Cheoy Lee offshore 40

[billk]

First off, first time poster here........a great site!
The Offshore 40? Anybody here own one, and any thoughts about this boat for going offshore. A Phil Rhodes design that to me seems like a very nice boat. A 1973 glass, 20,000 lb. yawl.

Comments?
Bill

[By Invitation]

Bill,

I have a Cheoy Lee Offshore 41 which is quite a bit different than yours. I believe yours is very similar to the Block Island 40's. Cheoy Lee makes a very strong boat. They do have their problems though. The main one being leaking port lights and leaking teak decks. These are very good strong offshore boats. If your boat has teak decks, take a close look at them and consider the possibility of having to remove them. If you would like more information on Cheoy Lee's you can contact me through this site using my PM.

Scott

[delmarrey]

I think one just showed up at Dagmar's in Everett. They seem to have a lot of wood on deck to take care of.

Jeff may have some comments on them. I believe his family use to sell them.

[dancamp009]

I have owned a 1967 Offshore 40 Sloop for a little over 3 years now. I adore this boat and feel I have finally found the boat of my dreams that will stay wiht me as long as I live.
I've recently opened a forum for the Rhodes Offshore 40 and Rhodes Reliant that you may find interesting and informative. Hopefully you will become a member and participate too. It is a small group now, but it is growing.
The address is:
Rhodes Reliant & Offshore 40 forum :: Index

[dancamp009]

Unfortunately, that last forum listed above for the Rhodes Reliant, Offshore 40, and Empire 40 sailboats mysteriously disappeared one day about a year ago. I blame it on the lousy server who represented the website I used to place the forum. Today I opened a new forum for these sailboats on the reputable Yahoo Groups website, which I'm confident and hopeful will last a long time.
RhodesReliant_Offshore40 : Rhodes Reliant , Offshore 40, Empire 40

[Blue Stocking]

I have the Rhodes Reliant which was the original by Rhodes, Built by Cheoy Lee.
The Offshore 40 is (reputedly) the CL knock-off to avoid royalties to Rhodes.
Enter Rhodes Reliant and go to our owners site, Managed by Ben Stavis.
A very comprehensive site for OS 40 and Reliant.

[capta]

Funny how things go. A few hours ago we watched an offshore 40 anchor near us in Admiralty Bay, Bequia.
I've known the boats since they first came to the west coast. Very well built and designed for sure, but I'm not sure I would consider them to be good cruisers.
A very conventional layout, without a lot of storage space. Not much space on deck for water/fuel jugs and I don't remember the tankage, but I'd guess it's a bit low for long distance cruising comfortably.
Also, I'd think they would be a bit lively at anchor, possibly not the most comfortable liveaboard.
But as I said, I think they are good boats and Rhodes didn't design too many bad boats. It's just the application. I bought a beautiful Phill Rhodes ocean racer that had actually won the TransPac. It was a really lousy cruising boat with 23 bags of sails to store and "coffee grinder" type winches; it was just too much boat for 2 people to cruise. This was long before roller furlers were invented, and she had a massive stick.

[winger]

Hello Billk and all others. Myself and my sig. other purchased an 1970 os 40 cheoy lee (yawl) about a year ago. Wève taken her for a few day sails and an overnighter off the east coast of newfoundland but that's about it so far. We never put her in the water this year because we're in the process of doing a large amount of work on her. The hull and rigging are in great shape, but her electronics needed upgrading, new thru-hulls, and some interior re-design is being done. I'm thinking in the future that we may be able to share thoughts and ideas about these fine looking sea boats.
As of an offshore boat, I personally think the design of her hull alone makes her an excellent choice. With respect to speed this is what I say: On a beam wind of 15-20 kts, there's no trouble getting 7 - 7.5 kts out of her. She seems to handle very well when running with the seas on her quarters. No I have no illusions about her speed when beating close hauled, (4-4.5 kts usually) but it's my opinion that it's a compromise. The older more traditional style hull (built like a duck) makes for a safe, comfortable, easy to handle boat in heavy seas, but you're going to loose speed because of that fact. I guess it's all about what you want in a boat, and that should be based on where you plan to sail her. The newer designs are faster, but alot more attention is needed when it starts getting real "lumpy".
The arguement exists that a faster boat will outrun bad weather. Well this can be controversial. I can tell you this much: I'm a meteorologist be profession, and I've sailed and forecasted pretty much all over the N Atlantic, through the Med. up into the Black sea with th Canadian Navy. Average speed of a low pressure system in summer months runs about 15-18 kts. In winter months, more like 20 - 25 kts. anyone know a boat under sail that can compete with that?

