"Charlie Morgan" wrote
I'm interested in opinions on Westsail 32's in general.

It's the perfect boat for a fictional character.


Maxprop wrote:
"Wetsnail" 32s are seriously overbuilt, which can be a distinct advantage
when the going gets rough.

Well, they're very heavily built. That's not necessarily the
same as being very strongly built. I understand there were
several different builders and some QA problems.

Remember the story from the Baja, where a sudden storm blew
a lot of anchroed cruising boats ashore, including a
Westsail 32 and an Olson 40. The Olson had scratches. The
Westsail was in pieces.


You may recall the one that survived "The
Perfect Storm" despite being abandoned.


A great recommendation for somebody who is going to ignore
weather forecasts.

FWIW almost any boat that didn't have major leaks is likely
to survive a really bad storm, provided she doesn't
encounter a really bad combination of waves by chance. OTOH,
if the luck is really bad, nothing is going to survive no
matter how heavy.


A friend had one for years, and while I used to blow him a lot of crap about
it, it really was a boat of some merit. In light air it could be terribly
frustrating. Under 10kts. it generally sailed along at 3kts. or so and just
didn't seem to 'free up.' It was not particularly weatherly in such winds,
leading one to use the diesel to weather in anything under 15kts.


Your friend must have had good sails, a lightly loaded
boat, and been a good sailor. I've never seen one move at
all under sail when there were't whitecaps.



However when the wind blew (15kts. and above) it came into its element. We
often beat longer, faster boats, such as C&C 34s and 36s to weather, and on
beam or close reaches.

?? ??
You're joking. Or the other boats were anchored.

... Downwind she doesn't make that sort of speed, but
she wasn't particularly slow either. We once sailed her on a beam reach for
about 12 straight hours of 20+ kts.--made a bit better than 80nm, and in
complete comfort.


Comfort is the strong point. The boats feel very solid and
the motion is very smooth. Kinda small inside but the
factory offered layouts were very practical and made the most.


Just before he sold the boat and bought a trawler we installed a couple of
thru-hulls. That hull near the point where the bottom fairs into the keel
is amazingly thick--about 1.5"+ solid lay-up.

I saw a guy putting a thru-hull in a one of the more
piratey-looking crab crushers, and he had been bragging
about his thick thick thick hull. "Back then, they didn't
know how strong fiberglass was" was one of his favorite
sayings. Well, as he worked on the hull, he started finding
odd things.... hull lay-up with headlines, or scraps of what
looked like indoor-outdoor carpet.

I'm not saying Westsail did stuff like that. I'm just saying
that really really thick fiberglass is not, all by itself, a
great recommendation.


.... Under diesel--a 24hp
Universal in my friend's case--she makes 5.5kts without straining.

I think "without strain" is a good descriptor for the whole
boat & it's operation. The cockpit is well laid out, as is
the deck although it's bit crowded for my taste. The rig &
it's gear is properly done and nothing takes gut-busting
effort. I love the bulwarks. The nicest thing is that the
boat is very steady underfoot, no bounciness... anti-bouncy,
if anything. One downside of this characteristic is that
they tend to throw spray in a chop.

The Westsail 32 is often described as a "Colin Archer" type
but it's really not. It's more like a workboat that looks
Colin Archer-ish. There is little flare and little keel salient.

Fresh Breezes- Doug King