Moody 376 v Westerly Oceanranger

PeppaPig

PeppaPig

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Not sure if this topic has been covered already but I would welcome your views. Personally the Moody looks a little more modern and you dont bang your head in the aft cabin, however the Westerly feels solid....discuss...please.
 
Nothing against either of them. Frankly when buying second hand, condition and price would make the decision for me. Both excellent cruising boats in their day and a damn site better built than some modern lightweights.
 
my view. Moody better sailing boat and a bit faster. Layout below better. But westerly probably better built and heavyier.

Sailed in both and for what its worth I would choose the moody every time
 
Welcome your comments - as ever condition, to some extent extras etc PRICE are the issue. However -came across a very clean Moody but with mainsail furling - not sure if that was an option or a later idea. Neither selections appear to suffer obvious osmosis effects - agree that they are the antidote to modern squeaky clean plastic efforts
 
We had a 346 and wanted to move up to a 376. Have you measured the lengths of the berths? The Moody has forecabin berth of 5`8" and aftcabin of 6`. Both were the same as the 346. Neither were any good for my son in law at 6`4".
 
Oceanranger deck...

Does the Oceanranger have the famous Westerly teak veneer deck? If so, there's a good chance of patches of teak veneer imminently wearing through, revealing the nasty plywood underneath. It's a nightmare (and very expensive) to replace.
 
The Ocean ranger is basically the Westerly Corsair with a sugar scoop extension. Only difference inside is that the bed in the aft cabin is turned around. Outside its exactly the same. Overall its more than 500lb heavier but does not increase the waterline length even when heeled. However even second hand Oceanrangers are several 1000s of £££s dearer than the Corsair which is delight to sail.
 
My partner had an Oceanranger prior to buying Cornish Maid, which is actually the 37, the 376 without the sugar scoop. Which we have now added.

Both excellent boats. Richard now prefers th Moody mainly for the more user-friendly aft cabin. Both are heavy well-built boats. The Moody I know for sure has a bottom beneath the engine over 6 inches thick, and the keel mountings are extremely well braced.
Our Moody has in-mast reefing, which we have discovered reduces the mainsail area enough to remove all weather helm, and she will sail herself. The original main is a tad too big; great off the wind, but more weather helm up-wind.

We sailed with friends who had an Oceanranger this summer, and to be honest, the performance is as near as dammit exactly the same in those (lightish) conditions.

Both boats have been out in strong winds; we sailed for days in up to 40 knots upwind, which was horrid but the boat handled it on her own ( we have a Monitor self-steering). Our friends had crossed the Channel in 50 knots, watched by the Coastguards, but needing no assistance what ever.

In your position, I would choose the layout that suited you best, although even that is similar, or just the boat in the best condition.

Or the cheapest /forums/images/graemlins/laugh.gif
 
We looked at both of these when buying our boat (ended up with a Colvic Countess 37 in the end - very simalar to both of the above ie - 37 ft, centre cockpit, heavily made, mid 1990's construction, great aft cabin, two heads etc).

Our thoughts were:

Moody 37 / 376 - we saw some that looked quite tired and dated inside - but others were mint. Might be worth looking at a few to get an idea of the variation in condition so you can spot a good one. Many 376's came with in-mast furling - which we didn't particularly want (not going to get into pro's and con's here, but suffice to say we wanted a normal mainsail). The galley was a little smaller on the 376 than the Oceanquest - good for at sea (you can get nice and wedged in) but a little tight for use in harbour/anchor?

The 376 is just a 37 with a sugar scoop, as the Oceanquest is essentially a Corsair with a sugar scoop. The older models tend to be a fair bit cheaper.

Send 'jonic' a pm - he lived aboard a Corsair and will be able to give you some advice on them.

The problems with the Oceanranger (so I've heard) are the typical Westerly things - Osmosis and Headlinings. The teak decks are also worth considering. Ours has 'Westerly style' decks (ie teak over ply) - the teak is very think (3 - 5mm). Fortunately ours has been laid in pieces (ie teak laminated to ply and then laid as traditional teak) - I believe Westerly laid ply sheets and then put the teak strips ontop. This means if one piece of teak cracks / leaks and the ply below goes rotten you may have to replace quite a large section of deck. This said, our surveyor was very good and picked up lots of info on the deck (we have one strip which needs replacing, but he looked at every strip in detail and commented on a couple of others that are within a few years of replacement).