[sailpower]

Cheoy Lee Offshore 40 - SailNet Community

[winger]

Well, I cut through the foredeck to implant a hawse pipe and windlass system, and there was no plywood there. I also drilled out the sidedecks just inside the gunwales to place some extra springer cleats. no plywood there either. I can also tell you that the lazerette hatch has no plywood core either. Gotta remember that some of these boats were built to the purchasers specs, so it's very likely some are plywood cored and some are not.
as an example, although it had about five layers of oilpaint over the bulkheads, I striped them this summer to discover that they were comprised of 3/4" jointed solid teak. wow! says I! But I've come to learn that other os 40's have either marine grade plywood veneered with either teak or larch on both sides.

[Blue Stocking]

My Reliant, hull # 1583, launched July 1965, has 1/2" luan, laid fore 'n aft as a core, with the 5" in from gunwale and out from cabinside, filled with resin/ m/balloon filler between skins.
When doing my 4 1/2 yr restore, I cut the 1/4" thick top layer of glass out, and the core was cleaned with acetone, and put back with epoxy bed. No rot,surprising considering how many screws held the teak deck in place, trashed the teak, glued and screwed 3/8" marine fir to the luan, and 4 chop+ woven on top. No more Cheoy Leaky.

[winger]

Ours is a 1970 os 40. the previous owner was very good to her. It was just in the last few years of ownership that she started to be a little neglected. The owner had had a heart attack and was getting on in years, and he had the boat up for sale for about two to three years before we made an offer. Those last few years made a difference. But every last bit of teak on board was nothing short of perfect. Cigi, (my sig other) wants a few changes made to the cupboards in the galley above the counter, So I knew I'd need to puchase a little teak on my own to make it happen. Holy smokes!!! I don't know what you guys in the US might pay for it, but the cheapest I could find up here was 33$ a board foot. And that was plantation teak, (not as good a quality). So I've purchased some jatoba instead. It makes for a great imitation teak, but the stuff is as hard as nails, you need good quality tools to work with it.
We were pretty fortunate to find her, really.The pt/stbd bulkheads in the fore and aft cabins had a layer of veneer on them. The aft stuff is in great shape, but the forward cabin's was all blistering off, so I striped it, sanded it, and leveled it was gelcoat and areosil. A fine mess. one week stripping, and another week with the shop vac in hand.
I gotta tell you, from everything I've seen thus far, when they built her, they built her well. I replaced all the thruhulls last summer. What came out was the original fittings. So keep in mind that those fittings (although worn to the point that they weren't all that trustworthy anymore) were 40 yrs old. very heavy duty bronze. Considered high quality by any standards.

[Arch69CheoyLee]

Originally Posted by billk

First off, first time poster here........a great site!
The Offshore 40? Anybody here own one, and any thoughts about this boat for going offshore. A Phil Rhodes design that to me seems like a very nice boat. A 1973 glass, 20,000 lb. yawl.

Comments?
Bill

Hey Bill,

We have a 1969 Cheoy Lee Off Shore 40 (yawl). Beautiful boats and ours is the Phillip Rhodes design as well. Any questions feel free to ask. I uploaded some pictures under our introduction post!