# The Spirit 28



## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

I have just purchased a Spirit 28 http://codysguide.com/spirit28/index.htm sold under the Glastron Name but manufactured by North American. What can you tell me on this vessel? Your unbiased opinions are appreciated. I am told there were less than 300 of thies built from 1979 to 1983 or 4. Thanks Ken.


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## TAK (Jul 14, 2003)

I owned a Spirit 23 for about ten years.. my first boat and I loved it and miss it at times, and smile everytime i see a sister boat of hers. I dont know much about the 28 except the lines are similar. 

That said, Glastron makes a lower quality powerboat so you can expect the same type quality. I had a major blister problem on my 1980. I am sure the 28 will be fine for a lake or bay but may be in need of upgrading.


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

For the next year or so I will be content to sail the Grand lake, have plans to move the boat to Robert S. Kerr lake which is on the Kerr/McMillan water way. This is only 15 miles from the house. Now that I will be close , I can finish the refit , plans are to take The Arkansas to the Mississippi down to the Gulf cruse down the west cost fort fl around the keys then do a little Island hopping. The PO had removed the toilet and replaced with a port-a-potty, I started to install a new one , then realized I could use this to my advantage, by replacing the old holding tank installing some vents I now have an additional 12 gal of fuel 30 gallons in all, The owners manual called for an additional 24 gallon water tank under the V birth, total water supply now 49 gallons, I have also installed solar panels for both the starting and house batteries. Storage space is somewhat limited, but crew size is only two. Am I fooling myself that 28 foot is adequate for costal and island hopping or will the bigger is better dragon raze its ugly head?


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

A properly fitted out 28' boat should be fine for coastal and island hopping, and may be a better choice than a larger boat. If you're interested in learning more about cruising in small boat, I'd go see Sailfar. Boats that size have circumnavigated, and have been used by many for long-term cruising.

Larger boats cost more to own, moor, dock, haul, paint, and maintain. They're also often harder to handle, and often have deeper drafts, which can limit the waters that you will be able to visit.


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

This Spirit 28 is a shoal draft 3ft 6 in empty weight 6900 lbs 2900 in ballast


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

i don't know what the spirit 28 looks like, but from what you're saying it has over 40% of the displacement of the boat as ballast.


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

Check the link in my original post.


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## TAK (Jul 14, 2003)

Two potential areas of weakness that should be addressed before going off shore is the rigging and rudder.. Specifically the chainplates for rot and weakness in the rudder system. Beefing up both is proly required.


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

Checking the chain plates will be straight forward, not sure what to do for the rudder system.


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

If you're planning on doing any serious cruising in the boat... I'd recommend you get John Vigor's The Seaworthy Offshore Sailboat and read it... and use the recommendations it has.


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## mikehoyt (Nov 27, 2000)

We had a Spirit 28

Our family was primarily into waterskiing on a lake and although we had a 13 foot dingy sailing was not something my parents did. When we moved and were on a small inlet with a speed restriction waterskiing became unrealistic and powerboating lost its appeal.

Our two neighbours had an Ontario 32 and Tanzer 26 and my Mom and Dad decided they liked sailing. As they had a 2 yr old Glastron they approached their powerboat dealer who let them know he could sell them a Spirit sailboat. The dealer wanted a more favourable position at the boat show and the sailboat with mast up gave him that. So the Spirit 28 was purchased and displayed in this show.

For a boat purchased by a powerboater who knew almost nothing about sailboats other than this model was sold by his dealer it was a very good first boat. It had interior room and headroom closer to a 30 footer and was very forgiving. Within a year this was replaced by a C&C36 that "slept 6" so the entire family could sleep aboard (never happened).

The memories of the Spirit 28 are that of a nice sailboat that was easy to sail, roomy and was not ugly to look at. I have no knowledge of the construction qualities but can say that from the perspective of owners transitioning from the Spirit to a C&C there were no comments about the Spirit being shabbier construction than the C&C. The only comments down the road were that in hindsight the Spiurit should have been kept longer as it was really all the boat that was needed.

As this was the first keelboat I ever sailed on and as I was 14 at the time I cannot comment on whether it was a nice boat to sail. I liked it and it was definitely forgiving as evidenced when my motorboat captain father took a "left turn" on our first outing without remembering that wind affects sailboats much more than on a powerboat. The gybe did little harm.

