Today we did it. Foolish, it may be; but we agreed to buy a boat, with a view to electric conversion.
In the midst of a pandemic? When we couldn’t even travel to see it? And immediately after losing a good job at UKAEA, which I loved? (EU funded, January 2021 was … interesting…)
Yeah. Not ideal.
But the price is right, and the boat is too. Unknown work to be done, definitely well into the “big project” territory, and we know there’s been water inside (tide marks visible in the photos, etc). And definite leaks from main cabin windows. And a diesel which is declared seized.
But it’s a Westerly (and I have good memories of Westerlies as a kid, Dad had a few of them, they’re very solidly built). And it’s a Chieftain (only 79 built, though I’ve seen 66 from different sources) which adds a little scarcity value (and, well, memories of pre-teen holidays on Dad’s one – Zulu Fox). We have been assured that the hull is watertight; and that’s the main thing TBH: The fibreglass is well built, and the rest can be sorted.
Basically a Chieftain is a Centaur with an aft cabin rather than the quarter-berths (so no vast aft locker, weighing down the stern with all the clobber that accumulates there, but instead a couple of lockers in the front of the cockpit, which may be useful for cockpit accessible need-to-keep-dry but near-to-the-motors-and-batteries stuff, if needed). And the cockpit is very enclosed, sheltered, good for both the other half and the dog.
Well, here we go. More later, when we get to see her…
https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/chieftain-26-westerly
