersons, like mine, were made in Taiwain, although I heard that the newer ones are made in the other China. Kentucky Yacht is a major dealer and good folks to work with. My recollection is that Jefferson had a program that involved store-financing with a dealership so a lot of places were, at one time or another, a Jefferson dealer. The story that I heard on my '85 model was that the hulls were laid in the US and then shipped to Taiwain where the interior woodwork was done. It was beautiful woodwork. Mine had CATS.
    Some general things to consider. When a company is in serious financial trouble they may pass some items on through they wouldn't otherwise. That's why I consider the financial situation of a builder very important. As it applies here I'd be very careful with some of the last Jefferson's, 2005 models. Specifically, the largest secured creditor of Jefferson at the time of the bankruptcy was the purchaser of an 82 extended bridge model who had won a judgment. He had alleged the boat was presented to him as sea worthy and it was not as it was too top heavy and too tender. He even presented evidence attesting to that and attesting that a constant 37.5 mph wind could be enough to topple it. Now there were arguments about putting larger stabilizers. Also, during construction there were reports of concern on both stability and the total weight versus the weight the hull was designed for. Jefferson said it was typical to have issues during construction and that was not the completed boat which got much more ballast from items added later. The owner of Jefferson even had taken the specific boat in question from South Florida to Mobile through rough gulf weather. I don't know any more than the public record on this but I do advise that it's human nature when you're barely afloat that you can't reject a boat under construction knowing that would shut you down.

    On the delivery of the boat, the captains (who were recommended by Jefferson) reported serious concerns about the stability and sea worthiness.

    Jefferson is not the only manufacturer to cut corners in the toughest economic times. I know of three other manufacturers to have similar issues. All the more reason to choose carefully, have your own people involved and on site, and get a survey even on a new boat.

    Someone on site would have seen how unstable the boat was in tests and they wouldn't have had to wait for a court case to obtain the test reports.

    And to my knowledge this was not reflective of earlier Jefferson production.
  13. TahoeJohn

    TahoeJohn Member

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    Wow, thank you so much!! This story sounds eerily like the history of the Jefferson 82 that I was considering. Happily, I'm going a different direction now (Horizon) and am grateful to all here who cautioned me away from that Jefferson.
  14. Booty Skipper

    Booty Skipper New Member

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    Thumbs up.