Westerly Centaur - Any suggestions

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KentishPirate

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Good Evening

I'm going to look at this boat on Monday. Got hooked on sailing in the past few years, up to coastal skipper, done all the shorebased etc. and am ready and keen to start skippering myself and building up experience, and being able to enjoy sailing when I want. Looking, if I get this, to bring it back to the Medway myself, and do a lot of East coast weekend cruising. I will be mostly single-handed, I think.

https://uk.boats.com/sailing-boats/1978-westerly-centaur-10077921/

Anyway, any thoughts or suggestions please share.
 
It's had a lot done. Replacement engine is a good thing. No information on the jib, it may be past it and need replacing. It seems a little odd to me (maybe I'm missing something?) that it seems to have gold-anodised mast and boom like original Centaurs but it also apparently has in mast furling... a lot hinges on whether that conversion was done well.

If your wish is fundamentally for a Centaur or Centaur-like boat, providing the furling is OK, you could do a lot worse. You could get broadly similar with different provisos for a bit less. You could get sportier boats needing a bit more work for comparable money, if you have money, time, skill and energy to do it. I'd do that, but I enjoy the work.

Personally I don't think I would buy that one, but I'm in a different place in terms of what I want...then again if I owned it I'd go have a lot of fun with it (presuming the furling works) and not worry about what it wasn't.
 
She looks great, but I reckon a tad expensive with the (perhaps) furling stuff, only a single domestic battery to go with the tiller pilot, which would swiftly consume that power under sail. I believe that if they'd been on the spec, and that the 'headlining areas' looked better, then full price would be OK, but they're not, so an offer should reflect that.
However, she's clearly been looked after and 'kept right' I'd say, so you'd not be going far wrong.
 
Ad says she has a heater, not that common on smaller lower-cost boats (and rather less important in Kent than in Scotland!). Van-linering the missing headlining is no big deal. Single domestic battery is also fairly typical and unworrying - in proportion with the boat's ability to charge it. Sure there are better arrangements, but more involved.

If it's the kind of boat you want I think it's well worth having a look, it will stand or fall based on factors you can't really tell from the ad.
 
Thank you all for your replies, I've got relatively little experience but it's encouraging that I'm not totally surprised with what you've said.

It has had a lot done. The owner was quite proud let's say of the newish Yanmar, and sent me the previous survey from 2018. I think the listing, although it's through a yachtbrokers, is actually written by the owner. He did mention that the diesel heater has been removed and put on his new boat, he said something about he fitted it himself and didn't want to "sign it off" for someone else.

I'm not looking for sporty, I'm looking for a proper, foolproof beginner's boat, that is in good enough nick that I can just sail and upgrade,repair, fix, paint etc. bit by bit. I have some skill, some money, and some time. Hopefully I'll get more skill and more money but they've stopped fabricating more time and what little I have I'd like to enjoy out on the water.

I too am a bit 50/50 on the inmast furling, people I've spoken to are either neutral on it or say it depends on how it was fitted and the age, apparently as they get older and baggier it's trickier to furl.

And on the price, I think the seller rightly is leaning on it's been well looked after and the good engine, but the state of the headlining, the removal of the diesel heater and I can't quite work out from the listing if it has GPS or not, I can see the bracket and in the survey from 2018 it mentions it, but it's not mentioned so I'm guessing that's gone. I'd like to reinstate the gas, I'll need some chartplotting system and the first job will be to do something with the headlining, for me it's not a dealbreaker but the griminess of it will get on my nerves after a while.

If it's listed at 7.7k, what do you think would be a fair offer, provided everything's as per listing and survey and test sail?
 
New engine is a huge plus. A lot of boat for the money. I think getting something like this to extend your sailing experience is a smashing idea.
Despite the low cost i would get a survey as centaurs can suffer from their keel stubs needing reinforcement. Most will have been fixed by now.
Looks good to me.

P.s. do not worry about gps. I like many others use a normal tablet as a chartpotter using navionics software.
 
That's towards the top end of what anybody should pay for a Centaur these days, however it's got new engine, standing rigging, and mainsail, which are all big plus points.

Very unusual to have in mast at that size. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if it's an after market conversion it may not be great. You'll also lose some sail area and the Centaur isn't exactly over canvassed to start with.

Replacing the heater is no problem if the ducting etc has been left in place. Just buy a Chinese one for under £100 and away you go.

Surprised that it's got that original upholstery. I'd take a close look at that. Not cheap to replace.

