Thoughts on a Moody?!

[robert sailor]

As usual Dock head another excellent written post. After cruising ours for over 3 years I find the quality of the stainless steel used as better than anything I can buy in the aftermarket as it refuses to rust. The long side windows have a habit to leak after years of hard sailing and they are a bugger to seal properly. The aluminum frames that hold the glass are very well built but super high in labor to refit. Finally got ours done properly but it was a lot of work. Our 425 seems to do very well in trade wind sailing, our Atlantic crossing was 18 days and we had a half dozen 170 mile days. You are right about light air which is the weakest point. Like you we have put too much money into ours but in the end we are still very happy with it.

[HappyMdRSailor]

Superb info on a very good builder...

[Dockhead]

Originally Posted by robert sailor

As usual Dock head another excellent written post. After cruising ours for over 3 years I find the quality of the stainless steel used as better than anything I can buy in the aftermarket as it refuses to rust. The long side windows have a habit to leak after years of hard sailing and they are a bugger to seal properly. The aluminum frames that hold the glass are very well built but super high in labor to refit. Finally got ours done properly but it was a lot of work. Our 425 seems to do very well in trade wind sailing, our Atlantic crossing was 18 days and we had a half dozen 170 mile days. You are right about light air which is the weakest point. Like you we have put too much money into ours but in the end we are still very happy with it.

I know another owner of an M54 who had leaks in the coachroof windows like you describe. I've (knock on wood!) never had any leaks of any kind, anywhere. That would drive me crazy, I think.

By the way, I forgot to mention one other drawback of some of the later Moodys -- the transom platform is actuated by two hydraulic rams with a powerpack in the lazarette. Very troublesome and unnecessary complication. After multiple repairs I finally ripped it out and now raise and lower it with a rope.