Southerly 32 Owners Feedback?

[TheCruisingKitty]

I'd be very interested to hear opinions from anyone who owns/owned a Southerly 32 - or any kind of Southerly. Or has sailed on one.

I checked the 'Boat Reviews' section, but none. Did find an article from Practical Boat Owner Mag that was good.

How well has the swing keel worked for you?

Do you really run them up on the sand (as in the Practical Boat Owner Mag picture)? Is there something they've added to protect the bottom from being ground out?

(I'm new to Sailnet, so apologies if I am posting in the wrong place. If so, please direct me to the right place. Thanks in advance.)

[DRFerron]

Originally Posted by TheCruisingKitty

I'd be very interested to hear opinions from anyone who owns/owned a Southerly 32 - or any kind of Southerly. Or has sailed on one.
...
Do you really run them up on the sand (as in the Practical Boat Owner Mag picture)?

I don't own one, nor have I sailed in one. I do, however, love the Distant Shores series which follows the travels of Paul and Cheryl Shard. The Canadian couple has owned the Southerly 42 and currently has the Southerly 49. In the Bahamas episodes they did indeed beach the boat. One of the episodes spent some time demonstrating the beaching capabilities. They seem to love the boat and wrote extensively about it in their blog. They usually return to North America and do the boat show circuit and you can board their boat. I went aboard when they were in Annapolis a few years ago with the 42.

Somehow, after they traded the 42 (which they owned for a year before moving up to the 49), it ended up in my marina in the Chesapeake for a week or so.

[PCP]

Never sailed one but has been inside many in boat shows and I can tell you they are very well built and have a very good quality interior. The 42 is my wife's favorite sailboat.

I have read a lot of test sails and never see one that said bad things about the boats. They are very good sailboats that under the right conditions (lots of wind) can be relatively fast boats, even in a race. They are also remarkably seaworthy boats.

They have only a disadvantage, and a big one, they are expensive and thats good because that way I can buy the boat I want, otherwise It would be very difficult to convince my wife not to have the southerly 42

Try to ask here:

http://www.soa-forum.org.uk/blog/

Regards

Paulo

[John.Chambers]

I've had my Southerly 35RS for a year now and am really pleased with it.

Everything Northshore claim is true...sails well, lifting keel is a dream, and the cast iron grounding plate makes drying out pretty much worry free.

A bow truster is a must.....with twin rudders there is no prop wash so manoeuvring in a marina without one would be VERY difficult.

With a self tacking jib and in mast reefing, I happy sail the boat single handed.

The only boat I'd swap for would be a bigger Southerly ;-)

John

[TheCruisingKitty]

Originally Posted by John.Chambers

I've had my Southerly 35RS for a year now and am really pleased with it.

Everything Northshore claim is true...sails well, lifting keel is a dream, and the cast iron grounding plate makes drying out pretty much worry free.

A bow truster is a must.....with twin rudders there is no prop wash so manoeuvring in a marina without one would be VERY difficult.

With a self tacking jib and in mast reefing, I happy sail the boat single handed.

The only boat I'd swap for would be a bigger Southerly ;-)

John

Dear John,

I can only find positive comments about these boats too. But I wonder about breakage on 2 key points and what happens then.

Do you think you could get away without a bow thruster on the Southerly 32? What if this breaks?

Also I understand the swing keel is hydraulic. How heavy to use is the manual backup? It's an almost 2000 lb keel isn't it?


Thanks in advance.

[John.Chambers]

I'm a Chartered Engineer and IMHO the keel system is bomb proof. If the electric hydraulic pump fails or your batteries are flat its easy to manually lift the keel with the supplied lever which operates the pump....just like pumping up a car jack, not much effort but takes a couple of minutes. Dropping the keel just involves turning the knob on a valve...its a simple, virtually maintenance free system.

If the bow thruster fails, well that's not a show stopper, just inconvenient .....but I really would advise having one fitted....it really sought to be a standard at the prices they charge.

[John.Chambers]

This was the website the previous owner posted to sell the boat

[IMG]http://whispersoutherly.tumblr.com

[PCP]

Originally Posted by John.Chambers

...

If the bow thruster fails, well that's not a show stopper, just inconvenient .....but I really would advise having one fitted....it really sought to be a standard at the prices they charge.

hi John,

I don't think it would be too difficult to live with a Southerly 32, or even a 35 without a bow thruster. After all many owners don't have them and almost all Pogos 10.50 don't have them and those have a much bigger problem with its 4m beam.

On my previous boat I had a burton's propeller that has very little prop wash. It give me some trouble because I was trying to maneuver the boat has If I could count with prop wash. The problem went away when I started to maneuver the boat as if I was sailing it. It takes some time to get used but it works.

Regards

Paulo

[John.Chambers]

Are you confusing prop wash with prop throw (i.e. the tendency of a prop to turn the boat in a certain direction) ?

Believe me under power....with twin rudders the boat only steers when it's moving.

Normally when the rudder is straight behind the prop so if you put the helm hard over the thrust from the prop is diverted in the direction of the rudder.

With twin rudders with the prop in between that doesn't happen....you need to be moving before the boat responds and in a tight marina that sometimes just isn't possible.

Seriously don't buy a twin ruddered Southerly without a bow thruster !

[John.Chambers]

I guess the thing to remember is that a Pogo 10.5 is about half the displacement of the equivalent Southerly so manoeuvring is much easier, even though it shares a twin rudder design.....