Cheoy Lee's suitable for offshore cruising?

[CARL]

Chris, i have a Luders os 47 and am very pleased with her, previous owner went around taking about 12 yrs and wishes he was still going.The teak decks were replaced with grp in 01,in New Zealand, the upkeap in the tropics being the reason for grp and not teak . Have presently got her on dry to replace some seacocks and am struggling to get old ones out ,they are so well built in,the stern gear is all stainless steal which is unusual, but gives some idea of build ,personally i feel safe and she is real pretty , GO FOR IT. regards Carl.

[CARL]

Dont know how my reply got to top of page , sorry Carl.

[witzgall]

Hi all;

1st post here, been lurking for awile.

My wife and I are in the beginning stages of searching for a cruising boat. We may end up working each year for 6-8 months, and cruising for the remainder of the year. Then perhaps after doing that for a few years, taking off for more distant ports. This would limit us to the US, Bahamas and the Carribean for the fist few years, and then ??? after that.

We both have sailing experience, but mostly racing. Not much cruising, and most of it was over 10 years ago, so we are a bit rusty and are scrambling to refresh our knowledge.

Anyways, I was interested in hearing some collective opinions of Cheoy Lees? Are the early 1980 boats something that could be taken safely offshore? I have seen a few Robert Perry designed boats that seem to have the liveaboard space, and sailplan, that is apealing.

Thanks in advnace,
Chris
Apex, NC

[btrayfors]

Yep. I've got a rather rare one: a Perry-designed, Cheoy Lee-built Golden Wave 42. Great offshore boat. Had her for 17 years. Spent a small fortune on upgrades and maintenance over the years. Not for sale.

Cheoy Lee hulls are pretty bulletproof...solid hand layups. Very strong. Their teak joinery looks great. However, some of their boats have some Cheoy Lee pot metal fittings, and suffer from deck and cabin leaks, hence the term, "Cheoy Leaky". Also, the older teak decks may be ready for replacement or removal.

You might visit the Cheoy Lee Association website if you haven't already:
http://www.cheoyleeassociation.com/

Bill
S/V Born Free

[witzgall]

Thanks Bill;

What is the construction of the decks under the teak?

Chris

[btrayfors]

Chris,

Well, there ain't no more teak decks! Got mighty tired of trying to maintain them while in the Caribbean, had a disasterous experience trying to re-plug and re-caulk them, and finally decided to rip 'em off. Underneath was fiberglass over plywood. We put several additional layers of cloth and resin over this to seal the many hundreds of holes from the teak screws and to get the decks faired, then applied a total of eight coats of Awlgrip, including a non-skid layer.

This work was done professionally and was supervised by a master shipwright/friend. They came out great...look like new. Now, I "maintain" my decks with a hose in one hand and a Mt. Gay and Coke in the other :-))

However, in a bow to tradition, I did have the teak in the cockpit replaced. We did this in the now recommended way, with epoxy. Done by a master shipwright. Looks better than new, and has held up very well for about six years now.

Bill

[mogg]

We have a much loved 55' Cheoy Lee Trawler, got all the usual deck problems but we manage to live with it having discovered a German polyurethane varnish called Coelan. Its a bit of a bind putting it on but the leaks disapear like magic and you finish up with wonderful looking teak decks. Our metalwork is awesome, most looks like it was beaten out of some huge ingot of stainless, the skin fittings ought to be polished and put on exhibition at the London Tate Gallery. The Hull is very thick, I am sure on the early boats they laid them up as thick as a wooden plank would be. Our old girl lives in the North Sea of the UK and the weather can be awesome, we are very happy with our 25 year old Trawler Yacht, will take her anywherel Mogg