Westerly Oceanquest on the ocean?

SvenglishTommy

SvenglishTommy

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I'm about to go and look at an Oceanquest which is very reasonably priced with a view to crossing the atlantic in it. They seem like pretty nice boats, and good value for a 1996 35'er that's solidly built.

I've seen people commenting on the height of the centre cockpit, which does seem a bit far off the ground, so would be very interested in owners/sailers comments on this.

My main concern with the boat is the fact that it seems to have no sea berths at all. When I am questing oceans am I supposed to sleep on the floor? I only need one sea berth as I'll be either single handing or 2 up, so would be keen to here from anyone who's done long passages in one.

Thanks,

Tom
 
According to the WOA definitive guide at http://www.westerly-owners.co.uk/guides_9.php, the Oceanquest CC "...is a big and bold step away from tradition, and it works wonderfully. What a delight to have such commodious berths and such a comfortable saloon! Naturally, such a big step sideways has its price, and this is the total lack of seaberths...."

However, the aft cockpit version has a similar layout to our Storm, where both settees in the main cabin can be used as seaberths with leecloths.
 
Check the width of the saloon berths we were put off buying one cos the berths are only 13" wide . Not exactly lounging width .
 
prv said:
Sure, but according to the Yachtsnet archive pics, this boat has a centreline double at each end and no other berths.

Pete
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I meant for the saloon settee(s), then take the back cushions off to increase width a bit, not exactly luxury I know but it works...
 
We have a Seahawk 34. The Oceanquest is a development of that. I expect you've read the WOA definitive guide The Seahawks and Their Sisters.

Our aft cabin differs from the Oceanquest in having a hullside double berth rather than an island one. We've had no problem sleeping in the aft cabin whilst on pasage. The motion there seems no different from that felt in the saloon. You'd just need to rig one leecloth each side of the berth.

I suppose if the sea state was particularly violent a split mattress would be better, so that leecloths could be fitted each side of a single width section of mattress.

We've heard various stories of the exaggerated motion that should be felt in a centre cockpit. All I can say is that it's never been a problem for us. The cockpit is quite small and, whilst not deep, does feel very secure in difficult water. Having a substantial sprayhood means that we almost never get wet when helming, unless it's raining (in which case we sit inside the sprayhood and steer with the autopilot).

I sometimes wonder whether the criticisms of centre cockpits are based more on theory than experience.

We use our boat as a home, for periods of 3 to 10 days, usually for the two of us and sometimes also for one or two other family members. It's excellent in that role. However we rarely travel more than 80M in 3 days or 200M in 10. The Seahawks etc. are not really long distance cruising boats.
 
SvenglishTommy said:
I'm about to go and look at an Oceanquest which is very reasonably priced with a view to crossing the atlantic in it. They seem like pretty nice boats, and good value for a 1996 35'er that's solidly built.

I've seen people commenting on the height of the centre cockpit, which does seem a bit far off the ground, so would be very interested in owners/sailers comments on this.

Tom
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Centre cockpits attract comment generally from those who have no experience of them. I've had one now for 13 seasons - wouldn't return to an aft cockpit - what's the point?
Stay drier - you don't need dodgers in a CC version. Better vision all round. I've never had sea slosh down the stairway. Better layout below - usually more aft cabin / galley / heads headroom accompanies the CC.

Interesting that most of the respected Scandinavian designs are CC.

There is a cosmetic downside - for all these advantages the CC hull acually looks higher, as you say, therefore shorter than a cockpit version - this is too much for those who want to feel the length of the boat, know what I mean?

PWG
 
Coaster said:
We have a Seahawk 34. The Oceanquest is a development of that. I expect you've read the WOA definitive guide The Seahawks and Their Sisters.

Our aft cabin differs from the Oceanquest in having a hullside double berth rather than an island one. We've had no problem sleeping in the aft cabin whilst on pasage. The motion there seems no different from that felt in the saloon. You'd just need to rig one leecloth each side of the berth.

I suppose if the sea state was particularly violent a split mattress would be better, so that leecloths could be fitted each side of a single width section of mattress.

We've heard various stories of the exaggerated motion that should be felt in a centre cockpit. All I can say is that it's never been a problem for us. The cockpit is quite small and, whilst not deep, does feel very secure in difficult water. Having a substantial sprayhood means that we almost never get wet when helming, unless it's raining (in which case we sit inside the sprayhood and steer with the autopilot).

I sometimes wonder whether the criticisms of centre cockpits are based more on theory than experience.

