Westerly Owners Association

Roger, thanks for all your comments. I would think that Tim's comment about structural glass being in there is probably correct. I'm guessing that fiberglass methods were developed well enough in the early 70's so as to develop strong hulls. In looking around the internet I found a Centaur brochure ...

Roger, I sent an email to Tim Lackey who used to be a surveyor and now runs a business restoring a lot of plastic classics. I asked him about early 70's fiberglass hulls and their construction. I'm sure you have probably heard of him. His website is incredible in terms of presenting the detail steps...

Roger, after my post I did some searching on the translucent characteristic of FRP and found that this is a normal characteristic. So, I was wrong there. I'm surprised that woven roving was not used in your 1980. I owned a 1977 Cape Dory Typhoon and had to cut out a small section of the headliner to...

I have a 1971 Cirrus. Excellent boat and very well built in my opinion. I've been replacing the through hull fittings and I've been grinding bevels around the original openings. I just have a interest in understanding the glass layup techniques and materials used in making these boat hulls. I assume...

Gorman, if it were my boat I would paint it again back to the white color you prefer. Preparing a boat for paint is way less work than taking a paint off and bringing the boat back to the original gelcoat, as others above had rightly said. I had to paint my 1971 Cirrus 22 because of the condition of...

This may not be relevant to the OP but may be useful information to others looking at older boats. I bought a 1971 Westerly Cirrus that had high moisture reading in the hull, below the waterline. I sent an email inquiry to Tim lackey, Lackey Sailing, who does a lot of restorations of older boats and...

Vegable, when I look at the Sika site I see they are using backer rod or tape for wide and deep joints. So I assumed you were grinding a deep joint as well as wide joint, because of using the backer tape. And in your answer to my first question you said there was a 10 mm gap in the stub/keel joint. ...

I haven't a clue. Two separate people told me the same thing, one of them backed by a respected Yacht Surveyor so I followed their guidance to the letter. The gap at the keel joint was about 10mm wide. At the surface after grinding out it was close to 30mm wide. If it's any help the tape is used fo...

Vegable, what is the idea behind using the bond breaker tape? When I look at the Sika site this tape seems to be used instead of a foam backer rod in certain situations where there are wide joints. In your case was there a wide joint that required the use of the tape?

I'm sure that when the boat was built the compound applied to the cast iron keel face got squeezed into the threads of the bolts effectively sealing out the possibility of water intrusion into the threaded openings so my concerns may not be valid. I think I will also apply a layer of epoxy barrier c...

I have a 1971 Cirrus I just purchased a few months ago. The keel bolts and nuts are stainless steel and look very good. Under the nuts are small plates that act as washers that spread the compression of the nuts. The bottom on the sump that contain the nuts and bolts appears to be resin, maybe polye...

Steve, the head I have now is what is called in the USA a port-a-potty, meaning portable toilet. These have pump out connections (hoses) so you don't have to lift the potty out of the boat. I don't really take long multi-day cruises with the Cirrus so don't need something with a large holding tank. ...

Thanks for the video, Pete. I have the same two sea cocks on my Cirrus which are disconnected because I have a portable head. Both of mine are frozen meaning I can't open them from their closed position. I was thinking of just removing them all together because, well, just two less holes in the boat...

Thanks for the response Mike. The reason for the question is that I wanted to order replacements for my standing rigging and wasn't sure whether Westerly used a metric (mm) stud size or the USA, SAE inch stud sizes. The wire size for my Cirrus is the 3/16 inch size. However, my boat is set up with s...

Does anyone know if Westerly used the threads per inch (TPI) standard or the metric thread pitch standard for studs used with turnbuckles? The wire size listed in the Cirrus sales brochures back in the late 1960's shows wire size as 3/16 inch, not that this sheds any light on the subject. Thanks for...