Have fun

Mike
Full Tilt 2
Niagara 26 #2


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## erikdj (Jun 16, 2008)

Do you still have the Spirit 28, Kenya? I just bought one myself


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

erik-

You really need to check dates before replying to a post.. the post you're replying to is almost two years old, and they may have sold the boat since then. I'd also recommend you read the post in my signature to help you get the most out of sailnet.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

The op appears to have the same boat, last post was mad in mid June, so he is still floating around here upon occasion. So in reality, the brought back up post may work to erikdj's advantage. I seem to recall a person digging up a 3-4 yr old thread with regards to JeffH's old Laser28, and got plenty of info from him. This could work too!

Marty


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## erikdj (Jun 16, 2008)

That was my thinking blt2ski. I know it's an old post, but people don't always sell their boats in less than 2 years.  I would have happily sent a private message or an email, but I don't have 10 posts. So replying to this thread, albeit an older one, was my only option. 

The alternative was to start a new thread asking if anyone owned a Spirit 28. And how often have we seen folks reply back saying "did you search the forum first?"


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Erik,

You might do now 8 more posts as some say in the what music is this thread, or some other nonesensical area, then you could PM the above person. Even "IF" they had sold the boat, more than likely they will give you info on the boat they had anyway. I've called the original owners of my boat 2 yrs after buying it for a question, and they have answered it! 

Disregard SD, he is a bit, no make that a lot cranky when someone brings up an old post! 

Good luck on finding info.

marty


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Erik,

I just pm'd the OP for you, hopefully if he has email notification that a pm has arrived, and email is still the correct one........he will reply in the next day or two or three!

Welcome to the craziness here!

Marty


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## erikdj (Jun 16, 2008)

Thank you!


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

Erikj; sorry to be so slow in responding, but I have been on the water since Thursday. Yes I still have the Spirit 28 as well as the Manuals for the boat and both of the engine options.


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## erikdj (Jun 16, 2008)

Wonderful! Have you noticed or has your boat ever been worked on for what some would call a "design flaw" in the way the mast is stepped? After starting an upgrade to add a furler and mast plate, I discovered a slight soft spot and dip on the starboard side of the mast. It appears that when the boat was designed and built, only about 40% of the mast sits directly atop the compression post. The other 60% is basically floating. There is some epoxy resin, but no real support structure. What have you found?


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## kennya (Jul 10, 2006)

The mast has never been dropped. I have not noticed any soft spots around the mast. Hope I never.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

Was fooling about and hit this thread in a search. Have you discovered the problem with the deck-sag on your boat? Mine has been fixed, you may not want to hear what the solution is. My problem started as deck sag that the PO tried to fix by sistering the compression post at the top to make it longer. The real problem is at the bottom. The fiberglass over wood floors under the sole below the mast/head/mainbulkhead area were built as one piece of wood framing then the whole thing was glassed over. When the guy came along to install the head plumbing and the VHF antenna cable he drilled through the floors and didn't seal the exposed wood after. The years had turned the wood to crumbles and the fiberglass box section was collapsing. Mine was totally gone, no real wood left, just dusty chunks of wood memories. The guys at the yard in Anacortes, WA said they had seen this many times on all brands of boat in this size and vintage and they had fixed many of them as well. My fix was going to be a near total disassembly of the cabin but I balked and decided I could live with a seam across the sole at the first floor aft of the main bulkhead. They cut it there, tossed the rotted compression post, removed about half the main bulkhead where it was punky anyway, pulled out the head floor-pan and the whole sole all the way up to the V-berth along with the space under the removable section of the V-berth. Took out all the fiberglass and dead wood replacing the wood with Epoxy saturated wood and glassed it all back in. This time in separate floors so the rot can't migrate through the whole thing. Replaced the sole, adding floor hatches that allow access to the whole bilge (a design flaw that allowed this all to go unnoticed in the inaccessable area underneath) put in new section of main bulkhead and the fore and aft section of the head compartment bulkhead. It was very destructive, horrifically expensive and I still have some trim work to do yet. My surveyor who missed the problem pitched in $1000 since I never would have considered buying this boat had I been aware of it, the PO surrendered the whole $2000 that he had set aside for the punky bulkhead sections around the head and I ponied up the remaining $3000. Not a bad first yard bill for my $12K boat! At least I know it's been repaired soundly by concientious professionals and I won't see this type of thing again. If you can determine that this is happening on yours, try to see how bad it is. You may have to do some diggin or put in the three hatches that I have through the sole so that you can get at the floors to see how bad they are. You may be able to get away with dropping the mast, letting things relax, then injecting epoxy to firm it back up again. You may have to do some hole patching to keep the resin from running out the holes drilled by the installers. If it sounds hollow and the wood is gone then you have a serious decision to make. My boat was let go with the sagging deck for a long time in rain country, the mast base holes leaked and water rotted the compression post, main bulkhead, and part of the head compartment. It looked like a $2000 dollar repair tops but when they got the head tore apart and the bulkhead sliced they found the real problem and the price trippled.

