Windy boats, what’s the general consensus, good or bad ?

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Parabolica

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As per thread title, can i ask from those of you who know, about the Windy brand of boats.
in my own very limited following of motor boats i have always believed them to be high quality boats, built well and capable of great performance and most of all, great seakeeping when the going suddenly gets rough. But is this just great marketing ?

One thing which i’m sure appears accuracte, is that this brand has always benefitted from good residual values when it comes to selling and that i would have thought goes hand in hand with a quality product.

Please share your views ?

P.S. I have already seen the thread on YBW about the fuel tank leak on the new Windy boat.
 
We've had a windy 25 mirage and a 37 grand mistral for a number of years ,decent boats,well built, good sea keeping, lives up to the reputation. Sold them both last year

No problems.
 
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Lots of history available on the interweb. The famous designer (Jan Linge) worked for e. g. Windy, Draco, Fjord, KMW and others, who share same looks and properties. The Draco 18' daycruiser even was sold under the Coronet name.
Windy always focused on open sports boats despite being Norwegian, where the weather can be on the cold side.
 
Very popular boat in my part of the world (Empuriabrava, Costa Brava). I’ve always liked the look of all their models, seem to hit the right balance of functionality and good looks.
Will be expensive but very sellable come the day.
Never quite liked the name “Windy” in large letters down the hull but I guess “Flatulence” is too longer word. :)
 
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Just to expand on my comments a little, both our windys were 2007 models, and they had a few minor issues that I think were common to all windys of that vintage.

- The caulk that they used on the teak decking started to go all sticky leaving black marks on people after around 6-7 years - this will have been fixed by now on most boats
- The rubber sealant used to hold the glass in place in the windscreen frame was starting to fail last year on the windy 25, this might just be a med problem - ie the strong sunlight causes it to fail sooner than boats in colder locations - I dont know, not difficult to sort though, but annoying all the same.
- The cabin headlining started to sag on the windy 25 after around 6 years - a common issue with a lot of boats, not just windys

Aside from these minor points, the boats themselves were good, they do go well, and are well made (not withstanding the above) . They use high quality hard wearing fabrics on all the cushions etc, The hulls are solid, fixtures and fittings are good quality .

They are expensive compared to a lot of other boats, but I dont think you'll lose too much money on one if you buy right.

We've just bought a new axopar to replace the two windys, and I dont think it'll wear the years as well as the windys did, but time will tell.
 
There is a 37 Shamal in a nearby marina to me. Seen it out in the chop a few times and it has great presence, just looks quality. Enviable performance and sea keeping go with those good looks. Never seen it with a canopy on though (model specific here) and no radar arch to support one, but it looked to keep dry if not cold (at least where I am). Without the latter I'd say it reduces it's flexibility. (saying while acknowledging there are sedan models etc)
 
I worked for a Windy dealer some years ago I have commisioned and delivered every model up to the Xanthos 52 up and down the coast of Norway and they are in the top 3 boats I want to be in when it blows up. The other 2 are Botnia Targa and Paragon. Windy somehow get the balance point spot on so they don’t slam, in fact they ride better the faster you go. I once took a 32 footer up the coast to Bergen in a heavy swell that would see a lot of boats down to displacement speeds, the boat would do 40 knts but I happily cruised at 30 knts in comfort and I don’t believe in abusing boats. I call them the greyhound of the sea as they consistently run faster than equivalent boats when the going gets tough.
 
spannerman said:
I worked for a Windy dealer some years ago I have commisioned and delivered every model up to the Xanthos 52 up and down the coast of Norway and they are in the top 3 boats I want to be in when it blows up. The other 2 are Botnia Targa and Paragon. Windy somehow get the balance point spot on so they don’t slam, in fact they ride better the faster you go. I once took a 32 footer up the coast to Bergen in a heavy swell that would see a lot of boats down to displacement speeds, the boat would do 40 knts but I happily cruised at 30 knts in comfort and I don’t believe in abusing boats. I call them the greyhound of the sea as they consistently run faster than equivalent boats when the going gets tough.
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That's an excellent endorsement
 
We have a 35 khamsin and I’m still blown away by her handling, so sure footed and as already stated sometimes to answer is go quicker !! youll pay for this when buying compared to others but they seem to hold the price well and are solidly built. As Julian’s said that doesn’t mean they are issue free, we too have had the same minor issues ie sticky caulking & headlining but all easy to fix.
 
Check well this!
Windy was one of the first to go resin infusion with parts of its bottom cored. Some of the 2000-10 boats better check for delamination.
I know of a 35 Khamsin brand new which after its first season delaminated, which to be fair was taken back for repairs.
After this the replacement boat had its stringer base go lose, this was repaired again.
I heard some other stories about this so you better check it out.

The nineties and eighties boats never had these problems to be fair, and this rule only applied to the boats the yard switched in building this way.
For example the Grand Mistral or Mistral series was never switched to this method.
I do not know much of the newer ones, cause we do not see much of them in recent years.

For the rest all is correct. I remember running the 22 Sport in comparison with a Sunseeker 20 Mustang in a one meter chop in the end of the eighties.
The Windy while a bit slower was such a better sea boat to the Sunseeker. Fabulous boat.
 
I’ve had a few windy’s on my books which had issues such as osmosis & lose stringers etc ( early 2000 boats) but other than that I’m a big fan of them & I like their style.
 
Yeah,I had heard anecdotes about some windys suffering from osmosis and issues with stringers,but never seen it first hand.
 
To me there are several examples of quality being sacrificed when manufacturers get in a pinch to 'do or die', often times when their knowledgeable staff had already been laid off.

What options did they have? As lower production costs became key, the hard thing was to balance price and quality to eventually being 'good value' in a competing market.

Several ol' day quality names were forced to outsource production to low labor countries and while such places might be able to keep a high quality, even they can't do it without knowledge transfer, QA monitoring and KPI's, consequently pushing the cost. In that balance, when cost is all, quality is compromised.

When 'optimization' involves new ways of working, it commonly takes some iterations to get the cost/quality balance right.
Many are getting there, but the obvious 'boats made in the old days' attraction is completely understandable.
 
Thanks for the feedback everyone. It would appear that the consensus is overall positive. This boat is an 09 build with low hours but enough to know that anything untoward in the build would of course have made itself known by now.

One thing that for me on the Windy is a negative is that it doesn’t have a garage so tender or jet ski has to be exposed on the platform. Need to get my head around what real world impact this has aside of aesthetic.

I think i have now to get clear in my head, do i want to trade off space for performance, and look into the yearly ownership costs which inevitably will be so much lower with the Windy.
 
Parabolica said:
Thanks for the feedback everyone. It would appear that the consensus is overall positive. This boat is an 09 build with low hours but enough to know that anything untoward in the build would of course have made itself known by now.

One thing that for me on the Windy is a negative is that it doesn’t have a garage so tender or jet ski has to be exposed on the platform. Need to get my head around what real world impact this has aside of aesthetic.

I think i have now to get clear in my head, do i want to trade off space for performance, and look into the yearly ownership costs which inevitably will be so much lower with the Windy.
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Which model are you looking at ….
 
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