Westerly Seahawk. Good liveaboard??

Lots of people have taken seahawks down to the med and a shoal draft is ideal if you want to do the canals. The later oceanquest has more modern styling. For their size they have excellent interior accommodation.
 
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Seahawk very popular as accommodation good for size. Downside seems to be high and cramped cockpit. Usual Westerly problems of variable finish down below, particularly headlinings and of course the basic issue that they are now old boats so variable condition and equipment. Engines mostly coming up for renewal so useful to find one already done. Bilge keel will not perform as well as fin, but obviously more versatile if you are cruising in areas that dry.
 
You get what you pay for!
We are biased, six seasons and still convinced.

Yes, you could get a faster boat. But not one more comfortable, reliable or reassuring. The high cockpit gives a sense of comfort, keeps you dry and helps you see what is going on.

In mast reefing and reefing job with a cruising chute makes for a manageable boat with you and a supportive crew.

Excellent galley and it can be used comfortably for living and entertaining aboard. Maybe build a freezer under the outer sink

The aft cabin is comfortable, the fore cabin can be used for visitors. There is loads of space for storage - especially if there are only 2 of you with occasional visitors.

Fix the headlining not a big job, but worthwhile.

The Volvo 2003 is great if it has been looked after - otherwise get one with a new engine.

Good diesel capacity and water tank.

Install lots of batteries and a decent cockpit tent to really make the most of it.

Altogether a great boat, if not a greyhound.
 
I dont think you can get a much better liveaboard for the money. I've been looking for a while now for a comfy CC boat at around that price range.

I narrowed it down to the Seahawk, Moody 346 and Colvic Countess 33. In the end I got a good deal on an Oceanquest, same hull as the Seahawk. I would go for the fin, they're not the best sailors anyway so the fin will help, and you would still get through the canals with that draft.
 
Gwylan said:
You get what you pay for!
We are biased, six seasons and still convinced.

Yes, you could get a faster boat. But not one more comfortable, reliable or reassuring. The high cockpit gives a sense of comfort, keeps you dry and helps you see what is going on.

In mast reefing and reefing job with a cruising chute makes for a manageable boat with you and a supportive crew.

Excellent galley and it can be used comfortably for living and entertaining aboard. Maybe build a freezer under the outer sink

The aft cabin is comfortable, the fore cabin can be used for visitors. There is loads of space for storage - especially if there are only 2 of you with occasional visitors.

Fix the headlining not a big job, but worthwhile.

The Volvo 2003 is great if it has been looked after - otherwise get one with a new engine.

Good diesel capacity and water tank.

Install lots of batteries and a decent cockpit tent to really make the most of it.

Altogether a great boat, if not a greyhound.
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Agree 1000% with this these comments. We have an Oceandream (seahawk variant) and as a liveaboard it is excellent. Easily handled by self & swmbo,and plenty of room for friends to visit. Headlining problems are common to Westerlys and are easily fixed.
Built for comfort,not for speed,but 8-9 knots is achievable in good conditions.
Spare parts readily obtainable from Trafalgar Yacht Services.
 
We lived on board our Seahawk for about eight years, lots of living and storage space below deck for her length. Not close winded but once off the wind she picked her skirt up and would cruise very nicely. The longer we had her the higher the waterline was. When she was sold we took two and a half tons of weight off (including 45ltr of spirits) and her waterline was back where it started. She looked after us very well and is still the favourite boat of SWMBO.

j
 
jamesmar said:
Agree 1000% with this these comments.
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Well I would too, apart from:
"Fix the headlining not a big job, but worthwhile."
It is a huge job, and very expensive - even if you get the pre-cut stuff and fit it yourself you're looking at £1000+

"The Volvo 2003 is great if it has been looked after - otherwise get one with a new engine."
I dont disagree with this, but these engines were very common for this age/size of boat, and about half I've looked at have replaced them, and about half the engine questions on ybw are about 2003s (every seahawk I looked had the 2003 replaced)
 
johnwest said:
We lived on board our Seahawk for about eight years, lots of living and storage space below deck for her length. Not close winded but once off the wind she picked her skirt up and would cruise very nicely. The longer we had her the higher the waterline was. When she was sold we took two and a half tons of weight off (including 45ltr of spirits) and her waterline was back where it started. She looked after us very well and is still the favourite boat of SWMBO.

j
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Our's is beginning to look that way as well!!
 