They're good solid boats, not exactly fast but you're not going to get more space in 26ft and it'll look after you. Good luck!
 
potentillaCO32 said:
New engine is a huge plus. A lot of boat for the money. I think getting something like this to extend your sailing experience is a smashing idea.
Despite the low cost i would get a survey as centaurs can suffer from their keel stubs needing reinforcement. Most will have been fixed by now.
Looks good to me.

P.s. do not worry about gps. I like many others use a normal tablet as a chartpotter using navionics software.
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Thanks. I will definitely get a survey, but I believe the keel has already been reinforced (you can see the winged reinforcements in the keel photos)
 
Sea Change said:
That's towards the top end of what anybody should pay for a Centaur these days, however it's got new engine, standing rigging, and mainsail, which are all big plus points.

Very unusual to have in mast at that size. Not necessarily a bad thing, but if it's an after market conversion it may not be great. You'll also lose some sail area and the Centaur isn't exactly over canvassed to start with.

Replacing the heater is no problem if the ducting etc has been left in place. Just buy a Chinese one for under £100 and away you go.

Surprised that it's got that original upholstery. I'd take a close look at that. Not cheap to replace.

They're good solid boats, not exactly fast but you're not going to get more space in 26ft and it'll look after you. Good luck!
Click to expand...
Thanks. I'll make sure to ask. He's only removed the heater, not the ducting.

What do I need to check about the upholstery? because it's 1970s flammable foam ?
 
KentishPirate said:
Thanks. I'll make sure to ask. He's only removed the heater, not the ducting.

What do I need to check about the upholstery? because it's 1970s flammable foam ?
Click to expand...
Yes just that if it's tatty with flat foam then you'll be in for a bit of a shock when you replace it. It's one of those jobs that you really want another owner to pay for!
Would you be happy with a 50yr old sofa?
If lightly used, it might be alright, of course.
 
Having sailed on a76 Centaur then new which before it was sold had headlining replaced don’t underestimate cost of the exercise if done well -join the westerly owners association and members there will tell you current prices for headliner work . I would shy away from inmast on such a small mainsail . If suggest you join westerly owners association for more info on centaur issues. You gone say if any mooring can be continued a d where’re you plan to keep though
 
ashtead said:
Having sailed on a76 Centaur then new which before it was sold had headlining replaced don’t underestimate cost of the exercise if done well -join the westerly owners association and members there will tell you current prices for headliner work . I would shy away from inmast on such a small mainsail . If suggest you join westerly owners association for more info on centaur issues. You gone say if any mooring can be continued a d where’re you plan to keep though
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Thanks. The Westerly Assoc. is a good idea.

I haven't asked if the berth at Kemp's Quay can be continued yet, I'm guessing the fact it's not mentioned in the listing means it probably isn't.
I've heard the headlining is quite an expensive job, hence why he hasn't done it. I've seen some interesting alternatives, one listing used wooden shiplap and another UPVC soffit boards. The soffits looked quite nice to be honest, no insulation behind it though.

The inmast is the only thing I'm reluctant about.

I intend to keep it at Queenborough to begin with. I know it reasonably well and they'll take me straight away. After that I might try and join a club, maybe Segas, MYC or LHYC.
 
Are you intending on making use of the bilge keel e.g. with a drying mooring? I wouldn't have in mast furling at this size, or in fact on any boat I could ever afford, can only make slow boat slower.
 
Looking at the listing, the Centaur looks in good condition. My comment is the fore cabin has had the foam backed vinyl removed and needs replacing. This job is possible to do yourself, but will cost about £500 for materials. If this is not within your skill set, then budget at least £500 for labour to do this. The price is about £2000 over others I have recently seen when assisting a friend to buy a Centaur, who is on the Medway in Chatham Marina. (I have sailed the Medway since the mid 1960's until last year.)

You may find my PowerPoint presentation on fitting foam backed vinyl in my Fulmar of interest.

https://wiki.westerly-owners.co.uk/images/1/17/Vinyl_Headling_Concerto_PowerPoint.pdf

There is plenty of information about Centaurs on the Westerly Owners Association web site.

Centaur - Westerly-Wiki

You may find the Centaurs on the WOA web site worth looking at, especially the one on the Medway at £6000.

Craft for Sale

Hope these links are of use to you and best of luck in finding the right Centaur for you.

If you need any information about berths on the Medway I should be able to advise.
 
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