Okay, I'll be the bogie man here.

Two well documented ailments of the Bimare 18HT are :

-1- Its rearbeam is to close to the watersurface leading to beam slapping in waves.

-2- Its bows are too small to handle the tall and powerful rig in strong winds.


1 and 2 combined make for a thrilling ride in rought conditions and some crews who did the Tybee 500 said that they would not do that again on the Bim 18HT because of it. Will Sunnucks (UK tornado compaigner) was one of those.

Other point of concern were the kick-up mechanism used. Didn't work really although the concept is an elegant one. The boards are hollow with an opening on the bottom so you always have water in them unless you tape them up. Some of the fittings appeared to be right on the threshold of being sufficient, but most can be replaced.

I personally don't think it to be the right boat for your intended purpose, but indeed 4000 USD is not alot of money for a boat that is basically only 4 years old. Still the demand for these boats is so low that you must take into account that they hardly have any resale value.

Wouter