Westerly Centaur Yacht / Sailboat

The Westerly Centaur is very spacious with plenty of headroom and was built with a choice of three different interior layouts. The headroom and powerful diesel engine often make people mistake Centaurs as motor-sailers, but they actually sail very well, although as bilge-keelers they are always going to be slower to windward than similar sized fin-keelers.

There were a number of minor variations between Centaurs built in different years. Westerly Centaurs built up to the mid-70s had unsupported spade rudders, whilst later boats had half skegs.

Very early boats are distinguishable by round and not rectangular forward ports, and sometimes also had shrouds attached directly above the forward of the main saloon windows - a cause of leaks, and sometimes some stress cracking of the gelcoat around the windows

Westerly Centaurs are prone to repetitive drying out, particularly on sand or mud, placing excess sideways "splaying" pressure on the keels. This problem is curable by adding reinforcing layers of GRP to the interior of the keel roots. Another problem with the earlier Westerly Centaurs was that the shroud attachment points on the coachroof were fitted above the portlight and inadequately tied in to the hull/deck structure.

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Yacht/Sailboat Specifications Length : 7.9m Beam : 2.6m Weight : 3039kg Sail Area : 294 sq ft

Related Links Go Sail Westerly Centaur Forum

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