Southerly 115 MkI

WestWittering

WestWittering

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I am quite keen on the Southerly 115 and have been thinking of buying one for a while. But, the only Southerly I have sailed was a 2013 32 which is probably quite a bit different. One of my friends has just told me he would never speak to me again if I bought one (I think he was only joking)..

Anyway, this is what I want it to do. Potter about Chi Harbour, Brittany & CI's, drying out in quiet spots. Be nice & spacious & comfy for extended periods onboard. Make an average speed of 5 knots, preferably in the direction I want it to go in.

I want wheel steering, I like centre cockpit boats, I want to be able to sail her single-handed.

I would be interested in anyones genuine experience - past & current owners. I have read Cardos blog & they seem to love their Southerly….

Di
 
Tidewaiter has a 115, doesn't he? Lucky devil. You too, if you go for it.

Only thing I don't like about the Southerlies, is the way the centreboard housing pushes the saloon so far forward.
 
The progression of 'marks' in the production of the 115, is largely focussed on their steering when heeled. The Mk 1 rudder did gripe quite badly when heeled.

One big decision for me (and why we eventually moved away from one) was galley up, or saloon up in the coachhouse. We were drawn to the helm up / galley up arrangement at first as our focus was on passage making where it works well. But with increasing age we eventually realised that we preferred saloon up for sitting around at anchor and not so much room dedicated to the inside steering set up which we never used.
 
Southerly 115 is galley up only and the layout works really well.

The Mk 1 has the triangular shaped keel which draws 6'8" plus needs reefing at about 16/17 knots apparent. The Mk2 has the Rob Humphreys shaped keel which takes up less room in the galley, draws 8'2" max and can take 20/22 knots apparent before reefing.

Mk 2 is a big improvement but there is nothing wrong with a Mk1
 
dancrane said:
Tidewaiter has a 115, doesn't he? Lucky devil. You too, if you go for it.

Only thing I don't like about the Southerlies, is the way the centreboard housing pushes the saloon so far forward.
Click to expand...

WE do-as SKI's, 32/64ths is Alices:D
Does West Wittering want to sail one around for a day? -after her new oven arrives Thursday, we hope to sail about until after the Bank Holiday Rally, and suspect the weather will mean we'll be Solent based for the week.
So, could pick him/them up somewhere?
 
As per our blog, we are very pleased with our ol' 105. As with you, we'd originally been looking for a 115, but our attention was drawn to this 105, which was the right price and was a fixer upper in the departments we wanted to customise to our likes/needs. The 105 is very similar to the 115, it's mostly the stern which has been changed. From the main hatch onwards, they're almost identical. Obviously, there's also the keel changes, though the mark 1 I think has the same keel as the 105. On the newer side, the 110 also follows the same general design. Again, it's the back end that's been modified. Main hatch onwards, they're practically the same.

Yes, we've had a few issues, but nothing major, and nothing that I've not been able to fix either myself, or get some else to fix it without too much grief.

Our 105 doesn't point into the wind particularly well, but I think that has more to do with the cut of our rather large genoa (which I don't think was initially designed for this boat). I'm also not a particularly good/experienced sailor, when it comes to sail trim.

Space wise, you can't do much better. We have yet to visit another boat of our size that has the kind of space we have. The saloon, due to the beam, is relatively massive, and SWMBO loves the relatively large galley that looks down on the saloon, so she can be a part of saloon conversation whilst cooking. We also have the interior helm, which is fantastic for wet/cold weather travel. It was fantastic when we motored through the French canals in the peeing down rain.

Our ideal boat, if we had the money, would be a Southerly 47. If Southerly are still around in 20 years, when we may well be able to afford such a beast, then we would likely seriously contemplate one.
 
Interior helm positions are good, particularly if you have a young family, instead of Mum or Dad being out there on a grisly day, the entire family can be involved in the passage without acres of oilskins.

Those 115's are nice, we seriously considered one but couldn't afford a nice one.
 