We use our boat as a home, for periods of 3 to 10 days, usually for the two of us and sometimes also for one or two other family members. It's excellent in that role. However we rarely travel more than 80M in 3 days or 200M in 10. The Seahawks etc. are not really long distance cruising boats.
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I too have been regaled on occasion with opinions about presumed exagerrated gyrations of centre cockpits but hand on heart I can tell you these fanciful notions are not based on any reality. To the contrary, I have found mine to have seakindly features that make sailing in heavy weather a pleasure.

I have four sea berths. Two are in the saloon (boarded) and two in the alleway (lee clothed). My total berth complement is 10. I have full headroom nearly throughout.
 
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My dream boat.....I think that huge aft cabin double bed is great.....but I wouldnt be crossing an ocean, or a sea, even....but a beautiful boat.
 
jellylegs said:
My dream boat.....I think that huge aft cabin double bed is great.....but I wouldnt be crossing an ocean, or a sea, even....but a beautiful boat.
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I have an Oceanquest on at the moment and for a 35 ft boat the aft cabin is first class, it feels as big as my own Moody 38. But what I like about the Oceanquest is that the galley is self contained and not a walk through to a head or another cabin.

Westerly designed the layout rather well and it has many similarities to a Hallberg Rassy configuration.

As for the centre cockpit thing, its an urban myth. There have been some cc's that just look wrong and too dumpy, but I have crossed the Atlantic in a cc Westerly Corsair, and taken a cc Moody 38 from the Caribbean to New York and felt incredibly safe and comfortable. In a following Atlantic swell not being sat two feet from it with nothing separating us but a guard wire, as I would have been in an aft cockpit boat, was rather comforting.
 
Why look at a Corsair.

Its a Corsair you need a very different boat to the Seahawk dispite what may be said about them, Mine has two sea berths in the saloon and a great pilot berth Port side just aft of the Chart table seat. A huge aft cabin with Heads, Needless to say I have one and have had her for 20 years and wouldn't change if I could. But I suppose I might be a little biased. There are several on the market and at reasonable prices as they are now getting a bit old fashioned.
Good luck with your search regards Mike.
 
Thanks for the input guys. The problem is that, as PRV points out, it has those arm chairs on one side and the other side is a U setee. I guess if this converts to a double a lee cloth could be added and it could be padded out to make a reasonable berth. Not sure I like the idea of sleeping in an island berth at sea, even with lee cloths at both sides.

I've looked at all the other westerly CC models as well, and I am very familiar with the Conway, so I have no CC issues. All the other models have good sea berths though, but other than that the Oceanquest looks very nice indeed - especially the galley - and this one is priced at a very tempting level indeed.
 
SvenglishTommy said:
Thanks for the input guys. The problem is that, as PRV points out, it has those arm chairs on one side and the other side is a U setee. I guess if this converts to a double a lee cloth could be added and it could be padded out to make a reasonable berth. Not sure I like the idea of sleeping in an island berth at sea, even with lee cloths at both sides.

I've looked at all the other westerly CC models as well, and I am very familiar with the Conway, so I have no CC issues. All the other models have good sea berths though, but other than that the Oceanquest looks very nice indeed - especially the galley - and this one is priced at a very tempting level indeed.
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We added lee cloths to our Corsair and Moody 38....

Then ended up sleeping in the aft cabin on passage! We found you could wedge yourself in nicely with some pillows or a rolled up duvet.

If we compared the number of nights at sea to the number of nights in port, the large aft berth would have won the argument anyhow.
 
I cannot agree with myth point. I did a couple of my RYA courses in a Seahawk, I have sailed an Oceanquest CC and a friend has a Moody Excel 34. What I find disconcerting is that when the boat is on the wind and well heeled, it looks an awful long way down to the water if one is sitting on the usual windward side. The impression I get is that you are sitting "on" rather than "in" the boat. Obviously some people do not find this an issue so surely the advice should be "try before you buy" and this does not mean sitting on it in a nice marina.
 
I have a Moody 346 which has a centre cockpit and I don't feel high up even when she lists. Since most modern aft cockpit boats have a double berth beneath the cockpit I don't think the cockpit sole is much lower than on a CC.
Also I do feel more secure in the cockpit than on my previous boat which had an aft cockpit.

PS I prefer to sit to leeward when sailing. I find it more comfortable and easier to watch and trim sails.
 
richardbrennan said:
...it looks an awful long way down to the water...
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I expect that you'd find the same on any boat that's larger (in any way) than the one you're used to. No doubt someone moving from a 20' keelboat to a 40' cruiser would percieve an even greater difference in height above the water.

My wife's favourite helming position on our Seahawk is sitting on the windward cockpit coaming immediately aft of the sprayhood, where the wheel falls readily to hand - another advantage of a small cockpit!
 
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