westerley centaur enquiry

[Frank mellin]

i have a westerley centaur and am trying to locate the fresh water tank as i suspect a leak.
can anyone tell me where it is please as i cannot find any access panel

 

[laika]

i have a westerley centaur and am trying to locate the fresh water tank as i suspect a leak.
can anyone tell me where it is please as i cannot find any access panel

This may help:
Removing a Centaur Water Tank - Westerly-Wiki

 

[richardbrennan]

Not much you can add to Laika's post!

 

[Wansworth]

Not much you can add to Laika's post!

Just bad original design!

 

[pvb]

Just bad original design!

I doubt that Westerly ever imagined people would still be using the boats 50 years later.

 

[Wansworth]

I doubt that Westerly ever imagined people would still be using the boats 50 years later.

Designed by reputable designer I wonder if costswas a determinant in the plan?

 

[laika]

Just bad original design!

From my own westerly and my frequent "Well how the **** am I supposed to get at that"?, no...they didn't design stuff with ease of maintenance in mind. Stuff is glassed in that *yes of course any moron can see you'll need to get at sometime*. But hey, by that time they'll have long gone bust so what did they care?

 

[Wansworth]

It was the begining of consumerism and a boat was just another consumer item,cheap to build and attractive to the new modern family

 

[Stemar]

I think my fuel tank is even worse. Tucked in the aft end of the port cockpit locker and glassed into place, with its welded in filler poking out of the tiny bit of quarter deck it shares with a mooring cleat. I'm going to have to do something with it in the not too distant future and I'm not looking forward to it.

 

[Praxinoscope]

To be fair, I don't think I have ever seen a boat where at least one item that may need replacing is either very difficult to get at or it was made virtually impossible without major reconstruction after completing the job.
It does however seem a bit daft to glass the water tank in in the way tha was done on the Centaur.

 

[Refueler]

Have to say that both water and fuel tanks on my SR25 are sensible .... Water is a stainless oval tank fitted into ply holding frames under port fwd bunk. Diesel tank is rectangular from a truck and same idea - set into frames under stbd fwd bunk. Both have full access ...

In fact I have often thought to lift them out and replace with poly tanks formed to the hull shape - so I can then put removable shelf over top to increase stowage. The tanks are just over 70litres each and fill the spaces. They also help to counter that big engine !

Some SR's used the bilge keels - which I am extremely glad was not done on mine.

 

[duncan99210]

Be thankful it’s not the fuel tank on our friends HR: they had to remove the engine to remove and replace it. Oh, and they had to remove most of the galley to get the engine out.....

 

[Wansworth]

Be thankful it’s not the fuel tank on our friends HR: they had to remove the engine to remove and replace it. Oh, and they had to remove most of the galley to get the engine out.....

price to pay for fitting boats out as if they were small flats,but maybe some boats are just that!

 

[duncan99210]

price to pay for fitting boats out as if they were small flats,but maybe some boats are just that!

And to add insult to injury, they had a lightening strike whilst on the hard, which took out all of the electronics and the hull fittings (which were the route to earth for the strike).

 

[Refueler]

I think the problem stems from people wanting stowage space and inconvenience of having necessary tanks takes second place.

The routes of pipes ... placing of tanks ... etc. can be mind-blowingly daft on some.

I've seen toilet pipes set into ingot ballast ... the pipes corroded and then failed INSIDE the ballast. The GRP then has to be cut away to get at it.

Tanks cast into the GRP bilge keels ... when they leak - nothing you can do except cut open the keels and insert poly tanks. Reglass over.

 

[C08]

Yes my two water tanks were installed before the deck/cockpit moulding was fitted and were too large to take out through the locker tops and the stainless tanks had to but cut in situ before removing.

 

[PaulRainbow]

All of my tanks are easy to get to. The original forward water tank being under the forward berth. Often though, small boat owners want all the bells, whistles and "luxuries" that bigger boats have. Can be tough to fit the stuff from a 45 footer into a 25 footer. Other times, it's just disgraceful design. But don't think it only affects older boats, in many cases, the newer they are, the harder they are to work on.

 

[Wansworth]

Maybe ought to worthy of comment in the magazine boat tests,tanks,access and stuff!....the last thing you want is a boat feeling or smelling like a boat god forbid if the reality of the workings impinged on the illusion of luxuary of an hotel!

 

[Refueler]

All of my tanks are easy to get to. The original forward water tank being under the forward berth. Often though, small boat owners want all the bells, whistles and "luxuries" that bigger boats have. Can be tough to fit the stuff from a 45 footer into a 25 footer. Other times, it's just disgraceful design. But don't think it only affects older boats, in many cases, the newer they are, the harder they are to work on.

Try clearing the holding tank on a Match 35 !!! That must have been one of the most diabolicaly stupid designs ever ... they couldn't even get the access hatch (all 6" x 4" of it in line with the tank cap to get a rod or even arm in !!

 

[richardbrennan]

One side of my shroud attachment plate on my Westerly Ocean 33 was totally inaccessible behind some lacquered wooden panelling. When we inevitably had a leak, we pondered long and hard about how we might get access without totally spoiling the interior look of the saloon, and finally came up with the idea of fitting a fairly large loudspeaker in the panel, which not only gave the access needed, but also noticeably improved the sound quality on board. This might be useful for anyone else having a similar problem. We only had to destroy the side of a cupboard to get at the other side, this had been attached with adhesive, the replacement is now screwed!