First Centaur Trawl of the Solent

I spent Saturday poking around the back of boat yards looking for moldering Centaurs

I must have seen 30 Centaurs in one day - at least three of them fit the spec perfectly - dead engine and have been standing for five seasons.

Here is a short film including the best bets

This is about Centaur Project, Dylan Winter's Blog, Sailing around Britain. Tags:

6 Responses to “First Centaur Trawl of the Solent”

  1. 12 January, 2014 at 4:33 pmANDREW BARTLETT says:

    Interested by your search for a Centaur and your o/b well plans for it. I had a Kingfisher 20 for a couple of years that had an o/b well (the o/b was a Selva 5 hp , reliable but very smelly fumey not a pleasure to use) .I have always liked the look of the Centaur safe , roomy but I now find a boat that needs craning too expensive to run also the fear of not being able to sell it at the appropriate time fiscally. But I do miss now a boat of sufficient displacement that requires minimum concerrn about average windy/sea conditions.I love my light small cruiser but am obliged to forego much more than the most pleasant light sea conditions. Good luck with your interesting venture I’ll watch your postings with great interest. There was a lovely looking C. a while back at Emsworth Harbour but I think it was quite ‘expensive’ and not really the shell type order that I believe you are looking for. Andrew , Chichester.

  2. 12 January, 2014 at 4:54 pmMark the Skint Sailor says:

    Some nice yards you visited there Dylan. Its porn of the highest order for Boaties rummaging round old boat yards. Its a bit like car enthusiasts and old-style scrapyards where you can go and explore.

    I don’t mind old scrap yards, but I keep away from boat yards as it usually means an expensive bill! I much prefer to do any maintenance by pulling the boat up on the beach on a spring tide and work on it knowing I have a few hours to do what I need to do. Being limited by the tide means I have to do things in bite sized chunks, but that’s not a bad thing.

  3. 12 January, 2014 at 5:53 pmdylan winter says:

    I was amazed. I thought everywhere down there was like the Hamble….so much nicer and down to earth than I expected.

  4. 12 January, 2014 at 5:56 pmdylan winter says:

    During my recent trip up the coast I spent a fair amount of time sitting in harbour waiting for the wind to drop while larger yachts could head out…

    Katie L could do the top of Scotland – but not with four adults and a labrador on board. There were so many candidate boats I saw yesterday that one of them will come right. I shall send a few emails and make some phone calls and see if I can get something moving – if no luck then I will go back and have another trawl around

  5. 12 January, 2014 at 10:45 pmJohn S says:

    I thought I recognised you on Saturday as you pulled out of Emsworth Yacht Harbour heading for Thornham.
    The first of the Centaurs in your video at Emsworth belongs to a friend, it has just been re-engined after the old Volvo bent all its pushrods on the approach to Lymington.
    Good luck with the search.
    Really enjoy the videos.

  6. 12 January, 2014 at 11:12 pmdylan winter says:

    I hope you were impressed by the hot hatch, as the Micra is known around here

    bumma about the boat

    do you know of any other Centaurs that might be looking for a new owner and a new adventure?

    D

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