Whitewater Wolfe

[Guest]

In my boatless state, I have come across the above. She is 45ft with twin CATs and looks like she is doing 30 knts just tied to the pontoon. I believe she was Westerly yacht's foray into motor cruisers (which did not last too long). Anyway she is available quite handily priced ( as she has been on the market for quite long time but initially overpriced) but when I look, she has a curved windscreen which has a large crack in it. This raises two questions

a) How to get that repaired and how much?

b) Perhaps more importantly, how did it happen? There is no evidence of impact damage and the concern is that it may have been caused by flexing. Anyone know if this is a problem with these boats? She does look quite heavily built but might she have a "hard spot"?

Nick

 

[longjohnsilver]

What do you think you are doing? It's not even Sept 1st and here you are looking at other boats already. What a state to get into!

 

[Guest]

I'm not replying to you as you only got me into trouble last time.

Nick

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Oh dear, Nick, you've been looking at boats instead of business plans, have'nt you? You're right in that the WW was the result of an ill fated attempt by Westerly to enter the motorboat market; they also produced a smaller 43 footer the model name of which escapes me. Both were good looking boats with an (I think) American designed hull. Unfortunately, Westerly chose to enter the market just as the late eighties recession started, a business decision which probably helps to explain why Westerly have gone bust a few times.
Your windscreen. Having just replaced a a flat windscreen element on my boat much smaller than the WW's for the thick end of £500, I would think replacing the curved screen on the WW would run into thousands even if it can be done. You'd be wise to get a firm quote before making any offer.
The good news is the Cat 3208 engines. Provided these have been maintained properly, they supposed to be bullet proof.
If you're interested I may have a copy of the original MBY test report at home somewhere as I was interested in buying a WW a while back

 

[longjohnsilver]

The wolf is based on an American hull but the smaller 43' is called a Jaguar and was commissioned by Westerly
to be designed by an Italian called Carlo Bertolotto. I happened tocome across this when looking through an old MBM this morning! I can't ever remember seeing a Jaguar on the second hand market but if the picture is anything to go by it looks very attractive.

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Jaguar, yes! I did see a Jaguar for sale a few years ago on the Hamble. V good looking boat but only a s/s handrail across the transom, if I remember correctly. Perhaps they dont get following seas in Italy?
I think Westerly only made 1 Jaguar, maybe 2 and maybe 5-10 Wolfe's? There are a couple tooling around in the Solent regularly

 

[Chris_d]

There was an article in MBM a couple of years ago, which feaured one of these, the owner was taking it up the east coast and the story was about his experiences.
Basicaly he ran it aground around Hull somewhere and the boat ended up balenced on top of some rocks at low tide, if it is the same boat and its a good chance it might be, given the low production quantity. This could explain the cracked windscreen ? it would certainly be worth looking the article up to check.
I will have it somewhere if you get stuck.

 

[Guest]

Thank you all for your replies. I think I am going to pass on this one as, although I quite like the boat (and the engine room is immaculate - not a drop of oil anywhere it should'nt be) I am a bit concerned about the rigidity of the hull. The layout also is a bit odd with three sleeping cabins which means that the galley etc is squeezed into the saloon area making it quite small for the size of boat. In fact the saloon might struggle to cope with the daytime requirements of the number of people she can sleep.

I had really thought of going for an aft cabin boat this time - Broom or maybe a Nelson type (I've seen a nice Aquafibre 38 but she has twin Volvo's and I am a bit sore with them - not so much on overall reliability but the cost of spares when you need them). I also like the Princess 435 but again I would then almost certainly be committed to Volvos.

And then there's the old will I, won't I issue when you think of the money involved!

Oh well!

Nick

 

[Deleted User YDKXO]

Exactly the reasons we rejected the WW and the strange furry blue headlining in the cabins. Nice helm seat, though!

 

[rich]

I was skipper of ww46 early 90s it was a good stong well built boat 2 cats 700hp the cabin fittings did not fall to bits like other well known makes