First boat - Anyone know anything about Seawolfs?

[griffinma]

We're looking for our first boat and after viewing numerous boats we have now got the list down to three:

Sadler 29
Seawolf 30
Moody 27 or 29

As it's our first boat and we are likely to want to upgrade in the not too distant future we wanted a boat that would be easy to sell and hold it's value reasonably.

Our budget is £20k and we want a bilge keeler to sail around the Welsh coast - Swansea/Milford Haven etc and across to Ireland for longer hols.

We have generally only sailed 30ft+ boats before on RYA courses flotillas / charters in Greece.

We viewed a Seawolf yesterday and this is looking the favorite at the moment (advised it's one of the fastest bilge keelers with really good accommodation ) but we know next to nothing about them?

Your advice would be appreciated!

 

[TigaWave]

I know there is an owners association for cobra and seawolf.
Link
They may be able to help.

 

[Pete7]

Not Seawolfs, but if you are considering Moodys there is a very active association and oodles of help and advice available on there website. To join the website is free and access to the Technical area comes with a small memebership fee a year. Very helpful folk.

http://www.moodyowners.net/

Pete

 

[Dipper]

I have owned a Seawolf 26 for a long time and also been on a couple of others. They are well built and seaworthy and had some excellent reviews in magazine articles. Unfortunately, I don’t know as much about the Seawolf 30 but they had the same designer. David Feltham was/is very keen on well designed twin keelers and believes that if you get it right, you can achieve good windward performance. One magazine review by Rodger Witt on a twin keel Seawolf 26 confirms this.

The Sadler and Moody are both well known and would probably be easier to sell than the lesser known Seawolf but of course they are likely to be slightly more expensive (relatively) to buy in the first place.

 

[Tranona]

As you will see from the site, only 10 were built, and only one (a fin keel) is listed on Yachtworld for sale. Many Cobras and Seawolfs were home completed so will vary in standard of finish.

On the other hand Moodys and Sadlers were built in larger numbers. There are currently 7 Sadler 29s, 4 Moody 29s and 9 27s for sale.

They are all in much the same price bracket (£20-25k) although 27s tend to be a bit cheaper. If easy salability is a criterion, then the more popular classes may be a better bet.

 

[owen]

on a pure sellability point i would probably go for the sadler over the other two. if i were in the market for that size boat i wd look at the moody 28. this was the favourite of the designer, is well built fast and generally ticks all the boxes. there was one on advertised in s wales recently and was still not sold as fas as i am aware.
are you sure you want a bilge keel. will you dry out on a mooring ?
finally if you are thinking of trying to sell quickly you may be better off chartering..

 

[Dave99]

Have sailed a Sadler 29 and was very impressed at the time. Amazing in bad weather, also "unsinkable". I had a friend with a Seawolf 30, impressed. Don't know much about the Moody 29. I would probably favour the Sadler.

D

 

[RobBrown]

Sorry to add to posts NOTgiving you info on the Seawolf, but I sail a Moody 29, bought 3 yrs ago as my first yacht, at end of same process you are now undertaking. Naturally I think its a good boat, otherwise I wouldn't have bought it, but I also looked at the Sadler 29 as well, along with a number of other possibles, particularly the Westerly Konsort and Mirage 28 and Trapper 850. Briefly looked at Moody 27, but too small for family with 2 teenagers. Moody 28 was nice but outside of my 20-25K budget and still rather cramped.
Moody 29 has a very big useable saloon when the drop down table is stowed away and overall space and design sold it to me. Like you originally thought bilge keeler, but after advice, didn't rule out a fin and eventually bought one- still fairly shallow dr @ 1.4 M and has never been an issue sailing in Solent & South Coast.
I suspect if you get a Moody or Sadler 29 at the 20K end, it will need some work so probably still looking at an overall 25K budget, but you should quite readily get a decent 27 for £20k, if overall space isn't a key issue.

As mentioned above Moody Owners Association is a great resource. To be even handed tho, same can be said for Westerlys.

 

[maxi77]

I must admit a few years ago I would have given my eye teeth for either the Seawolf or the Sadler, but I am now a proud Moody owner and clearly favour that marque.

The reality is to go look at them all, try and get a sail in them all and then make your choice based on how each meets your own wishlist.

They are all good boats so you can choose any, subject to survey, with some confidence. If you may need to sell fast then Sadler or Moody should top your list. The Moody Owners Association is big and very active, good help available from people who own not just the classbut the same boat as you which does count for a lot.

 

[griffinma]

Thanks for all the advice. The reason we want a bilge keeler is that this gives us the option to dry out in places like Tenby Saundersfoot and up the Milford Haven Estuary (also being first timers we like the idea of being able to dry out if we get it wrong in the big tides around the Bristol Channel!). The idea of being able to sell quickly is because it is likely that our first boat will just tell us all the things that we didn't know we needed at this stage so it will mean we may want to upgrade to the 'perfect boat' later on. We also (as everyone does I suppose) have ambitions for longer term cruising in a few years perhaps in the Med / further afield so just want to learn to sail properly (and learn about boat maintenance etc) before buying the ideal cruising boat.

I have heard that the Seawolf can be a bit 'lively' so it seems the Moody 27 may be the one but being greedy it seems that you get much more boat for the money with the Seawolf!!

A difficult decision!

 

[smeaks]

I moved up to a Moody 27 last year after sailing on many boats i crewed for a pal on his 27 fin. I was so impresssed i took the plunge and purchased the 27 bilge. I notice little difference between the two. Both are very secure sea boats that never fail to impress when it blows! The fin is faster upwind but not frustratingly so! Stable, strong and fast I have not one regret or great critisism. The saddler was my number 2 choice but was less roomy below.

My personal view only having trod the path your on!

 

[meandraft]

I can only advise you about the Seawolf 26 that we own. This was our first boat and like you we were concerned about going aground as it can get a bit shallow here on the east Coast. Our bilge keel version with a Bukh 10 has proven to be both sturdy, predictable and reliable. The only major change we made was to fit in-mast furling. As for being quick to sell on we'll find out soon as we've a new boat on order.

 

[maxi]

David Feltam (Seawolf) is, in my opinion, probably the best designer of bilge keels, giving his BK boats a performance not very far from that of fin keelers.

His philosophy with the Seawolf 30 was that, too many boats struggle in light airs. So he gave the SW 30 plenty of sail area on the basis that you can always reef when necessary, but you can't add sail area. What you may term 'lively', others may call rewarding.

 

[billmacfarlane]

I've a mate who's owned a Seawolf 30 from new(they were built at Littlehampton). My abiding memory of sailing it is of an excellent boat to windward for a bilge keeler but with one abiding problem - the weather helm was excessive due to a badly designed rudder. Carrying full sail in anything above F3 to windward was very hard work and spoiled the enjoyment of sailing the boat. PBO did a review of the boat. You might be able to get a copy of the test from their web site.