First Look

By now you all know that we have been big supporters of the JS 9000. We like the concept, we like the price, and we like the fact that a company has the chutzpah to break some new ground. With much anticipation, the first boats just arrived on the West Coast of Cali, and we have received a report on their status.

And this is where we differ from other publications. JS yachts is an advertiser here, and have been for some time. We like them and they like us. The following preview is far from glowing, yet I feel that it is our obligation to present it. We could have sold out, sat on the piece and acted like we never got it, but that would be bullshit, wouldn't it? JS might be pissed and yank their advertising, but I don't think they will. Advertising here does not preclude opinions about your product being published. the author of this piece has some credibility with us, and we trust his opinions. We welcome your too.

And if JS bails on us, I will be soliciting donations from y'all to make up for their lost revenue! Hey Good times, right?

After many delays and delivery date slips the JS9000's have arrived on the West Coast.Two came nicely packaged in a container including trailers. After the boat yard removed the contents there was much to do. On first appearance the boats appeared rough. The hull to deck joint is not very smooth. Print through and hard bulkhead intersections were easy to see when the morning sunlight shined on the hulls. Also apparent were a few gelcoat repairs. Next a look at the keel bulbs revealed a very unfair appendage. On to the rudders. One was reasonable, the other was very asymmetric with hollows on one side and bulges on the other. It will require re-work. The majority of the external rigging hardware was not mounted including spinnaker turning blocks and their associated U-bolts. The boats had been ordered with outboard brackets, but these were no where to be seen. In fact the required glass work to install the brackets was not completed. We get the impression the boats were rushed at the end to ship and the quality fell.

After a day of fairing the keel it was time to install the narrow chord blade and bulb. This went very smooth. The hulls were travel-lifted up and the keels fit right on and the bolts went in without a hitch. Within 30 minutes both boats had their keels installed and were sitting on their trailers. The trailers will need a rear jack stand to prevent the nose from going sky high.

Next the rig was setup. Running the three halyard feeder lines and attaching the shrouds to the single spreader composite spar. Once again this went smooth without a hitch other than some various hardware bits were missing - nothing that the nearby machine shop couldn't quickly make up. The rigged mast can't weigh more than 50#'s. So it was a breeze to carry it up on to the boat and pin it in the deck mount swivel. The uppers were pinned and up went the mast. A very easy to use mast step system. The boom slid right on the gooseneck.

A dry fit of the rudder was done and it went in nicely. The stainless tiller assembly is very clean. Once the boats were more-or-less together the roughness seemed to fade. Still there is a bunch of running rigging missing preventing the boat from being sailed. The JS folks claim its on its way. We sure hope so because this has been a very long wait.