Idle musing - Westerly Berwick / Renown / Pentland or something else

[scruff]

I sold my folkboat which I sailed thousands of miles solo in, 2 years ago to get something closer to home in order to get my fiance into / over her fear of sailing. Accordingly I bought a wayfarer for something we can use near to home for the odd hour or two on sunny afternoons - that so far has been pretty successful.

Over the winter I rewired a family member's Moody 34 and for this season have almost unrestricted access to sail her. As a big step for my fiance, we had a weekend on the moody on the west coast and she had a brilliant time (long delicious lunches at anchor with gin does that) -she even enjoyed sleeping on the boat - the palatial aft cabin and double bed especially. Word now is on having a week going round Mull in the summer.

This boat however may soon end up being sold.

These things combined I may (hopefully) will be looking at getting a bigger cruising boat myself next season. Last night I saw that the Westerly Berwick / Pentland / Renown /the other version - should be fairly affordable and strike me as potentially good west coast boats.

Question being, after being used to the performance of the Folkboat and comfort of the Moody 34, would the older westerly feel like a big backwards step? Is the forepeak of the Westerly spacious or cramped?

Principle criteria would be <20k purchase price (ish), standing headroom and a comfortable double berth - a double under a cockpit floor with 30cm headroom is not going to cut it...

Ta

 

[fredrussell]

I think I'm right in saying that the Discus has a good size aft cabin.

 

[scruff]

Looking at the discuss online it does look like a great cabin, but I got the impression it was more a single berth?

 

[Bodach na mara]

As a former Renown owner I am a wee bit biased, but all the boats in that range are great. They sail well, are easy for one person and a friend to handle with not too much sail and have generous headroom and stowage. The fore cabin is not as cramped as in some more modern boats and can make into a double. So can the salon berth on the starboard side. Behind the seats in the cabin are cavernous lockers and there are other large lockers under the seats. The heads is a good size. The after cabin on the Renown and Pentland is tiny and is usually a gear store or a kiddy kabin. I had 19 happy years with my Renown and as you have noticed, they are ridiculously cheap.

Looking to maintenance, they are relatively small by modern standards and as a result are cheap to maintain, with not too much effort involved. Stand beside one of them on the hard and it looks a reasonable size. By comparison, a Discuss or other Westerly 33 looks dauntingly large and high.

 

[pvb]

We had a Pentland, it was OK in the 1970s, but if your fiance has experienced the pleasures of a Moody 34, she'd probably find a Westerly 31 rather cramped and spartan. The 31ft Westerly yachts are about 2ft smaller in beam, and this makes a huge difference. Maybe look at spending a bit more and going for a Ben/Jen/Bav? Loads around at good prices.

 

[Cheesey69]

Got a westerly Longbow, standing room everywhere, good sized heads and a very stable platform.

 

[Biggles Wader]

You need to buy the Moody 34. Special family deal, no survey/broker fees. Got to be worth it for buyer and vendor?

 

[steve yates]

I have a wheel steered westerly longbow ketch. It was very cheap indeed, under 5k, with new engine sails rigging, etc. I had to replace the fuel tank and estimate spending another 3-4k or so this year, by which time it will be an impeccable boat and almost as good as new.

Easy to singlehand, good motion at sea, important for partners, very tough. Not sure how well it will compare to a moody 34, but it seems better built and better finished than the moody's i have seen, if not as cool inside. For your sort of money, I would look for bigger, discus, 33, fulmar etc.
Or, go for a longbow or variant and throw money at a big interior refit to make it appealing to your partner.

My other half has the inside of mine redesigned in her head, to be light and airy and appealing to a woman. It can be done

 

[scruff]

OK, thank you all for your advice. I think I'll keep an eye out for Westerlys for sale near-ish buy through a broker and then one day "happen to be passing by" with my partner. See if it passes the initial impression.

I would love to buy the Moody, but not going to be able to afford that 'though I have mentioned pooling our boat funds to get a Jeaneau 40DS...

 

[Aja]

I would also consider an older Moody such as a 33/333 Angus Primrose design which have a good turn of speed, very seaworthy and quite probably affordable. And massive accommodation. What's not to like.

Donald

 

[jwilson]

Look at the older Moody 33s: should be in your budget, not pretty but sail rather better than you'd think, if you use the forecabin with infill a reasonable double berth, spacious heads, and an aft cabin shed at the back for storage. I've also seen one with the aft cabin modified to a fairly big double berth.

