Cole 26 to buy or not to buy.

I'm looking at purchasing my first sail boat, a Cole 26. Does any body have any expernace with one. My only concern is that the cockpit looks unprotected and small for a 26footer. Does anybody have any thoughts?

Thanks for the feed back.
As far as I know Peter cole is the designer. Information on these is hard to come buy. I think I'm about 95% sure I'm going to buy the blue one. I haven't had any been feed back from my enquires so far.

The Cole 26 was Peter Coles take on a quarter tonner. Early ones where cold moulded timber like that superb example that sold on Gumtree a few weeks back for 2 grand! These are race boats and the cockpits are small because the crew should be on the rails. The Cole 26 was always a more expensive entry into 26 foot yachts because they were a bit up market. I owned a M&W 26 quarter tonner for a few years and it was an excellent boat to sail. Mine did not have headroom and an inboard diesel which was it's only down points.
I presume it's this one your looking at?
https://www.gumtree.com.au/s-ad/safety-bay/sail-boats/cole-26-yacht/1202654049
This one seems well fitted out and has an inboard and folding prop. Sails look to be hanked on but that's OK. The jinker would be handy too. Lot of boat for the money. Couple of years ago that would have sold for 25 grand!
Plenty of info about if you search on quarter tonners.

www.histoiredeshalfs.com/index%20anglais.htm

Yes that's the boat, it needs a little work mainly superficial. I'm convinced it's a great buy. There is a similar boat for sail in great condition for 25k. The sails are hanked on but for a bigginer I almost think it's better to learn to handle a basic set up first. Thanks for the response I'm going to look at the boat again ASAP.

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corz said..
I'm looking at purchasing my first sail boat, a Cole 26. Does any body have any expernace with one. My only concern is that the cockpit looks unprotected and small for a 26footer. Does anybody have any thoughts?

good yachts ! the older styled yachts have small cockpits for safety reasons. When you get pooped the less water able to sit in the cockpit the better !!
new open stern designs allow for bigger cockpits ,as they can drain fast out the stern ...

Looks like Jono has found an original

yachthub.com/list/yachts-for-sale/used/sail-monohulls/cole-26-cole-26-needs-a-clean-up-melbourne-add-value-here/231400