Some nasty people call the Westsail32 a "wetsnail". Snail is undeserved, but in bad weather she picks up the water coming over the bow. and it runs down between the bulwark and the deckhouse. I installed teak boards that extends the sluice box towards the stern with some drains to remind the deck watch to sit on the water resistant cushions. The drains on the board were intended to drain water that collects when changing tacks. I have seen others with a similar diversion. One even buit beautiful fiberglass diverters that end aft of the scupper drains. They all work actually quite well. A lot of people bought the W32 for fair weather sailing and then it does not matter. Not many of us are gentlemanly enough to power up wind without sails, but those of us who are going to places "No Man has gone before" still like some comfort.
Why Westsail did not offer something like a molded endpiece at least as an option is strange. I tried a couple times to go around Point Conception (by Vandenberg Airforce Base in Central California) also known as the Cape Horn of the North Pacific (at least it seems to many so) and never made it in the afternoon because the heavy weather with windspeeds exceeding the anemometer dial. It got also very wet, prompting me to do something.
The simple teak board diverter also serves as an attachment for side panels for a dodger when it gets cold due to the spray taking the heat energy out of the air. An enclosed dodger also protects against getting hit by flying fish and flying sqid that zoom across the boat especially at night. In the morning on the way to Hawaii there were always a few on deck, not enough to make breakfast with.
While I am on a rant about Westsail design, I never understood why the cockpit well was so deep. I saw the Pardeys first boat years later in Port Townsend on the Puget Sound side of the Olympic Peninsula after I had already modified mine and the Pardeys too had a nice shallow cockpit well that allowed them to sleep outside in dry weather when it is too warm at night. Westsail's is trapezoid, why? - I measured mine and cut this monster off halfway down from the deck, then with mishmash smeared onto the side of the stump, I stuck the cut off section into the opening. I drilled a few holes into the sides to pull everything together and let it then cure. Now I am able to put my feeet down on the cockpit floor as the boat heels. Before it was ok with the boat sailing upright.I am five feet eleven, not short as some might suspect. I also have now real room to move inside the engine compartment. The modification was a gamble, but well worth it. If you can't visualize the plan to raise up the cockpit sole, think of stacking water tumblers. The draft angle of the 32 Westsail cockpit was perfect for this modification as it worked out that the thickness of the cockpit wall was just right. There are more details to the project (teak deck, prepwork,removing the screws and filling the holes with matching gel coat, a supply of pills to get over the shock of a major screw up, which thank G-d I did not need). As they say, measure twice before cutting. One nice thing, if the cockpit ever fills up, it drains in half the time and it won't weigh the boat down in the stern. I do not recommend this modification to anyone as this requires some engineering knowledge to plan it all out..
Happy sails to you..
Mike
