Moody 34/346. Blue water capable or just a coastal boat?

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steve yates

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I see a lot of these coming up for sale, always for relatively high prices (45-50k)

They have packed a lot into a small boat but whereas I’ve hears of many westery corsairs, seahawks etc ect crossing oceans or circumnavigating, I never seem to hear or read of the smaller moody’s doing so, this one in particular.

Any particular reasons or do I just have the wrong impression?

And while Ik ow that almost all boats are capable of crossing the atlantic etc I mean is it built/designed for it? Can they do multiple crossings safely and comfortably?

Are they good sailers? Good motion at sea? Or are they a bit temperamental and flighty to handle?

Just curious.
 
Has any moody ever been described as flighty or temperamental? They look like the epitomy of cruising staidness along with the Westerlys that you mention. I've spent a fair bit of time on a Corsair, did what it said on the tin.
 
Not really that helpful to you, but since nobody has replied I crossed the Channel in a '34 in a pretty brisk breeze and it seemed to have no vices at all. I've sailed a couple of 31s in proper gales, waves big enough to surf down and they handled fine. (13.5 knots STW on the log I recall.)

I sailed a 37 in the 2024 RTIR and it handled that decent breeze fine. That boat had been to the Azores in some pretty horrific weather. (Without me I'm pleased to say!) Perhaps 37ft doesn't count as small.

So based on those limited experiences in coastal waters I'm not seeing any reason why smallish Moodys would be difficult boats to cross oceans on beyond general lack of space due to size.
 
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ridgy said:
Has any moody ever been described as flighty or temperamental? They look like the epitomy of cruising staidness along with the Westerlys that you mention. I've spent a fair bit of time on a Corsair, did what it said on the tin.
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Not moody’s in general, just the 34 I’m thinking of. I vaguely remember burn it blue talking about issues with sailing one he had, never seemed to be well balanced, but I may not be recalling it right.
 
Corsairs seem to be mentioned circumnavigating quite often, I believe the rodriguez’s of this parish circumnavigated in one before starting their brokerage business. And I’m reading a book of a couples circumnavigation on their solway, the precursor to the corsair.
It just struck me that of all the tales and records of older production boats crossing oceans etc, I don’t think a moody 34 is ever mentioned. And they are probably more common than corsairs etc?
 
I’ve got a moody 34 - sailed it for ~15 years & owned for handful. It’s a great boat - sails far better than than you’d expect and with sail trim you can get her sailing without the autopilot. Once sailed across the Minch without touching the wheel when the auto pilot failed!

One thing to note is the water tanks are only 170l total

If happily take her offshore, was planning Azores this year but work got in the way…
 
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We had a 346 for 4 years, took it down to France from Conwy each summer, sometimes in far from ideal conditions, once gusting F9. Unlike @Minerva, Found it directionally unstable, which was also mentioned in PBO Used Boat report. Yes, I would take a 346 offshore, the build quality is very good.

Changed it for a 376 which we've now had for about 20 years and is a far better boat.
 
Graham376 said:
We had a 346 for 4 years, took it down to France from Conwy each summer, sometimes in far from ideal conditions, once gusting F9. Unlike @Minerva, Found it directionally unstable, which was also mentioned in PBO Used Boat report. Yes, I would take a 346 offshore, the build quality is very good.

Changed it for a 376 which we've now had for about 20 years and is a far better boat.
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Yes thats on my wish list :)
 
Bloody hell those prices escalated fast! 5 years ago those boats were selling for 25-30k
Now they are 35-50k, thats a 50-60% imcrease.

I know covid pushed boat prices up but doesn’t look they have settled back down to realistic levels again, which is maybe why there are about 15 of them for sale on apollo duck.
 
steve yates said:
I see a lot of these coming up for sale, always for relatively high prices (45-50k)

They have packed a lot into a small boat but whereas I’ve hears of many westery corsairs, seahawks etc ect crossing oceans or circumnavigating, I never seem to hear or read of the smaller moody’s doing so, this one in particular.

Any particular reasons or do I just have the wrong impression?

And while Ik ow that almost all boats are capable of crossing the atlantic etc I mean is it built/designed for it? Can they do multiple crossings safely and comfortably?

Are they good sailers? Good motion at sea? Or are they a bit temperamental and flighty to handle?

Just curious.
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Have you read a book called “Shrimpy” iirc?

18 foot plywood bilge keel from Cambridge to a Australia. Single handed.
 
steve yates said:
Yup, actually he circumnavigated.
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Is it that it comes down to comfort then?

I have not read all of Shrimpy, but some kind of hell must have been endured at sea surely? But he was young and a soldier.

Any kind of Moody must beat Shrimpy I would have thought.

Almost any AWB cruiser would beat a Shrimpy I suspect.
 
Had a Moody 31 and returning from Guernsey via Cherbourg encountered much stronger winds than expected off Cap de la Hague and boat was happily surfing down the waves. My wife suddenly exclaimed, "You Rat! You're enjoying this!"

When we finally sold her (boat not my wife) the purchasers said their instructor friend had told them he would carry on helping them depending on the boat they selected. They had initially selected a Benjenbav and he told them they were on their own. When they mentioned the Moody 31 he said it was tough, seaworthy and would look after them and he was happy to continue sailing with them.
 
Daedelus said:
When we finally sold her (boat not my wife) the purchasers said their instructor friend had told them he would carry on helping them depending on the boat they selected. They had initially selected a Benjenbav and he told them they were on their own. When they mentioned the Moody 31 he said it was tough, seaworthy and would look after them and he was happy to continue sailing with them.
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Clearly still some ill informed bigots about. Does he think that the tens of thousands of owners of boats from these builders sailing around the worlds' oceans (as well as UK!) are all in mortal danger?
 
Tranona said:
Clearly still some ill informed bigots about. Does he think that the tens of thousands of owners of boats from these builders sailing around the worlds' oceans (as well as UK!) are all in mortal danger?
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Either there's some hyperbole there or the "friend" is a bit weird.

If he's genuinely concerned about his safety the maintainance program is far more important than the manufacturer. Is he asking for receipts and reading reviews of the contractors?

Again, how much money are you going to make as a sailing instructor if you refuse to sail the highest selling boats of the current century.

Good story, but jazzed up a bit IMHO.
 
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As near accurate as I can make it, but he was a friend of theirs and wanted them to have a tough seaworthy boat and thought the Moody 31 was ideal and of course he was entitled to his opinion. I would hardly call it bigoted. Met the couple who bought her some years later and they were pleased with her and had done a considerable amount of sailing with no problems.
 
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