Good luck with the hunt

Jonny
 
Thanks for all the useful feedback. We are strongly leaning to the Moody in any case. The boat we are looking at is very clean but doesnt appear to come with substantial paperwork to back up the servicing / repairs etc. Would this put you off a boat if it "looked right"??
 
If I got a good survey and spoke to the owner and got a good feel it wouldn't worry me at all.

Our boat was home completed by a master shipwright over 4 years from bare hull. We have a ring binder full of receipts for every item on the boat (from rigging and engine and hull to wiring, screws, and lauching costs). However, we have no owners manual and the second owner didn't keep any copies of service / repair work invoices etc.

The surveyor can do oil tests and fire up the engine to make sure its ok (we also had an engineer do an engine service as soon as she was launched and identify any issues).

The only paper work you need is the VAT proof of payment and proof of ownership (deed of sale etc) to cover yourself legally. A broker should run checks to ensure it doesn't have finance etc against it.

An owners file / manual can probably be obtained from another 376 owners or the Moody Owners Association. A chat with the current owners should reveal a lot about the boat and their attitude toward maintenance.

At the end of the day, as much as you go into boat buying with your head, when the right boat comes along there's a lot or pressure to buy with your heart!

Jonny
 
My thoughts entirely - HOWEVER SWMBO does like things being pigeonholed - as it transoires the owner has a management group look after it and I am just trying to talk to them to see what they have on its history - but at the end of the day I think the boat speaks for itself. Just needs updated toys fitted .... as ever!
 
Always the case - we were unfortunate when buying ours in that the previous owner was very ill and we could not speak to them pre or post purchase to talk through the boat etc. I was quite annoyed / frustrated by this at the time as we had to figure everything out on our own (trace wires for all unlabelled switches etc) - but with hindsight we learnt an awful lot about the boat very quickly and now know where most things are and how most things work.

As for new toys - always the case. We have a big plan in mind (leaving the July to sail to Australia) so have quite a big re-fit budget, but with any second hand boat you will usually have to spend money to bring her up to standard. We put a new DSC VHF on, C70 Chartplotter / Radar, had all sails serviced, and we currently have a Hydrovane on order, new prop, new fridge unit and a new windlass - part of the joy of getting a new boat is making a list of what you need to do to it!! My folks bought a brand new boat, and they still had a fair list of things they needed to buy!

If she looks tidy and clean, surveys well (very important - we saw a Westerly Ocean Ranger near our boat at the brokerage - looked mint yet when someone else had her surveyed she had suffered hull damage near the keel and been repaired not very well) then go for it!!

Jonny
 
I think it could well be an indication that it has been serviced by the owner personally rather than by a yard which I always prefer to see anyway. Forget bits of paper apart from the very necessary proof of ownership! Go by condition. Get a good surveyor's report. You will probably need it for insurance anyhow.
 
May be useful for people reading this thread at a later date but our 1996 Westerly Ocean Ranger 'Celebration' has a teak deck. It's laid straight onto GRP. I know this as I've drilled various large holes when fitting windlass and wind generator. The fore deck is nearly 2" thick. Of course Westerly may have changed the production process during the lifetime of building. Hope this clarifies for some folks.
 
PeppaPig said:
Thanks for all the useful feedback. We are strongly leaning to the Moody in any case. The boat we are looking at is very clean but doesnt appear to come with substantial paperwork to back up the servicing / repairs etc. Would this put you off a boat if it "looked right"??
Click to expand...

Our 376 came without any service/repair history, simply because the last owner never did any work on it. Typical example - exhaust mixer box leaked so he just pumped out - why spend money? Have a survey by someone who's familiar with the model of boat and knows what he's looking for. Take his advice and look for any price adjustment based on that.

Both Westerly and Moody owners have excellent associations with a wealth of knowledge and advice. We're very happy with the 376 but can't compare with the Westerly as I've never sailed an Oceanranger.
 
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