SvenglishTommy said:
Well I would too, apart from:
"Fix the headlining not a big job, but worthwhile."
It is a huge job, and very expensive - even if you get the pre-cut stuff and fit it yourself you're looking at £1000+

"The Volvo 2003 is great if it has been looked after - otherwise get one with a new engine."
I dont disagree with this, but these engines were very common for this age/size of boat, and about half I've looked at have replaced them, and about half the engine questions on ybw are about 2003s (every seahawk I looked had the 2003 replaced)
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The headlining can be a big job,depending on how extensive the "droop" is I tackled the worst bits first,area by area over a couple of seasons & it's not too bad once you have got the hang of it.. like most things.
The engine is not difficult to look after..Clean fuel,oil and air are essential as for any diesel, most problems seem to arise from underuse and neglect,but a new engine would of course be an attractive selling point.
 
Everyone keeps on about the engine, but as is the case with ANY boat of that age..
We have a boat from 1981 with a Volvo MD17C and, touch wood, we've had no major problems..
 
You might also consider the Corsair. A little bigger, faster and probably more able to deal with bigger seas, the cockpit not so high relative to loa, and in my experience at least, not a lot of difference in price. I'm biased of course....
 
We're in our third year of Seahawk ownership and are generally delighted with the boat. I'd agree with most of the positive comments already made.

The cockpit size makes it quite secure in rough weather. I am unconvinced by the argument about height above the water making for excessive motion. Being nearer the centre of gravity than that of boats with aft cockpits I reckon some of the latter will not only throw people about more but will also be wetter.

The adverse comments made about headlings don't seem to apply to our boat, an early 34. We have ash faced ply headlings that appear to be original. These are excellent, both to look at and for taking down when access is needed.

I would be happy to live aboard our Seahawk but it wouldn't be my choice of boat for long distance cruising. It's an excellent coastal cruiser and for trundling across the English Channel or Irish Sea etc. For longer passages I'd prefer a more heavy displacement design.

If you will be living aboard and doing your own maintenance the twin keel version would be best, so long as you're in tidal waters. The ability to dry the boat out seems very useful, when needing to deal with both routine and emergency jobs. (We have a fin keeler and are thinking of getting legs for our boat.)

Our decision to buy a Seahawk was made after a year's careful consideration. We could not find another boat we preferred at less than three times the price. We knew that we'd want to have a new(ish) engine and lots of other fittings and budgeted to spend £30,000 on these items. The total expenditure was very close to our original expectation.

I appreciate that a particular boat may appear attractive to one person but less so to another. From a purely personal perspective we much prefer the 34's coachroof portlights and its less raked, more traditional transom.

Good luck with your decision.

PS - if you buy a Seahawk and want to ask questions about the boat we've found the YBW forums much more useful than the Westerly Owners Association.
 
Just to echo Cspirit's comments, the corsair (and it's older brotehr the conway) are probably much better seaboats, and feel quite a bit bigger. There's a nice looking one in France but they're asking 50K for it, which is a lot more than I paid for the oceanquest.

Do make sure you have a look at the moody 34/346 (there are loads of them in the med on the market at the moment so you could probably get a really good deal on one). Have a look at a colvic countess 33 as well if you can, they are very underated boats so you can pick them up quite cheaply - I missed out on one that went for 35K with a new engine and was extremely well specced out in all departments, whoever bought it got a super deal.

I've looked at(and had surveyed) quite a few boats in this category on the market in the med recently so PM me if you intend to look at one and maybe I can give you a heads up.
 
We own the later OceanQuest version, Aft Cockpit, and rate it very highly. Very sturdy and will protect you from all kinds of nasty weather, if you're unfortunate to be caught out. Not the fastest, but if you're living on board, then most of the time you're probably not in a hurry anyway.

Depending on whether you sail in the Med in warm conditions, or in the chillier and potentially more adverse conditions of the North, then an aft cockpit could be a good option.

Advantages are that you have much more room outside, which is where you spend more time in warmer climates, and as long as you have a good sprayhood, then you don't get wet either.

Also, the living quarters are larger, and you have 2 proper seaberths. The downside is the aft cabin is smaller, but if you only use it for sleeping, then the OceanQuest AC is the best one in that particular market.

We also decided against the Moody 346 because if you spend any time in the galley, then you're either very short, or prone to banging your head.

Saggy headliners? Definitely a problem, we just take it bit by bit, scraping off the old foam and replacing with high durability non-absorbent ones (there is an excellent PBO article on this from the beginning of this year, which explains how to do it cheaply and to a high standard, as well as the material to use).

Hope that helps, if you want any other info on the OceanQuest AC in particular, feel free to PM me.

Happy hunting
 
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