Vessel Notes & Walkthrough
"Valinor" has enjoyed three owners in her lifetime, and all have made sure to take good care of her through their enjoyment with her. She has been under her current ownership since 2009, and these owners have loved and maintained her quite well. If you have been in the market for a Sabre 34 in very good condition, you would be wise to take a close look at hull #207!
The Sabre 34 MK I is a solid example of a vessel which was very popular with Sabre Yachts. Known for their excellent sea-keeping abilities and stout construction, they were engineered and built to last for many years.
Starting below in the bow, the forward cabin offers a large V-berth with filler cushion, shelves above the berths, and a good mix of both drawer storage and lockers below. The separate head may be accessed from either the door that comes from the forward cabin or from the door off of the main salon. The head offers ample space for the size of the vessel, and she is outfitted with a composting toilet. Opposite the head is the hanging locker and additional storage, as well as the air conditioning system.
Stepping further aft brings you into the main salon. Two straight settees mirror one another port and starboard, with storage behind, above, and below. Starboard settee can slide out to make a larger berth space if needed. The bulkhead-mounted table has storage behind, and can be easily utilized when needed, but stows quickly out of the way if you are finished using it. Aft on the starboard settee is an extra folding leaf which is often used for additional space in the galley.
Aft of the salon settees brings you to the forward-facing nav. station and quarterberth on the port side. Opposite to starboard is the U-shaped galley which offers a large double stainless steel sink, two-burner CNG stove/oven, refrigerator, and lots of storage space throughout.
Sabre has built a reputation on maximizing storage space and systems access where possible, and this vessel will not disappoint! Please feel free to get in touch with any specific questions.
Information & Vessel Details From The Owners
Vessel History:
We are the third owners, purchased her in January 2009 in Essex, CT. We sailed her down in May 2009, down Long Island Sound, then outside in the ocean all the way from NYC to Norfolk, VA (my crew was mostly from Norfolk), then up the Bay with just my family. She's been on the Chesapeake Bay ever since. We sail her on weekends and on a 1-2 week Bay trip every summer. The main thing to know about Valinor is that she does get sailed.
During our ownership, she has been often hauled out of the water most winters (though not every year). Before we owned her, she was hauled every winter by owner #2 the prior 13 years and covered with a Fairclough full cover, which we still own and which conveys with the boat. Her first owners kept her on Long Island Sound as well, we think closer to NYC, though we know less about them.
Mast step – Many Sabre models had one weak point — the mast step design allowed for the potential of rot. On Valinor, this issue has been corrected. We fixed this while we had the mast pulled in 2010. The work was done professionally by a former boat builder – he removed the plywood core and replaced with a high-density Delrin plastic core and glassed back in. Delrin is much stronger than marine plywood and it will never, ever rot. Unless a Sabre of this era has had this work (or a similar procedure) done, it will most likely need it.
Engine – The Westerbeke W27A was professionally serviced by owner #2 for 13 years. For us, every spring we have had the engine commissioned and checked by John Vosbury of Vosbury Marine in Annapolis (he’s well known in the area and is an expert in Westerbekes). He looks things over to ensure she's healthy. The engine has about 2300 hours on her. The prop is a Martec folding, which we had serviced directly by Martec and is in good working order. We definitely notice the boat speed gained by the folding prop.
Electrical – The previous owners had done very little upgrading to Valinor. So while there wasn’t much equipment on board, it gave me the opportunity to do things as “right” as I could and not deal with old gear or bad wiring. When we bought the boat in 2009, it had never even had a battery charger. That changed for us, as we added additional gear, needing additional battery capacity, and modern boat wiring systems.
Installing refrigeration triggered a number of upgrades:
- Wiring – all wiring and cables from batteries to panels (both AC and DC) 100% replaced
- All properly fused, labeled, etc. as close to current ABYC standards as possible
- Replaced all AC and DC electrical panels (Blue sea)
- Upgraded Balmar voltage regulator (smart)
- Installed ProNautic 1240 40amp smart battery charger
- Doubled the battery capacity in the house bank - upgraded batteries from 2 (G27s 1 in each bank) to 3 batteries (2 x G31 deep cycle + 1 x G24 reserve)
- Victron (two bank) battery monitor (one of my favorite things) – works almost like a “gas gauge” so you really know how much power you have left
- Refrigeration – Frigoboat keel cooler installed in 2011–both the compressor and evaporator were replaced in 2020.
Also, built enclosure at nav station for stereo (Bluetooth, etc.) and VHF (with DSC and remote mic at the helm).
Air Conditioning – The boat has 2019 air conditioning (12,000 BTU air conditioning with reverse cycle heat), which is plenty adequate to keep the boat cool on even the hottest of days.
Canvas & Cockpit – We added a bimini by Annapolis Custom Yacht Canvas with connector and sunshades, and it had a dodger that’s “California style” so the sides zip out which is nice in the summer heat. We also have handrail covers, cockpit cushions, and of course a mainsail cover.
Electronics – DMI for wind, depth, and speed. Furuno Radar and Garmin GPS at the helm.
Head - We replaced the head with an Airhead Composting Head in 2011, which was the best upgrade we've done. Since then, there's been zero "head smell" on the boat. While I did remove the holding tank too (we use the area for storage, under the V-berth), nothing has been done to prevent a traditional head and tank from being put back in if someone desired to do so. We love the Airhead, and our next boat will get the same.
Plumbing – I installed a raw water anchor washdown pump in 2019, up at the anchor locker. Also, this S34 has the “upgraded” water tanks, which means 70 gallons of fresh water instead of 40-ish that was standard. In 2016, I upgraded both the galley and head faucets. Also replaced the head fresh water foot pump.
Ground Tackle – Primary anchor is a 33 lb Rocna (15 kg), purchased 12 years ago (that was before production issues). We love this anchor and sleep well at night “on the hook”. 30 feet of chain and another 200 feet of rode. Our spare anchor has a similar chain and rode set up – it’s an FX-16 Fortress.
Interior – Main salon cushions are upgraded from original “boxy” to sculpted microsuede design like circa 2000 Sabres. More functional and definitely comfortable. Both the v-berth and the quarter berth cushions have also been replaced/recovered. Also, Sabre kept tweaking the layouts of the S34-I along the way, and the later boats (1983-1985, I believe) benefit from all of these changes.
Sails – 135% genoa (on Harken furler), mainsail (2 full length, 2 partial battens), 1 symmetrical spinnaker, 1 storm trisail with track on the mast. Mainsail has lazy jacks that I installed (similar to “EZjacks” design, so they’re retractable). Mainsail has two reef points—each are fairly deep. Winches are Lewmar 44s in the cockpit, which are nice for the 135 genoa.
Additional Updates and Improvements:
Interior lights have all been converted to LED to use less power, great speakers in the cabin (hooked up to stereo which is Bluetooth so you can stream, etc.), and cockpit speakers added around 2015 as well. Edson teak cockpit table that folds out and seats 4-5 easily for meals. Folding stern ladder for swimming/boarding a dinghy, dinghy motor mount, and lots of spare parts.
Also, in 2010 we replaced all 6 chainplates for the shrouds with brand new custom fabricated by Garhauer Marine — better than original, electropolished on both sides to help prevent corrosion.
Replace lifelines with stainless (safer than white vinyl coated).
Overall, we sail her and cruised her, so everything works, and when it doesn’t we fix it. Our reason for selling is simple. We bought Valinor as a couple with one child. We're now a family of 5 sailing with 3 little ones and could use some more space. We plan to keep our next boat for a long while, just like Valinor.