Home Away From Home

[westsailpat]

It's a Westsail 28' It was designed as a off shore cruising boat for two . It was built in 79' by the Westsail Company . The 28' was the baby for the Co . as they also made a 32' a 39 ' a 42' and a 43 ' a 64' was in the works but they went Tango Unicorn in 80' . Anyhow the Ms. and I are the third owner of this one , we got her in 94' . We don't really do any off shore work with her as our local Channel Islands are enough for us . Hope you enjoy the pics .

 

[FOMOGO]

Nice boat. Looks like you keep her shipshape. Mike

 

[francist]

Nice brightwork. Reminded me of a custom wheel and clinometer I built for my brother's boat a bunch of years back. His was an ex fish boat though, not near as swoopy as yours.

-frank

 

[welderr]

Very nice Pat, in a few more years I want to get something along those lines for lake Champlain . I have a ball on my little Sunfish but I wanted something bigger to be able to take people with me so I was happy to get a great deal on a 1970 O'Day Daysailer last year. It needs some work like all older boats do but It will be in the water again this year. TJ

 

[westsailpat]

Thanks TJ , Our first boat was a O'Day 23 . One good thing about being a hobby machinist is you can make stuff for your boat . Mark .

 

[welderr]

I don't know how big we will go, it depends how much the Wife takes to sailing, I think she will like it she loves Kayaking, I love trimming the sails so if she likes the helm it'll work I do want something I can tow.

 

[westsailpat]

Even a small boat (like ours) is expensive to keep in a marina , for us it's $420. a month just for the slip . But like my OP 's title it is our home away from home at least in the summer . A friend of mine bought a Catalina 32' , when I first met he and his wife ( about 4 yrs ago ) they were both enthusiastic about the boat and sailing . One day he took his wife and a friend out sailing , they stayed out a little late and it got rough and cold . Poor Don , his wife hasn't been back . Moral of that story Anita does not like to be cold wet and roughed up . Here is a picture of Don phoning Anita .

 

[welderr]

I have a friend who spends at least 2 weeks a summer cruising lake Champlain they go up into Canada and hit a lot of the cities and towns along the way and have a blast . I like the idea because I could keep the boat up there and take the train up and back during the season and tow it home in the Fall. But for now it's little day trips around here with the Day Sailor which is a lot of fun too

 

[westsailpat]

That sounds like a good idea TJ , a few life times ago the Ms. had a Catalina 22' swing keel pop top . It was a nice camper and fit on a trailer no problem that you could pull with a mini truck . But make no mistake that was a serious boat that could take some rough weather .
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=200

 

[welderr]

That sounds like a good idea TJ , a few life times ago the Ms. had a Catalina 22' swing keel pop top . It was a nice camper and fit on a trailer no problem that you could pull with a mini truck . But make no mistake that was a serious boat that could take some rough weather .
http://sailboatdata.com/viewrecord.asp?class_id=200

Hey Mark, I have actually looked at a couple Catalina 22's I think that may be the next boat. It really seems like you get what you pay for though, right now I'm not looking for a project though because some of the boats I looked at were just to far gone to be economically viable. I had a friend pick up a nice O'Day Mariner that the elderly owner seemed to love like it was a family member, he really liked my friend and really seemed relieved that it was going to find a good home and ended up giving it to him for a quarter of his asking price. My Daysailer was a semi project boat, but it's almost ready to sail again, but I have found that right now I just don't have the time for a major rebuild project when I see how long it takes to get a few things done on this one. T J