buying westerly centaur

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history38

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Hi have posted on here before,have now i think found a centaur.
only prob its on original engine, its a 1980 boat new rigging sails good ,osmosis treatment done 2001. keels re re bedded. engine has been rebuilt from bottom up. price 10500.
any advice before i parted with hard earned money.
thanks in antcipatioin
 
history38 said:
Hi have posted on here before,have now i think found a centaur.
only prob its on original engine, its a 1980 boat new rigging sails good ,osmosis treatment done 2001. keels re re bedded. engine has been rebuilt from bottom up. price 10500.
any advice before i parted with hard earned money.
thanks in antcipatioin
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Assuming you've looked at lots of Centaurs...
Make sure you see invoices etc for the engine re-build and find out who did it and when.
The price is an asking price, you should be offering a lot less than that, there are dozens of Centaurs on the market. By a lot less I mean maybe 20% - 30% less, don't worry about insulting anyone, it's your money.
Plenty of other caveats that others will mention.

Good luck, the Centaur is a very capable cruiser.
 
I agree re prices and new engines, a chum just picked up a mint late model Centaur with a brand new 3 cylinder Nannidiesel for much less.

Have the keels just been reseated, or are they reinforced internally ? They should be, especially if planning to use a half tide mud mooring, it's not a difficult or expensive job and most decent boat grp people will be used to it.
 
Agree with all above and particularly would want to know exactly what was done to the engine: I would rather have a well rebuilt older engine than a 15yr old modern engine (totally purely personal prejudice based on no foundation what so ever). I would hope the head has been off cleaned/rebuilt. Rebored or not, new bearings/piston rings, all rubber bits replaced, fuel hoses, injectors serviced and the pump(?). I would still perhaps have a compression check but easy cold starting should do, try hand starting it? You do not mention rudder? Head linnings etc. Also how are good sails judged, anything over 6 years and do not pay extra for them similarly with the rigging.

No expert but have bought a few boats and just how I would look at the situation.

But still take that last minute to look but there does come a point of buy the best you can when you can and hopefully you can still enjoy a bit of the summer/autumn
 
Even with the rebuilt engine, I would still have a look for an example with a well-fitted newish engine. I bought one with a supposedly well maintained MD 11C, which had had its top off for an overhaul, and within four years was ruing the time spend keeping it going. Unless you are very mechanically minded or have a good engineer on call it will catch up with you. The main dealers often won't touch an engine that old, or only at huge cost.
 
The concerns about engine age don't just mean the moving parts; I had a 1981 Carter 30 with a Volvo twin, in 1989 the core plugs corroded through; naturally ths happened at the top of Alderney Race in a calm, we span merrily while waiting for the araldite to set, could have had nasty consequences if we hadn't been in clear water.

Volvo spares are of course quite ridiculously priced too, in 1989 it was £18.00 just for a stainless castellated nut.

After experiencing the smoothness of my chums' 3 cylinder Nannidiesel in his Centaur - bought as I mentioned for much,much less than you're considering - if I was looking for a Centaur I'd definitely go for a re-engined boat.
 
As usual you get a variety of opinions on the forum. You have to ask yourself do you want to go sailing? (new engine) or do you want to spend time on maintenance? (old engine). Some like the former, some the latter and great great satisfaction from it. Different strokes for different folks. in the final analysis you have to make up your own mind.
 
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