Why don't we take a quick look around so you can see for yourself why the Jonmeri 40 stands out amongst its peers. While this model is an exceptional sailing vessel, most general comments draw attention to the unique layout and top-quality joinery. This is a dual cockpit design with steering, instruments and controls in the aft cockpit which has a companionway down to the navigation centre. The forward cockpit is more spacious and is designed for entertaining or simply lounging around while safely tucked into your favourite anchorage. It also provides the main entrance to the forward cabin and that would seem to be the logical place to begin our little tour.

A few steps down the companionway ladder and you will begin to understand why people speak in such glowing terms about Jonmeri yachts. You are literally surrounded by stunning teak joinery, a traditional teak and holly sole, rich blue upholstery, and cheery fabric accents everywhere. Standing at the bottom of the ladder and looking forward you will see a very spacious and inviting salon with a large dinette to starboard and a comfortable settee to port which doubles as a leeward berth when you are offshore. As you can see from the pictures, there is a dropleaf table to both port and starboard of the mast. With the starboard leaf up in the usual position, you can easily seat four adults at the dinette. But if you have a crowd aboard, pop up the port leaf as well and you can sit eight comfortably or six in such luxury that some may not want to return to their own boat at the end of the evening.

To your immediate right at the bottom of the companionway stair is a front opening fridge and another comfortable seat for the overflow crowd or perhaps, assuming there is some drink being taken by your guests, the line-up for the head. The head itself is neatly tucked in the corner with a simple vanity, well-designed cabinets, a large floor drain, and well-placed non-skid strips just in case the captain thinks its funny to suddenly switch to a port tack while you are in the middle of a shower.

Still at the bottom of the companionway stair, to your immediate left is an L-shaped galley with nice and deep double stainless steel sinks, a gimbaled 3-burner propane stove with oven, microwave and a top opening fridge. While there is excellent storage space in the galley, the counter space is a little limited for some. So one of the previous owners installed a drop table at the aft end of the galley that virtually doubles the counter space.

The aft cabin can be accessed from the companionway in the aft cockpit or via the companionway at the rear of the galley. The central feature of the aft cabin is the navigation station. As you can see from the spec sheet, it is equipped with all the electronics required for an offshore voyage. There are a pair of very comfortable quarter berths port and starboard for guests or for use as pilot berths. The starboard berth is extra long and has enough room at the forward end to double as seating.

Before going back out on deck there are a few things worth pointing out about the interior of the Jonmeri 40 that you may have missed. Because the joinery is of such a high quality, it is possible you may not have observed how much cabinet space is available for storage because it blends in so well - another sign of the seamless marriage of form and function you will only find in a top-quality interior design.

If you look closely at the pictures you will also note there is always a handhold within easy reach or something to brace yourself against no matter where you are in the vessel. But there is something even more subtle at work in the Jonmeri 40 interior that can be difficult for an amateur sailor to pick up from pictures. When walking through the interior of this vessel, an experienced sailor will notice - will actually feel - how easy it would be to safely move about under even the most severe sea conditions. The open-plan interiors of beamy modern sailing vessels look stunning at the dock but when the weather kicks up, you have to get down on all fours to move around. Arriving at your destination all battered and bruised from being thrown about your cabin is a sure indication of poor interior design.

And if you ever need to get at anything behind a cabinet or a piece of headliner, you will be very pleased to hear that there isn't a square inch of this boat that you cannot access without a little patience. With the simplest of tools and a little time, you can get at every wire run and every piece of hose onboard. Since long-range cruising means you are often left to your own devices, this is reassuring should anything hidden require attention while at sea.

Most North American boaters have probably never seen a well-laid teak deck, especially one that was laid in the 1980s. This is because most North American boat manufacturers stayed away from teak decks because it simply cost too much to do the job right. So most boaters' experience with teak decks has been limited the very poorly laid decks characteristic of Asian vessels built from the 1970s into the early 1990s. These vessels offered good value but quality problems, particularly with their teak decks, were legendary. And that is all it boils down to - quality. When you apply the same uncompromising quality standards to the laying of the teak decks as you do to the rest of the vessel, after twenty-three years you will end up with well-weathered but still completely sound decks.

Trying to describe the location and function of every piece of sailing equipment on deck is probably not advisable here. Anyone with enough sailing background to seriously consider this vessel will only understand and appreciate the beauty of the layout and quality of the sailing equipment by actually being on deck. But to give you a general idea of what you will find on this vessel, there is a good selection of pictures in the list below that allows you to view the sailing gear from various different angles. Once you have looked them over, you should have a pretty good understanding of what gear is on deck and where it is located.

If you are familiar with Jonmeri quality but you are having a bit of difficulty understanding the asking price, let's do a quick check to see what other Jonmeri 40s are going for. There are two 2001 Jonmeri 40s on the market as this is being written. Both are located on the American eastern seaboard. So if you are a Canadian living on the west coast, after you factor in the exchange rate, duty and the cost of shipping, you are looking at asking prices of $340,000 and $397,000 Canadian. Since you don't have to deal with the exchange rate on this 1986 Jonmeri, and the duty has been paid, and it is located right here in your back yard, you are looking at roughly half the price for what is essentially the same boat. The 2001 models were the last Jonmeri 40s built before the introduction of the Mark II so they are exactly the same as this vessel built in 1986.

If you are an American living on the west coast, you are slightly better off than your Canadian counterpart because the duty has already been paid. After shipping one of the 2001 models out west you would be looking at asking prices of $299,000 and $350,000. So if you are an American sailor living on the west coast and you are interested in this 1986 Jonmeri, after the exchange rate is taken into consideration, you are looking at a comparative asking price of $175,000.

Regardless of whether you are an American buyer or a Canadian buyer, you are basically looking at an opportunity to purchase this Jonmeri 40 for half the price of a 2001 model. And just to put the above comparison in a fuller context, if you wanted to purchase a new Jonmeri 40 MkII direct from Finland, after factoring everything in you would be looking at a total cost of more than $600,000 in either currency.

So if you are serious about purchasing a stellar long-range sailing yacht, you owe it to yourself to have a look at this Jonmeri 40. They don't come on the market very often, particularly out here on the west coast, and when they do they don't last very long. Give us a call and we would be happy to show you around.

If you want to learn more about Jonmeri Yachts or the Jonmeri 40, here is a link to the Jonmeri web page.