Justin, I think we might have known the previous owner.  I do want to stress MIGHT have known him.  I say this because we were in Owl harbor with an engineer/Westsail owner and it’s an understatement to say that I didn’t get along with him.  I don’t think there were many engineer/Westsail owners in the Delta, but it’s certainly possible he might be the same.  If it is the same owner make sure you check the ballast as he had told us that he had added ballast and had negatively affected the boats sea worthiness. Keep in mind that there were a few early Westsails that did need some additional ballast, but I believe his was a late model that he bought just before Westsail went out of business.  There were some earlier posts on this subject by another Westsailor who knows a lot more about it than I do.  

The reason we didn’t get along is that he hated Westsails, Westsail Corporation and anyone connected with Westsails.  Apparently it stems from when he bought his boat just before they went out of business and the problems that ensued.  I understand that as when a company closes there’re many problems and sometimes unhappy customers. The attitude he had I could sympathize with, but it was his constant berating the boat and ours in particular that was the problem.  It came to a head when during one of his “lectures” he told us how out of square our boat was and replied he had measured it.  I told him he had no right being on our boat without our permission.  He made a snide remark I don’t remember but I exploded and chased him off the dock and down the levy.  Unfortunately the harbor master Frank who had a reputation as being hard-nosed and no nonsense was sitting on his little floating patio as I chased him past.  I thought Frank would kick us out, but he surprised me by saying “I was hoping you’d kick the ^$#^% out of him”. Later we became good social friends with Frank, who had a great sense of humor and his wife.  Frank turned out to be a reasonable harbor master, but did run a tight ship.  A month later Frank and he went to actual blows, Frank kicked him out.

This might not be the same owner, but I do remember the boat being real nice with a lot of potential if someone would finish it.  So don’t take this as any criticism of your boat, it’s not, it’s absolutely not a reflection of your boat.  We have wondered what became of her and are always happy to hear when someone takes on the task of finishing or rejuvenating a Westsail.  This may be the same boat or not, but either way you’ve made a great choice.  We’ll probably bring our boat back to Stockton from Mexico this spring, which isn’t far from you so hope we meet.

Jim

P.S.  The Stockton sailing club has a crane that comes in real handy at times.

Justin,

I do have Michael Connollly on my Westsail owners list.  Your boat number is 664, and it never did have a name on the boat.  I do not have the full HIN on my list, but it probably ends in 1175, since the next few boats after yours were laminated in 1175.

I only had one dealing with Michael, when he ordered a fiberglass tube from me for the shaft log, and he returned it because he felt it was not the exact size he wanted.  I also know why he was so down on Westsail, because he told me in a email.  But I do not want to describe that information on the forum.

I will change my records to show you as the owner of #664, but I would like to you to verify the HIN.

Thanks for the info, Bud. Your description of Mike seems to make sense. I'll get that HIN for you when I can.

Mark, the engine is a 3 cyl Volvo Penta, 35 horse (forget the model number) installed in 1977. The harbor master told me Michael came by every other month and ran the engine for 20 minutes or so. It looks brand new! Most of the interior woodwork is done (70%). Stuff that needs to be finished: half of the V-berth needs to be finished, a chain locker needs to be built (bulkhead included), the floors need to be finished, lots of little cosmetic things inside need finishing, I believe there may be fresh water tanks in the boat but I didn't look for them so I may need to put those in, the plumbing for the kitchen sink needs to be done, I could go on and on. And the exterior pretty much needs to be done. The cap rails are done but that's about it. There are some fixes I intend to make to the rudder, the tiller handle, and I have an unfinished mast and boom. Obviously the boat is the original ivory gelcoat and the deck has cracks that need to be repaired pretty much everywhere. Gonna be a major pain. The chain plates were recently done and are extra beef. Honestly, the chain plates and the solid feel to the deck are the best things about the exterior.

Over all, there is a TON of work to be done on this boat. Like I told the seller, the only kind of person that could take on this boat is someone like me or some millionaire with money to burn. I could get a W32 that is ready to sail for 20K. This boat is honestly looking at 60k plus in labor if we couldn't handle doing it ourselves. It's going to take a full year of work, 5 days a week, to get this thing finished. We'll probably stretch it out over 18 months so we can fit some fun in there. :)

Once again Jim, thanks for the information. Yeah, some of his ideas seem a bit off. He did write "Finished - as built" on anything he completed and the boat does match up with the drawing exactly. Should make it easier to solve this ballast question. 

Gorgeous boat! I hope ours looks like that some day. If you ever want to trade straight across, let me know. ;)

Bud, it looks like I'm probably not going to get back over to the boat until Monday.

Justin

I'm at River's Edge but am moving to Bruno's in about three weeks.