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James R · 18-10-2014, 07:11

I am looking for information on Wauquiez Centurion 42s, specifically if these boats have any latent issues one should be aware of. Additionally, any comments from owners of these boats on their likes or dislikes would be great
Jim

robert sailor · 18-10-2014, 07:15

What year?

**HappyMdRSailor** · 18-10-2014, 07:27

Here's a great place for some info...

Yahoo! Group | Wauquiez Owners Info

Welcome | Wauquiez Owners Info

James R · 18-10-2014, 18:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by robert sailor

What year?

the boat is a 1986

cpa · 18-10-2014, 19:54

I would be concerned if it has original teak decks, but that would not be a deal breaker for me. My family had a Centurion 49 and a Pretorien 35. Wauquiez built a damn great boat. Is it the one in Washington state? If so, it seems like a pretty good deal.

Terra Nova · 19-10-2014, 09:42

I raced for years on a Centurion 42. Lovely boats. Never heard that there were any problems peculiar to this model.

Cheechako · 19-10-2014, 09:46

Waquiez have a great rep for being good boats. Teak decks as noted above should be investigated.

Hooked · 23-10-2014, 01:48

I own a 1991 Wauquiez Centurion 42 and recently got back from a year in Mexico with my family. We sailed to Hawaii from Cabo to get back to Seattle. The boat has been nothing but great. Fast, seaworthy, great cockpit (a bit small maybe).
Here are my thoughts-
-The aft berth blows. Pinched at the foot with the cockpit sole right over your head if you are sleeping inboard.
- The bunk beds are great for kids and a bit tight for adults but manageable. Our 4 year old and nine year old LOVE their bunks.
- Engine access is better than most. Mine has a small V-drive and the engine sits on the driveshaft making access to the packing nut tight. Having a dripless shaft seal makes that less of an issue for me but it could be a concern.
-I have teak decks. Rebunged them and caulked them. No problems. The decks are cored but they are cored in sections. Meaning if you have a leak that gets into the coring, the water can only go so far. I redid the whole deck and did not find one area that was wet. Not one. The deck is also glued down so when I pulled the screws, I hogged the hole out a bit and put epoxy in it and then bunged it. No more screws.
-Fuel tank is a bit small at 60 gallons. The boat sails really nice in light wind so it wasn't that much of a concern but I still carried 40 gallons in jerry jugs for the Hawaii trip. Nothing on deck as the liferaft lazerrette is big enough for 6 jugs and the rest I put in the starboard lazerrette.
-I have 140 gallons in water and a 24 GPH watermaker. Never had a problem.
-We averaged 150 to 180 mile days while going to Hawaii and about the same going to Seattle. She is fast also. Reefed waaay down at night to get better sleep. I'll bet we could have had a couple 200+ mile days. Really hard to sleep when the boat is going that fast though.
On the trip to San Fran, we clicked off a 200 mile day while in a gale. Triple reef with the storm jib. The boat was a blast to drive. Had 6 people with me for that trip. Everyone had fun driving the boat in the waves and wind. What a great trip!
-Bendy rig. Lots and lots of strings to pull. Runners, babystay, symmetric kite with the foreguy, etc.
-The rudder is beefy as hell but when they designed the boat, I think they should have had a carrier bearing at the top of the rudder post also. The rudder in my boat had a bit of a wiggle and the fiberglass webbing that was holding the rudder stock developed a crack. I had that beefed up in Mexico and added a carrier bearing to it. Stiff and strong now.
The story goes that the design Ed Dubois wanted the carrier bearing but Wauquiez wanted aft lazerrette storage. Ed lost.
I added a picture of the webbing as it was getting reinforced.

The boat in Seattle is named Satisfaction. Somebody should buy that poor boat. That and I'm sick of answering questions about her. I'm putting it down here so I can cut and paste the next time I get a request for info. My blog chronicled some of the Satisfaction experience and I still get people snooping around asking about that boat.
In 2011 my wife and I made an offer on Satisfaction at $90,000. Went for the test sail and thought the boat was a bit worn out but still OK. Seemed like a well built boat. The insides were used up though. Heater didn't work, etc. Had a friend that worked at Windwork Sailing and Satisfaction was in the fleet for a brief time. Deferred maintenance is how my buddy put it.
Survey time. The waterline has some small blistering, no big deal.
The new rigging that was put on in SF didn't seem all that good to me. Had a rigger look at it and he saw some problems but not a deal breaker.
Prop shaft skeg bent.
Windlass not working and the windlass platform was completely soaked with water. Total replacement needed.
Some of this might be fixed.
Oven wasn't working right.
Dickinson heater wasn't working.
Water maker wasn't working.
My boat's watermaker wasn't working when I bought her. That was about $1500 to get it running.
The deck didn't seem bad.
NOTE This is my theory. The surveyor found some problems and I backed off the boat. Subsquent surveys found the damage below. I don't have first hand knowledge of this though.
The boat appeared to have been flooded at one point in it's history. The boat was in Florida for a time and I think while on the hard she got water inside. This water sat and sat. Not a problem until the previous owner added limber holes to the forward part of the boat. Then they didn't seal the plywood. Water got in and rotted the structural forward part of the boat. Cross-members?? Stringers?? Whatever. They are shot.
I think that is why the boat is sitting.
We also found some rot in the wood by the fuel tank.
My current boat was for sale at the same time but was listed at $150000. A bit out of my range. At my surveyor's urging though, I went to see what a $150,000 C42 looked like. Much better shape and not used as hard. Newer also.
I think the price on Satisfaction is pretty good. Lots of work to be done. She would be a great boat once done though.