I am happy with the boat though I have "two-foot-itis" like most guys do. I sailed it up to Alaska and down to San Francisco with minimal drama. Single handing around Point Arena in a near gale will hold your attention for awhile. Plenty of surfing over 10 knots and saw 14.2 on the GPS once, 13.6 on the paddlewheel. Made an 86 mile run dock to dock in 10 hours!

Kris


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## erikdj (Jun 16, 2008)

Excellent story! thank you. Yeah there is a slight sag on the deck but it isn't the result of any problems wit the compression post or down below the sole. It's the cause of the original design flaw resulting in about 50% of the deck step pan floating "in air" along the starboard side of the mast. 

The boat is in the shop now having this repaired. They have gingerly peeled back the headliner which is still in excellent shape and are preparing to jack up the starboard side of the deck beneath the unstepped mast. Once they raise it back up, they'll put a thick piece of G-10 fiberglass where the builder had once stuck some epoxy resin (for what purpose eludes me) and then build a teak "knee" to drive some of the load from the starboard side of the G-10 shelf into the compression post. The knee will be affixed to the compression post using bolts all the way through.

All in all, it's a sound solution and one I believe I'll be happy with. The original cost of the boat was so low, I don't see this as a problem at all. It's still worth far more than I've sunk into it.

Erik


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

I'm not sure you'll need the knee. I pitched the original compression post and built a new one from 2in aluminum tube. It actaully has a smaller footprint under the mast base than the old teak one did. The PO did the same sort of deck repair under the mast base making it quite solid throughout the raised area and flush all the way across from underneath. My new compression post is nearly centered under the mast base and sits on a poured high-density resin block that sits on the floor beam and is flush with the sole. I have no hint of inappropriate flexing and I've sailed this boat very hard and very powered up at times. I don't know what exactly is in the deck repair they made but it's a lighter yellowish tan looking board type material that you can see through the fiberglass. Could be a phenolic board perhaps, doesn't look like ply, no grain. If I were to do it again I would've gone with polished stainless tube for the post, my aluminum one looks a bit industrial. The guy who did my rail mods estimated he could've built one for about $200 less than I paid for mine.

Kris


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## sailingdog (Mar 19, 2006)

AKExpat-

Be careful of using aluminum in the bilge. It can get eaten away pretty quickly if you have a wet bilge and any other more noble metals or electrical currents in the bilge water.


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## TSOJOURNER (Dec 16, 1999)

That's why it sits on the poured resin pad that brings it up flush with the upper surface of the sole. It looks like it's just sitting on the deck and screwed into the teak but the base flange just overlaps the wood, covering this nifty rot-proof resin block. The original teak post had vertical dados and was the corner molding for the head compartment but it sat down in that opening where water can collect. My solution was devised to remove any likelyhood of doing rework. Boats are made to sailed, not worked on... 

Kris


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## danb1212 (Mar 20, 2012)

Hi there - I also just recently purchased a spirit 28 and love it so far! The only thing that I'm concerned about is not knowing more about how the keel was attached (and can't find any literature on it). The bolts look great, but the floor of the bilge is cracked throughout with what looks like lead or steel exposed underneath. I would imagine that this is not the top of the keel, but hopefully a keel stud perhaps? The part of the floor that's cracked is only 1/5 of an inch thick I'd say, so I can't immagine that being the only thing between the bottom of the boat and the keel, plus it doesn't look like fiberglass, it looks more like a type of plastic or coating. Anyway - any knowledge on this would be appreciated. Hope you enjoy your boat!


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