Westsail 28 Tour #1- V-Berth

The other day when the gentle Texas Gulf Coast sun was boiling my gray matter to mush and the SE zephyr was wafting  refreshing 100 degree sticky wet breeze about my lean muscular bod, it suddenly came to me.... in a flash! .......!!
The Westsails specially the W32 and W28 are cult boats. Love em, hate em, or somewhere in between, most sailors have an opinion about these boats. Many of these opinions are very complementary to we Westsail owners....some are hurtful and some are down right insulting.
My boat is the smaller one, the Westsail 28. There were only about 60 of these boats made. Many sailors don't even know that Westsail manufactured a 28 footer. The most well known Westsail is the W32 which had a production run of about 800 boats. Since the smaller W28 is so relatively rare, it dawned on me that maybe you guys would like a tour of the boat? See whats its really like down in the little one. There are tours of the big boy, aka W32, all over the Internet.
Now, there is rhyme to my reason for this invitation! It's time for the annual get down, full on, no holds barred, take all the crap off cleaning of the interior so what better time to take pics and post them......when ZOSHA can put her best foot forward.
Each post will focus on one aspect of the boat starting at the bow and each section will have a commentary gleaned from our experiences indicating the benefits and shortcomings of that particular section. We will also comment on what we have planned to make that section of the boat better and more accommodating......hope you enjoy what we have to say.

Zosha is a 1978 factory finished boat....this layout plan is the of the standard W28 factory interior....

V-BERTH and ANCHOR LOCKER

The anchor locker is fairly large and can hold alot of chain and rode...this picture shows 50 feet of 5/16 chain and 150 feet of 5/8 " rode....the shortcoming here is there is no way to put two separate anchor-chain-rode systems in the locker without them getting all tangled up....One solution is to glass in a bulkhead to separate the locker into two halves.... port and starboard chain pipes are already installed in the deck.......my other brilliant? idea which is also immensely less work is to lay the heavy duty, storm chain and rode system, 50 feet of 3/8" chain and 200 feet 5/8" rode, in the bottom of the locker and then put a 5 gallon plastic bucket or maybe a milk crate on top of this......and use this setup as the every day anchoring system, 75' of 5/16" chain and 150' of 5/8" line......I'll probably go with the plastic bucket idea first because it might work and is immensely less troublesome to implement........One day when there is nothing much to do, a couple of coats of paint will be applied to the inside of the locker....its kinda gnarly looking in there...

Good shot of the v-berth with cushions out...there are port and starboard storage shelves with led lights underneath. The berth is about 6 feet wide at the head and, as you can see, it gets quite narrow at the foot....its about 6.5 feet long so its very comfortable for two people....

 

 Big hatch over the berth.....the green is an awning over the hatch and foredeck to shade it and try to catch a breeze to cool the area down....this will work when its not 105 degrees with 97% humidity....like today!!!

 

Nice 4 drawer system in v-berth area...

 

Starboard side of berth area.....notice large storage bin access underneath....these bins are P/S....

 

13 gallon holding tank under v-berth .....this tank is on center line and has alot of storage all around it.....if you look closely, you'll notice that the tank is held securely in its own bulk headed compartment.....Westsail did it right!! 

Cushions in place......

This is a very comfortable v-berth.....if its not too hot and with the port covers on and a black out curtain on the hatch and a cool breeze blowing through the boat.....this berth is heaven!! You don't just sleep in here...you hibernate!!! It can be dangerous though....why? you ponder......because you're so snug in this cool envelope of darkness that you forget time...you can't tell if its day or night....Westsail built thick hulls! that coupled with all the teak on the interior and the 5/8" plywood deck core covered inside and out with layers of fiberglass mat and roving makes for a an interior that is somewhat impervious to ambient outside noise,  its quiet in there.....so ....the v-berth is large, dark, cool, comfortable, and quiet !! What more can man or beast ask for in a sleeping den?

 

The only 2 modifications that we would make to the v-berth area is to add 2 more DC fans.....I've given the 'wet finger test' to just about all of the marine and RV DC fans and have decided to purchase the Carfamo 757..... They are $60 at West Marine but you can get them on Amazon for $39. They are 2 speed and draw 1/2 amp......

 

The blades are finger safe and these babies  MOVE some air!!!!

In my opinion.....a lot more air than the revered HELLA that's in there now

 

Here's a shot of the HELLA fan that , no matter how valiantly it tries,  just doesn't put out enough air....

The little art piece underneath is a Dia de los Muertos infant angel that I bought in Mexico City a number of years ago.....it brings us good luck...!

 

The only other change that we want to make in the v-berth area is to change out the overhead lights to LED......the old, wonderful, beautiful, no longer manufactured ABI lights put out too much heat and draw too much power.

I forgot to take a photo of the ABI lights but my plan is to devote another blog to their conversion to LED.....so you guys will get plenty of shots of these classic boat lights..........

Well, our job here is now done. Hope you enjoyed the blog.

 ....Peace to you all and to us all in this world that has gone a bit askew of late....

Take care my friends....