Kendall 32

  • April 16, 2014 12:40 PM
    Message # 1539146
    Deleted user
    Hi Folks,

    Some of you will remember me from earlier discussions. I had fallen a good bit more quiet as I got my previous westsail all sorted out.  The lee helm was corrected in the end by trimming the boat back down in the stern using ballast weights and installing an engine too... although not as big as normal certainly sufficient to push the boat at 5.5kts when needed. I corrected the lee helm by having quantum build a massive roached main with long full battens that went well past the backstay... and threw in a massive deck sweepig staysail too.. just for the extra power :)

    Well divorded now and sold the boat as part of all that process... but as I search far and wide I find nothing I fall in love with the same as a Westsail, for anywhere near the same budget...and so Ive decided on another.  

    I am looking at a Kendall out west, and curious about any details concerning their construction.. my old man... also owned a few of these... mentioned that they might have had shot steel ballast?   plywood decks?    This particular boat i am looking at says its a 1973...   any special insight?

    Thanks Much!

    Brian Duff
    Nanny Cay, BVI. 
    former owner of Happy Times, #367 (now owned by Jamie Brown of Coral Bay, USVI, if anyone is keeping records)  
  • April 22, 2014 7:05 AM
    Reply # 1541835 on 1539146
    Hi Brian- 

    It's my understanding that the flush decks of all the Kendalls are, indeed, glass over ply (mine sure is), but at least later Kendalls had molded fiberglass foredecks and cockpits. (Also the case with mine, which were then covered with wood.) I'm not sure when in the production run that started. 

    The boat's year (in the case of the one you're looking at, 1973; mine, 1974) isn't necessarily the way to determine whether it's an early or late boat, by the way- the hulls were all laid earlier, and the year on the title for many of the Kendalls is the year it was launched/finished/first registered. Bud has a list with hull numbers for at least most of the Kendalls, and will likely know that of the one you are looking at. 

    I don't remember whether I'd heard the ballast is steel or iron. It's not lead. And it might be mostly punchings rather than shot. 

    Good luck- I hope the boat's to your liking! 

    J

    ps- If you recall meeting a guy, with Matt Holt, near where you'd parked by the water at Trellis, who mentioned he had a Kendall 32 in Maine, that would be me. The meeting was brief, and two years back, so no sweat if you don't. (I remember because I knew your name from this forum. I don't post much, so you wouldn't have had that benefit.) 


  • April 22, 2014 8:19 AM
    Reply # 1541879 on 1539146
    Also, what engine did you end up putting in your previous W32?
  • April 28, 2014 11:47 AM
    Reply # 1544448 on 1539146
    Deleted user
    HI Mike,

    I put a yanmar 3gm30, which was a great choice. plenty of power to motor when no wind, and to supplement sailing in choppy windy conditions. certainly not enough to motor in strong winds... 

    Thanks for the tips on the ballast. This boat does have a fiberglass cockpit well

    and bud gave me a lot of good info.

    Ill be flying to MD on the 21st to pick her up!
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