# Ron Amy Spindrift 43



## kymbie (Jun 5, 2008)

My husband and I have recently purchased a Ron Amy designed Spindrift 43 (1984). Unfortunately the last owner did not have any of the original information in relation to the design of the boat or the installed systems - all of which appear to be original. 

The boat was built in Taiwan, but the yard went out of business in 1988. Does anyone know of anywhere where this type of information can be obtained?

We will be starting the restoration project on this beautiful boat soon and any information we can gather regarding its design, construction, systems etc.. would be a huge help  

Thanks for any suggestions (well the polite ones anyway...)
Kym


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## Faster (Sep 13, 2005)

A quick google got me this; you may have seen it already. The google search also indicated this boat has been discussed before on Sailnet so perhaps you can search the forums for more.​

*Some History on the Spindrift 43 *

*and Formosa 44*
*The Spindrift 43' has two sister ships. All three are designed by Ron Amy. Also, all three (Spindrift 43, Formosa44, and Hampton 43) have a canoe ended transom. The Spindrift 43' was exclusively contracted to the Formosa Boat Builders in 1982 by the Spindrift Dealer in Newport Beach. These were build under the strict Quality Control of the Spindrift Dealer and the buyer had the option of customizing the interior cabin. *
*When the Spindrift Dealership went out of business, once again the Formosa Yard began building the Formosa 44' under the contract with Mr. Amy. The Formosa yard continued to built the Formosa 44' with the same quality and good craftsmanship as the Spindrift 43'. We had the opportunity to see both the Spindrifts and the Formosa 44' built in the Formosa Yard. In our opinion, both of these boats had the same excellence in both hull, deck, and craftsmanship. The second sister ship to the Spindrift 43' is the Hampton 43' built in China. *​
*The Formosa Yard, with Mr. Amy's permission, sold the hull design to the Hampton Dealership. In our opinion the hull is probably built with the same quality as the Formosa and the Spindrift. This we believe because Mr. Amy would most likely not agree to anything else because he is known for the excellent quality of all his hull designs. However, the above deck and interior craftsmanship, in our opinion, was of poor quality. To be fair, we only saw and checked out the first few boats produced. It is very possible that they improved the quality. We would suggest that you check this out for yourself. We have sailed and examined several Spindrifts and Formosa boats in our fifteen years of cruising and everyone of them sailed very well and had excellent quality and craftsmanship. One more boat I will mention with a hull designed by Ron Amy is the Young Son. This boat is very similar and a quality boat, but has slightly a different hull, smaller beam, and shorter draft and shallower bilge. The interior craftsmanship is not as good as the Spindrift but is adequate. *


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## kymbie (Jun 5, 2008)

Thanks Faster, I've actually exchanged emails with the people who's website that extract came from, very nice and really helpful on the history of the boat and the yard. I've also searched on sailnet and read the previous posts in fact one of them even relates to the boat we have just bought! What we really need is some of the more technical details of the boat, of course failing that trial and error (hopefully less of the error) will hopefully get us through the restoration. At least we will know what we have when we finish.


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## Bountiful (Dec 10, 2011)

The post on the Ron Amy designed Spindrift information is one of my web pages that I created to commemerate our 15 years cruising her to 37 countries and islands. She got us through all kinds of storms including a few hurricanes. If you have any questions on the Spindrift 43' (ours was a pilot house), I would be very happy to answer them the best that I can. She was a wonderful boat and a true ocean going vessel! My husband and I sailed her and she was a great handling boat.

Sincerely,
Bountiful's First Mate,
Patti


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## Bountiful (Dec 10, 2011)

The post by Fastner about the history of the Spindrift 43 pilot house sailboat and the Formosa was from my personal website relating to the fifteen years that we sailed Bountiful to 15 countries and islands. 
I created this page myself. You can find my page by Googling the words Spindrift 43 sailboat if you want more information on the Spindrift43 sailboat.


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## Nathaniel S. Montague (Mar 12, 2017)

Bountiful,

My wife and I have been searching for a boat (in earnest) since October, and as yet, no luck. We hatched this plan back in 2010, and been saving every penny we could. We are itching to finally set sail. We are now heavily considering the Spindrift 43 and we saw that you said she handles beautifully on one of the forums. This is the big unknown to us before we are able to get on one and sail her ourselves. Even then, we worry that a sea trial of just one day is not enough to really know how a boat sails in all conditions. We are hoping that you might be able to answer some questions about how she handles so that we can figure out if she is right for us.

Looking at her underbelly, and specs, she seems like she would be quite stout; are we correct to assume that she is not the least bit tender? Is she comfortable at sea in varying conditions?
We like the way the headsails are both tacked so far forward; correct to assume that she can head to weather OK? We understand, of course, that with the keel, she's not going to win any upwind races, but how would she do against a lee shore with heavy weather? Also, does she track well on all tacks or does she tend to want to round up?
What wind speeds did you need to get her making headway? How much for cruising speed?

We hope our questions make you think back to your long ago boat, remember good times, and smile.

Thank you,
Nate & Nina


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## Nathaniel S. Montague (Mar 12, 2017)

I know this thread is old but could one of you answer a few questions about the Spindrift 43's sailing ability?
Can she fight off a lee shore in heavy conditions?
What minimum wind speed to make way? What wind speed to hit cruising speed?
Would you say she is very stout with a high comfort margin or does she feel a little tender?

Much appreciated!!!

-Nate


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## midwesterner (Dec 14, 2015)

Hmmm, Spendthrift. That's a fitting name for a sailboat.


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## Kanu Captain (Nov 13, 2018)

The Spindrift sails very well, even upwind, with the staysail sheeted tight and the genoa furled up. Short tacking upwind in about 12 knots apparent you can do 5 or 6 knots. Off the wind, in 10 - 15 knots true wind the Spindrift will hit 7 knots easily with the genoa out. Rarely need to reef the main unless it is really blowing hard. Pretty easy to keep balanced, so no tendency to round up.

As far as stability, the hull design offers a nice balance of fairly good initial stabilty, without feeling really stiff. Boat heels over just the right amount when sailing on the wind. If you have the rail in the water you are carrying too much sail!


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## Kanu Captain (Nov 13, 2018)

On a sort of related topic: does anybody have the sail dimensions for the standard Spindrift 43 Genoa? Mine was originally about a 135 but has been re-cut, and now it is time to order a new one. Any info on headsail replacement would be appreciated!


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## TessBess (May 11, 2021)

Bountiful said:


> The post on the Ron Amy designed Spindrift information is one of my web pages that I created to commemerate our 15 years cruising her to 37 countries and islands. She got us through all kinds of storms including a few hurricanes. If you have any questions on the Spindrift 43' (ours was a pilot house), I would be very happy to answer them the best that I can. She was a wonderful boat and a true ocean going vessel! My husband and I sailed her and she was a great handling boat.
> 
> Sincerely,
> Bountiful's First Mate,
> ...


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