 

[Concerto]

For your budget of roughly £20,000 you will find a wide choice of Westerly's that could suit.

Just listed on the WOA web site is a Storm (aft double and aft loo) for £22,00, but needs an external clean.
https://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/classifieds.php Most of these boats are not with agents.

The Discus would certainly suit on the accommodation side. If you are looking for performance then the Fulmar is rated as one of the best boats for sailing (I sail mine single handed).

Generally Moody's are good, but of similar age, Westerly's are faster.

 

[Goldie]

If a Longbow is of interest, a friend of mine is selling (but not advertised yet AFAIK) a Longbow with a beautifully upgraded interior and VERY low hours on a Beta engine. It’s near Falmouth. Drop me a PM if it’s of interest.

 

[scruff]

Thanks for the heads up Goldie, but I won't be buying this year. All this year's disposable income is going on paying for the wedding. Most likely to buy next season, thus the idle musing just now...

 

[oldmanofthehills]

I have a Westerly Pentland. An excellent steady boat for cruising and its slight slowness is irrelevant as 10 minutes late at harbour is not the same as 10 minute behind a race rival. And at nearly 70 we find the forepeak nice enough. The hull does not plunge due to the chines so an easier motion in bad weather. Ketch rig as on Pentland was designed by working fishing folk who need simplicity - in a blow just dump the main and sail on half a knot slower while others laboriously try and reef their main. The Pentland (and Renown) rear cabin is a shed so the ideal is the rare ketch version of the Berwick with bigger cabin. The centre cockpit on the Pentland is almost impossible for wheel operating windvanes but unless you are doing long ocean passages and need a hydrovane then wheel autohelm will do.

 

[Graham376]

Our second boat was a Berwick and we had a few years fun bashing around the Irish Sea. In common with the other 31ft variants, good seaworthy boat with reasonable accommodation for two and easy to single hand. Next boat was a Moody 346 with much better accommodation so more comfortable for the longer trips we were doing but, not as much fun to sail. Main problem with Westerly models are the foam backed cabin linings which are not a nice job to replace and twin keel stubs which by now should have been beefed up.

 

[scruff]

Thank you old oldmanofthehills - I still have my Navik in the loft from my Folkboat and the possibility of refitting it would be nice. The autohelm 4000 on the Moody is great when motoring, but no-where near as good as the Navik under sail.

Whether the Navik wins out over davits is another question entirely through...

 

[scruff]

Our second boat was a Berwick and we had a few years fun bashing around the Irish Sea. In common with the other 31ft variants, good seaworthy boat with reasonable accommodation for two and easy to single hand. Next boat was a Moody 346 with much better accommodation so more comfortable for the longer trips we were doing but, not as much fun to sail. Main problem with Westerly models are the foam backed cabin linings which are not a nice job to replace and twin keel stubs which by now should have been beefed up.

That is interesting Graham as I would be kinda proposing to do the reverse (through necessity) of what you have done. Your 346 is effectively the same as the 34, just with a different transom & extra windows into the aft cabin if I'm not mistaken. I presume from what you wrote, it is a significant improvement over the Westerly...?

 

[Graham376]

That is interesting Graham as I would be kinda proposing to do the reverse (through necessity) of what you have done. Your 346 is effectively the same as the 34, just with a different transom & extra windows into the aft cabin if I'm not mistaken. I presume from what you wrote, it is a significant improvement over the Westerly...?

Yes, a big improvement in many ways, particularly the aft cabin but, we didn't like it much and sold after 4 years. At that time we were summer sailing from Conwy to the French west coast, Channel Islands etc. and found the boat directionally unstable and the constant stoop when using the galley uncomfortable. The 376 we've now had for 14 years is a far better boat but of course more expensive. If we were to give up living aboard for much of the year and wanted a day/weekend boat again, then a Berwick would certainly be on the list again. We have German friends who sailed their Longbow (same accommodation) down to the Algarve and lived aboard for long stretches, they found it big enough for their needs.

 

[rotrax]

For huge and flexible internal accomodation take a look at a Gilbert Marine built Gibsea 96 Master.

The master is the two cabin version.

A lady would be very comfortable in one, and they sail OK too.

They were the first of the large internal volume cruising boats and are surprisingly spacious for a 33 footer.