Opinions on the Wauquiez Pilot Saloon 47

[Waterworld 4]

Hi we have a 2012 Wauquiez 47 ps that we purchased second hand 2 years ago. It is moored in the med and we have done only about 1000 miles due to Covid restrictions. We are hoping to cross the Atlantic this year. We love the boat it really stands out in a marina or anchorage. We looked at a few before buying and you probably know that there ar 3 versions. 2006-2011; then the evolution until 2014 and then the 48ps. The first version had a couple of issues such as engage bay access and the evolution fixed these along with some cosmetic changes to the control panels and heads. The 48 gained a foot somewhere from the evolution and made a number of cosmetic changes and remodelled the aft cockpit.

The pros for us are
Solid build using teak and modern construction techniques
Stiff sailing with a 2.35 m keel
Easy to sail 1 or 2 up and everything controlled from the cockpit
A proper walk round bed in the aft cabin huge showers,
Huge spec. Nearly all we saw had water makers, heating , ac, etc.
Top end fitting and hardware
Finally what sold it to us was the panoramic views from inside. Whilst sitting you can see straight out the windows all around.

The cons
You get what you pay for and you do pay more than a mass production boat
If you get a stutter rig you need to furl the headsail as you tack
Wauquiez fit a lot of gear in their boats but once they glue the cabin on the boat you have difficulty sometime reaching things to service them
Wauquiez are a small outfit. We have have tried to contact them a few times for assistance and advice (in English) and had no response. There is a Wauquiez forever website run by enthusiasts but is out f date and has limited entries Also it is aimed at french speakers.

The more we use the boat the more we love her. We have been caught out in 50kts wind and with a heavily reefed furling main and the inner jib on a self tacker we felt secure as we flew along at hull speed of just under 9kts She moves well in 5-7 kits of wind but really gets going in 15-20.

As for storage, there is loads in the aflockers and sail locker up front. All off which you can stand in. There is also loads of room u dear the berths and as it is a raised saloon there is lots of space under the cockpit sole

Good luck in your search

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Waterworld.

[AOdman]

We bought the boat that floatingby owned, you can see us at the youtube sailing channel “sailing yacht frida af wisby”.
We love the boat!

Regards
Anders ödman

[AOdman]

By the way, we just released a video from the shipyard that builds the boats and we discussed the differences between the old ps47 and the new ps48.

Regards
Anders

[Paragon19]

Having owned and sailed ( i’m original owner of hull #34) the Wauquiez PS 47 for 14 years ( she was my 7th boat and nothing else i sailed compared), I’d say she was as about as perfect a yacht as you could ask for. Fast (consistently hitting speeds 8.5 nauts plus without much effort), great sea motion, very solid, high quality, sailed well in light air (high aspect rig) and did phenomenally well in very heavy seas (sailing her both in the east coast and west coast of the U.S. We put over 40k miles on her bottom. Never had any structural or design issues with her. Systems were all first rate. We sold her this past February (she was listed and sold in a day with multiple offers) and we sadly said goodbye to my sweet heart s/v Paragon. Due to health issue, we’re moving to trawler/LRC but our Wauquiez be greatly missed.

[rotrax]

First mate and I looked VERY closely at a 40 seven years ago in Marbella. Lovely vessel, very well suited to what we wanted but not quite close enough.
Would undoubtedly sail better than what we ended up with, but good sailing ability was a 'nice to have' not 'must have' on our check list.
Fell down, for us, big time on 'easy on - easy off'
I have bad knees, FM needed a new hip.
It was our second choice though.