Moody 422 v Westerly Oceanlord 41

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neil1967

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I'm looking to buy a 40ish ft yacht to live aboard and cruise the med and eventually further afield. Both the moody 422 and westerly ocean lord 41 look to be suitable and with very similar features and price. Given comparable condition, what would be the advantages and disadvantages of one over the other?

Thanks

Neil
 
Very little in general. Both were designed and built with the same market in mind. Clearly there will be differences in detail - layouts and equipment etc but choosing boats of this age that are similar in concept will come down to two things. Firstly personal prefernces and secondly, condition and equipment in relation to price asked.

Focusing on these two issues rather than getting hung up on one particular model potentially widens the choice - but may not make a difficult decision any easier!
 
Thanks - much as I thought! We are not wedded to any particular make or model and are looking beyond these two, but as they are so apparently similar I was interested if there was something that I was missing!

Regards

Neil
 
If you're heading for the Med, one point to bear in mind when looking at boats is ventilation and the ability to provide shade when cruising. Don't know much about either of the boats you're looking at but you do need to have at least one large openning hatch in the cabin you intend to sleep in, plus a couple of small ones, if possible, so that you can catch any breeze that might be about.

When sailing, you will need a bimini in the cockpit. At a minimum, it must cover the helm, as you will fry in the sun from about mid May to mid September without it. IIRC, when we were looking at boats, the problem with the Moodys and Westerlys was that they were centre cockpit designs with a comparatively shallow cockpit, which would make it very difficult to rig a bimini that didn't foul the boom.
 
I have been cruising the Med, for the last few years, in a Moody 425 which is the successor to the 422 and very similar . I can assure you that the Moody is well served with opening hatches and lights and keeps (relatively) cool. It has proved an ideal boat.

When I made my choice the decider was the stern cabin - better in the Moody by a mile.
 
mandlmaunder said:
If your not stuck on make or model have a look at this http://www.yachtworld.com/boats/1984/Pearson-422-Center-Cockpit-2307476/Panama-City/FL/United-States

Just to give you idea of what can be had if you look around.

Mark
Click to expand...

Sure there are many "bargains" in various parts of the world - but it is probably impractical for a UK/EU based person intending sailing to the Med to take advantage (if there is an advantage) of such boats.

It is usually uneconomic to import such a boat into the EU as it will not meet RCD standards and duty and VAT will be payable (plus costs of getting it across the pond). Such boats have a very low value in the EU as there are plenty of similar boats like the ones under consideration that can be bought without any hassle, are a known quantity and there is support from suppliers, owners associations etc to help maintain them.

Different of course if you are planning just to sail in the Caribbean.
 
duncan99210 said:
If you're heading for the Med, one point to bear in mind when looking at boats is ventilation and the ability to provide shade when cruising. Don't know much about either of the boats you're looking at but you do need to have at least one large openning hatch in the cabin you intend to sleep in, plus a couple of small ones, if possible, so that you can catch any breeze that might be about.

When sailing, you will need a bimini in the cockpit. At a minimum, it must cover the helm, as you will fry in the sun from about mid May to mid September without it. IIRC, when we were looking at boats, the problem with the Moodys and Westerlys was that they were centre cockpit designs with a comparatively shallow cockpit, which would make it very difficult to rig a bimini that didn't foul the boom.
Click to expand...

The westerly Oceanlord has a fairly deep cockpit so no problems with biminis etc. The boat is also well ventilated too and we have not had problems with overheating in Greece. Biggest problem will Westerlies is the Fridge - you need to rip out whats in there and start again - then you end up with an effective and cheap to run fridge with 4 inch of insulation all round. Not sure about Moody fridges but have seen may charging a lot during the day which is indicative of an imperfect fridge. The fridge is probably one of the most important features - it must stack easily and must be able to run off your solar panels alone.....

I have sent you a PM
 
Chris Robb is absolutely right about fridges on British built boats. We had to liberally apply some aerosol insulating foam to seal the insulation on our Moody. That's made it acceptable with about a 50% duty cycle during the day in July - August but when the 20 year old fridge calls it a day I shall rip the lot out and insulate properly.

BTW here is our bimini. We had the block on the clew of the mainsail made integral (its mainsail roller reefing) and that gave us enough space for approx 6' 4" bimini headroom.
 
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