Immaculate Westerly

[doug748]

I always think to myself when I see one of these meticulous people polishing their boat....you couldn’t do that if you had my shoulders

I always remember my crude uncle leering at Shirley Bassey and saying to my father:

"I bet you wouldn't mind a hour with her eh Gordon?"

He thought for a bit and said:

" I wouldn't mind her teeth"



Sixty years later I now understand.

.

 

[Supertramp]

Fair enough. And tbh, many other boats from that era have dated just as badly. Maybe it’s just that for me the Centuar was the poster child for the genre of built down to a price family cruisers. I guess they deserve a little respect for getting more people afloat, though I recall my father looking at them, and their ilk, and deciding he’d rather buy a serious dinghy.

That's a sensible assessment I agree with.

My father bought one new and sailed it tens of thousands of miles around Scotland. It was not a sparkling performer and he later bought a Fulmar and enjoyed the faster and more balanced sailing and shorter passage times. I remember the Centaur carrying us through some wild passages (with scary roller reefing perched on top of the cabin and hank on headsails) reassured by its ability to plug on and it's powerful engine to help.

You are right - it was of its era. But as doug748 said, it had some nice teeth!

 

[potentillaCO32]

My dislike of centuars has nothing to do with money though, they’re just pretty rubbish sailers. And there are heaps of used 26 footers anyone could buy instead, that do almost everything better, for the same sort of money.

You have a point. Athough they are pretty roomy for the size and not that bad to sail if just looking to take the family coastal cruising. But you are right that there are any number of 26-27 footers that are better boats available for next to nothing. In the yard where I am currently refitting my boat there must be a dozen boats, including 3 centaurs and a host of once nice 70s yachts, that the owners have stopped paying storage and the yard owner is taking action on. I imagine you could go to any boatyard and get your pick of 70s yacht for pretty much nothing. But the problem is, unless the yacht is something special, they are still worth nothing when restored.
So really boatyards are fields of broken dreams with a few labours of loves coming through.
Maybe in 50 years when most surplus 70, 80 and 90s yachts are ground down into tarmac filling the few good ones left wi become sought after again.

 

[johnalison]

You have a point. Athough they are pretty roomy for the size and not that bad to sail if just looking to take the family coastal cruising. But you are right that there are any number of 26-27 footers that are better boats available for next to nothing. In the yard where I am currently refitting my boat there must be a dozen boats, including 3 centaurs and a host of once nice 70s yachts, that the owners have stopped paying storage and the yard owner is taking action on. I imagine you could go to any boatyard and get your pick of 70s yacht for pretty much nothing. But the problem is, unless the yacht is something special, they are still worth nothing when restored.
So really boatyards are fields of broken dreams with a few labours of loves coming through.
Maybe in 50 years when most surplus 70, 80 and 90s yachts are ground down into tarmac filling the few good ones left wi become sought after again.

Along the same lines, when we first went to the Baltic I felt ashamed to see so many stylist small boats in the same age and size range, like the Marieholm, when we were building stodgy things with the aesthetics of a house brick.

 

[Chiara’s slave]

You have a point. Athough they are pretty roomy for the size and not that bad to sail if just looking to take the family coastal cruising. But you are right that there are any number of 26-27 footers that are better boats available for next to nothing. In the yard where I am currently refitting my boat there must be a dozen boats, including 3 centaurs and a host of once nice 70s yachts, that the owners have stopped paying storage and the yard owner is taking action on. I imagine you could go to any boatyard and get your pick of 70s yacht for pretty much nothing. But the problem is, unless the yacht is something special, they are still worth nothing when restored.
So really boatyards are fields of broken dreams with a few labours of loves coming through.
Maybe in 50 years when most surplus 70, 80 and 90s yachts are ground down into tarmac filling the few good ones left wi become sought after again.

Exactly. You have to admire the attitude of people working on such boats, but they’re on a hiding to nothing. Why pick such a bread and butter craft to pour money and sheer dedication into? There is no return, and 2 seasons after you stop maintaining it to that standard, it’ll be one step away from all those derelicts

 

[Mark-1]

...

(I think I missed the point.)

 

[potentillaCO32]

Exactly. You have to admire the attitude of people working on such boats, but they’re on a hiding to nothing. Why pick such a bread and butter craft to pour money and sheer dedication into? There is no return, and 2 seasons after you stop maintaining it to that standard, it’ll be one step away from all those derelicts

On the other hand we could be the sailing generation that never had it so good.

You can wander down to the right boatyard and pick up a seaworthy 70s or 80s yacht for next to nothing. An albin vega, gk29, etc. Run down and needing a refit.
Spend 10k and a year of your life and you have a fantastic sound yacht.
In today's market you won't get your money back but does it matter. You have a great family boat for peanuts for weekends, holidays or even travels further afield.
I don't think there has been a period before like this.

 

[Lucky Duck]

It’s the ‘year of your life’ bit I would find off putting

 

[Ribtecer]

It’s the ‘year of your life’ bit I would find off putting

But you have the benefit of knowing your boat inside out which can be very useful when things inevitably wrong at the most inopportune moment.

