The search goes on...

[cardinal_mark]

After a bit of a lull over Christmas / new year I'm back on the case and next week its the turn of the Westerly's. Not wanting to make a complete ar*se of myself, I would really appreciate any tips on what to look out for from anyone on the forum who has knowledge or experience of:
- Ocean 33
- Fulmar
- Storm

I understand Westerly headlinings have a certain notoriety but just wandered if there were any other specific points I should be conscious of?

Many thanks

Mark

 

[bob_tyler]

Watch that any twin keels have not been strained. They can have a tendency to leak.

 

[Sans Bateau]

There is a Regatta 330 (Storm) for sale in Portugal, a ceaper one is up at Portway in Northney, been up for sale for ever! Might be a bargin with a load of work.

 

[BlueSkyNick]

Have you contacted the Westerly Owners Association.

BlueChip on this forum is involved with it, I think.

 

[BigART]

The engine/gearbox spline shaft on Volvo 2000 series engines.

 

[BlueChip]

I have owned both Ocean 33 and Fulmar. Both are true Westerly's solid, dependable and safe and great boats to sail

The Ocean 33 will perform significantly better than a Fulmar althought that is a great sailing boat. The 33 displacement is greater and there is generally a much nicer motion in any sea

The rig is large on a 33, so expect to be reefing earlier than you might expect, the upside is that light airs performance is very good.

Some 33's were built with Volvo others with Yanmar, all were saildrive which works well and leaves lots of locker space in the aft cabin.

I don't think there are any specific issues to either model, I don't know of any Ocean 33's that had hull osmosis though I did hear of one that had it in the rudder.

You can read independent reviews of both models on the Westerly Owners Association web site. These were written by David Brooke Smith who at the time he wrote them worked for Michael Schmidt brokers who specialised in Westerlys

Fulmar - http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/html/dg5.html
Ocean 33 - http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/html/dg18.html

You may also ask the same question on the WOA Yahoo email discussion list - sign up through the web site.

Finally there are loads of Westerlys for sale on the WOA web site sales & wants pages

http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/html/sales___wants.html

 

[cardinal_mark]

Really useful - thanks very much indeed.

Mark

 

[jerryat]

Hi. I used to change my boat every five years - until I bought my Fulmar. Didn't even do a test sail, but went on reputation and build quality alone. It's one of the best decisions I ever made, and I've now owned her for almost 16 years and covered almost 45000 miles including a couple of transats and much cruising in the Med.

I can't compare her to the 33 because I've never sailed one, but the 43% percent ballast ratio and virtually perfect balance will not disappoint you. The 33, being a later model, is usually a fair bit more money, but I don't know whether it's worth it. I was a bit wary at first because I'd never owned a 3/4 rigged yacht, but now would take a lot of persuading to move back to masthead, such is the flexibility of the rig.

Aside from superlative sailing qualities, I think (particularly if long term cruising as we do) the stowage is frankly unbeatable for a boat of 32 feet LOA, and we had no difficulty in shipping everything we needed (and a lot we didn't!!) whilst cruising without stowing anything on deck or hanging from the rails'pushpit.

Could go on about them, but I guess we could all do that about our boats!! PM me if you need further, perhaps more specific views.

Hope this helps
Jerry