Tidewaiter2 said:
WE do-as SKI's, 32/64ths is Alices:D
Does West Wittering want to sail one around for a day? -after her new oven arrives Thursday, we hope to sail about until after the Bank Holiday Rally, and suspect the weather will mean we'll be Solent based for the week.
So, could pick him/them up somewhere?
Click to expand...

PM sent :)

Cardo said:
As per our blog, we are very pleased with our ol' 105. As with you, we'd originally been looking for a 115, but our attention was drawn to this 105, which was the right price and was a fixer upper in the departments we wanted to customise to our likes/needs. The 105 is very similar to the 115, it's mostly the stern which has been changed. From the main hatch onwards, they're almost identical. Obviously, there's also the keel changes, though the mark 1 I think has the same keel as the 105. On the newer side, the 110 also follows the same general design. Again, it's the back end that's been modified. Main hatch onwards, they're practically the same.

Yes, we've had a few issues, but nothing major, and nothing that I've not been able to fix either myself, or get some else to fix it without too much grief.

Our 105 doesn't point into the wind particularly well, but I think that has more to do with the cut of our rather large genoa (which I don't think was initially designed for this boat). I'm also not a particularly good/experienced sailor, when it comes to sail trim.

Space wise, you can't do much better. We have yet to visit another boat of our size that has the kind of space we have. The saloon, due to the beam, is relatively massive, and SWMBO loves the relatively large galley that looks down on the saloon, so she can be a part of saloon conversation whilst cooking. We also have the interior helm, which is fantastic for wet/cold weather travel. It was fantastic when we motored through the French canals in the peeing down rain.

Our ideal boat, if we had the money, would be a Southerly 47. If Southerly are still around in 20 years, when we may well be able to afford such a beast, then we would likely seriously contemplate one.
Click to expand...

Oooh yes, French canals - forgot about that!

AngusMcDoon said:
I think Seajet likes them.
Click to expand...

Hmmm, do they do a 22 foot version?

Di
 
We had one and really enjoyed it.
I thought that it was very well and carefully built.
We had in mast main and (obviously) roller reefing - a bit less area but it means you actually get your sails out even by yourself. Autohelm 6000 steered it for most of the time.
Keel is great; ours had (and you will need) the electro hydraulic mechanism so it is literally the press of a button. You can go almost anywhere and it is great. You can get going hours before others in a drying river and you can cut the corners others cannot. Journeys can be quicker than in other faster boats. We have just been through the Deben bar and the Alde/Ore in our latest (shorter) boat and I was certainly a lot happier doing it in a much bigger 115 as we could just haul the keel up, retain perfect stability because of the ballast plate and plough on.
In a big, following sea the autohelm cannot cope or perhaps it is just the rudder which (certainly) cannot cope. If you see an out of the water side profile you see how shallow the rudder is for what is a large boat. It is hard work in a downwind blow.
With a clean bottom you can expect to do better than your target 5kn.
Other issue is berthing as you have very high windage without that much grip underwater - you get blown around. OUrs had no bowthruster. Perhaps if you drive in quickly and then put the brakes on it is fine - its not how I move around in moorings and marinas though.
It has dedicated room for three batteries and I made them all into the domestic side and stuck a spiral wound type in a battery box in the bilge for the engine.
Bukh 36 is a great engine.
Standard anchor is Bruce which always worked well for us.
You need to get it into a small friendly boatyard (one man band type - someone you can talk to) and not anywhere smart - that way you can keep it in the slings of the crane or hoist whilst you can get underneath to clean and antifoul the keel and get up into the cockpit to operate it. [Yes, yes I really do know about H&S and the LOLER regs etc.]
We found that we didn't really use the rear cabin much and that was with two children. Maybe its just us but we would sleep in the saloon rather than climb over each other because the rear bed was to one side. If you are the same then the shorter one (is it the 105?) might do you just as well for a few quid less.
Mooring easier and cheaper - We sat upright at Woodbridge with the keel up on a drying mooring.
I was never sure how you got the stbd side window out as it was bisected on the inside by the partial bulkhead so check for leakage or it becomes your problem.
Heads were very good size. Ours had a gas geyser - get rid of that and get a calorifier !

All in all we really enjoyed ours. Good luck
 
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