For me I'm not so sure I'd bother with a Westerly Pageant, but a decent but neglected GK29 could be well worth a stab, they are very cheap ATM.

 

[Stemar]

It’s the ‘year of your life’ bit I would find off putting

Me too, because I'm now at an age where I don't know how many years of sailing I have left, but do know that 10 is a likely maximum, and I'm only an illness or a fall bad away from it being zero. 20 - odd years ago, though, maybe, just maybe...

 

[lustyd]

On the other hand we could be the sailing generation that never had it so good.

You can wander down to the right boatyard and pick up a seaworthy 70s or 80s yacht for next to nothing. An albin vega, gk29, etc. Run down and needing a refit.
Spend 10k and a year of your life and you have a fantastic sound yacht.

…which you can’t afford to keep anywhere because marinas and moorings are full of the boats of people who can afford to buy boats. Unfortunately most of the reason boats become derelict is that day to day costs are so high. In years gone by an almost free mooring and reasonable lift out costs meant there was money for maintenance left over. Now it costs more for an annual lift out than many people paid for the boat, and the moorings are insanely expensive.
On our trip we’ve also noticed that overpricing is spreading from the south coast as people with money look for somewhere to keep their boat. Before long the whole country will have the same pricing. Ireland seems to be heading that way too, spreading out from Dublin gradually.

 

[Supertramp]

On the other hand we could be the sailing generation that never had it so good.

You can wander down to the right boatyard and pick up a seaworthy 70s or 80s yacht for next to nothing. An albin vega, gk29, etc. Run down and needing a refit.
Spend 10k and a year of your life and you have a fantastic sound yacht.
In today's market you won't get your money back but does it matter. You have a great family boat for peanuts for weekends, holidays or even travels further afield.
I don't think there has been a period before like this.

I agree.

A twin keel 23ft is more likely to find a cheap mooring than larger and fin keel yachts. When I considered the costs of buying a larger yacht I realised I would spend more over 10 years mooring it than purchasing it. That put a lot of things in perspective! The year spent sorting it out was still worth it (and it was useable during most of the works) - I would have had to work for many years to buy a new or nearly new equivalent.

It will be a shame if the inclination, opportunity and ability to keep older boats going is lost - "How did you do that?" replaced by factory produced uniformity.

 

[PeterV]

For me I'm not so sure I'd bother with a Westerly Pageant, but a decent but neglected GK29 could be well worth a stab, they are very cheap ATM.

Agree entirely. I bought mine 4 years ago for £5000 with a nice new Beta 20 already installed. Year 1 I sorted the loose stanchions and got her sailing for the summer, winter 1 I renewed the rigging, windows, hatches and relined all the inside, winter 2 new sails and furling gear, winter 3 deck paint scrape off and repaint, winter 4 scrape off the hull, sand down, new epoxy paint and folding propeller.
I now have a great sound boat which sails extremely well with a very comfortable and roomy interior.

 

[potentillaCO32]

Agree entirely. I bought mine 4 years ago for £5000 with a nice new Beta 20 already installed. Year 1 I sorted the loose stanchions and got her sailing for the summer, winter 1 I renewed the rigging, windows, hatches and relined all the inside, winter 2 new sails and furling gear, winter 3 deck paint scrape off and repaint, winter 4 scrape off the hull, sand down, new epoxy paint and folding propeller.
I now have a great sound boat which sails extremely well with a very comfortable and roomy interior.

Perfect example. You now have a sorted boat, very good performance , go nearly anywhere for a low initial cost and the remainder spread out over 4 years. Something that you can keep for years.

 

[Ribtecer]

Perfect example. You now have a sorted boat, very good performance , go nearly anywhere for a low initial cost and the remainder spread out over 4 years. Something that you can keep for years.

I'm very envious, something I would like to do come early retirement

 

[Ribtecer]

Me too, because I'm now at an age where I don't know how many years of sailing I have left, but do know that 10 is a likely maximum, and I'm only an illness or a fall bad away from it being zero. 20 - odd years ago, though, maybe, just maybe...

For God's sake you can't think like that.

How old are you anyway?

Get on and enjoy life!!

 

[Stemar]

For God's sake you can't think like that.

How old are you anyway?

Get on and enjoy life!!

I don't think I'm being negative, just realistic. I only think like that in terms of taking on a project boat - a year fixing up a boat before I can sail her is a year less sailing time for Madame and me.

I'm 74, so I reckon that being able to keep sailing and maintaining our boat for another 10 years would be good going, especially as I nearly died from sepsis eight or nine years ago - a month in intensive care, and a good couple of years to get back to being fully functional, and I'm well aware that I'm one of the lucky ones.

I enjoy life all right - including being out on the water, and intend to keep going as long as I can, but I've watched too many boats become derelict because their owners are past using them, but weren't ready to admit it while the boat was still worth something. I hope I'll see the signs and sell Jazzcat in time.