Westsail Boats

[endoftheroad]

Excuse me if this isn't the best place for this post but I searched "kendall 32" extensively and it is refered to here in this thread.

The kendall of course is the same hull as the westsail but my questions are this.

Is the thickness the same?
Are there weak spots in the hull?
Was it as well constructed as the westsail hulls?

Just because the kendall is from the same molds as the westsail doesnt mean that they are as durable.

Or are they?

Could the kendall hull be better constructed?

[roverhi]

The Kendall hull layup was actually thicker than the way thick Westsail. The biggest problem with the Kendalls is they were almost all kit boats. Actually seem to remember the only factory finished Kendall was actually finished off by Westsail. Liked the Thistle/Kendall flush deck design better than the Eric/Westsail trunk cabin. Flush deck was stronger and cavernous down below. My concern with the Kendall would be the ballast. Most were sold without ballast and no telling what people used, Iron, lead, cement, depleteed uranium?? The cast lead ballast that was used in the Westsails after about Hull #250 or so is the best ballast arrangement. The ballast is lower and more compact fore and aft. One thing the racers get right is centering the ballast and keeping weight out of the ends. Might want to talk with Bud Taplin to get the exact hull number that they went to the cast lead ballast.

Saraband won first in class, 2nd overall in last summers single handed TransPac. She finished middle of the pack despite breaking her boom halfway to Hanalei. She beat a lot of supposedly faster boats like a Valiant 40 boat for boat and was only bested by lightweight downwind flyers in a mostly light air race.

[bob perry]

New England PHRF ratings:
Westsail 32 222
Valiant 40 132

Clearly PHRF thinks the Westsail is slower than a Valiant 40.

To even hint that a Westsail 32 is faster than a Valiant 40 is silly and very misleading. Yes, an extremely well sailed and well race equipped Westsail did outsail a lot of boats in two Transpacs but I would use the PHRF ratings as a better judge of boat speed differences.