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Watkins Seawolf 33 (considering to purchase)

Discussion in ' Sailboats ' started by Seafarer24 , Nov 12, 2005 .

Seafarer24 Sunset Chaser

I've done a lot of internet searching for various sailboats that are in the 30-40' range, along with a myriad of other requirements. However, I haven't been on many other monohulls besides my '74 Seafarer 24. I found an online ad for a 33' Watkins Seawolf that was being shown locally. The pictures in the ad looked promising so I dug up some online reviews of the boat. One such review showed a profile view and interior layout for the boat. Amazingly, the interior of this boat is almost exactly what I've put on paper as my own interpretation of the ideal layout! I had to see it in person. My search for a future liveaboard/cruising sailboat has finally led me to step foot aboard another boat that I'd actually consider buying. The first thing I did upon going aboard was take a walk around the deck. There was enough room that I didn't have to shuffle, the non-skid held even my hard-soled shoes securely to the deck, and everywhere felt solid underfoot. There was plenty of room to put an 8' dingy on the cabintop. The boom has the in-boom slab reefing setup which I thought a nice touch, as was the cabin-top traveler which spanned a very wide companionway hatch. The cockpit is U-shaped and has plenty of room for 6 people, you could cram 8 in there, I suppose, but why? The seats looked like a good place to sleep with the right cusions.... My first impression upon stepping below (other than how tricky the typically steep companionway steps can be with hard-soled shoes, what was I thinking?) was of space. You see, my head rubs the cabintop of my Seafarer 24 with 5'10" headroom. This Watkins seemed to have around 6'6" of headroom. Even my tall (6'4") brother might be willing to go sailing with me on this boat. The layout that I was so thrilled about... works! Sure, the galley is smaller than I'd like, but it has to be in order to put the quarter berth opposite the sette and thus gain a lee sea-berth on either tack. A comfortable place to sleep for a cramped galley... is a fair compromise I believe. The U-shaped settee is different than my plan of a simple booth, but the table is still big enough for two people to eat a meal at, or four people to drink at and play cards without seeing what the others are holding. I even think my Poker Table Top would fit on there... something I'd never considered before The head with shower is... typical. Not as cramped as soom and not as roomy as others. Across from the head is a hanging locker with shelf above where the current owner had a TV. Perfect place for a TV so everyone at the dinette and settee could see it. The ever-present V-berth was in the bow, set up like a berth on each side, with a filler piece to make it one large bed. With the large hatch above it looked like a great place to store sails Online owner reviews tell of a sturdily built off-shore cruiser with shoal draft (4 feet!) that can be comfortably lived aboard. The hull-liner prevents me from seeing exactly how well everything is "tabbed" together, or even inspecting the chain plates from the inside. I'd consider changing the chainplates to exterior versions if it wasn't cost-prohibitive to do so. Then I could keep a better eye on them. Perhaps there was a locker door that I didn't know to open to find them.... The price for these boats seems to run from the low to high 30s, with this specific vessel priced right in the middle. I'm going to look into financing, I'm going to look around for a good surveyor, and I'm going to put my Seafarer on the market  

MarioCoccon Senior Member

Hi Seafarer if I was you the only Watkins that I only can be purchase was the 37 Center Cockpit. We have one 27 one time and all the watkins have a balsa core problem on the deck. And start making soft spots. I know than at list 3 watkins here with that problem. But the 37 looks more stif. I dont know what kind of boat you are looking for but I gone to put my Columbia 39 Flat Deck for sale on Christmas time just let me know if not I can continue looking here for a boat to you. You are far from Puerto Rico?  

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The Watkins 33 is a 33.08ft masthead sloop designed by W. Tripp/Watkins Yachts and built in fiberglass by Watkins Yachts between 1984 and 1989.

47 units have been built..

The Watkins 33 is a moderate weight sailboat which is slightly under powered. It is very stable / stiff and has a good righting capability if capsized. It is best suited as a coastal cruiser. The fuel capacity is originally small. There is a short water supply range.

Watkins 33 for sale elsewhere on the web:

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What can you tell me about Watkins

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I would go with the Catalina 30 for your purposes, better sailing boat for the Chesapeake Bay and better looking boat than the Watkins, one of the roomiest 30 footers, and many more owners in the area. Check for the Catalina smile, wet wood in the bilge sump, bad keel bolts and blistering rudder needing replacement. Catalina still offers support for its boats and there are replacement parts available. I would try to find one with a bimini, a wheel, and a diesel instead of the original A4. The Cals are great sailing boats and probably more rugged, but the Cat 30 has more space inside. I looked at both makes when I was looking for a boat. I would have bought either boat if I could have found the right one in my price range. When a well-priced Cat 30 was offered for sale on a Tuesday near Baltimore, I made arrangements with the seller to see it the following weekend. Unfortunately, it was sold the next day.  

Thanks, I know the most about Cats as the Cat30 has so much info available that I have read in depth on the pluses and minuses as well as common problems like the cat smile and blisters....actually we started just looking at those but then I realized we may be missing other models that are well equipped and in great shape just because our search was so narrow...so if a clean cat 30 in our range pops up it will certainly be on the list but I am really open to other makes as well.  

Years ago I sailed a Seawolf 30 (Watkins) in the Bahamas. With the full keel and short draft, it did not point very well. It tacked through about 120 degrees. The main on this boat was unbattened which also did not help. For two people it was quite comfortable. We slept in the v berth.  

jhorst1 said: ...however we are also looking at models that provide larger interiors (for their size) so that we can comfortably weekend and take out the occasional guests.... Click to expand...

jameswilson29 said: I will also point out these are somewhat contradictory goals. If you want to entertain, you need a large cockpit space. Usually, cockpit space comes at the expense of cabin space. For your price range, I would buy a Pearson 10M (33 feet). A great value and will beat the pants off your other 3 boats with a PHRF of 146 - a good, comfortable, stable coastal cruiser with a good turn of speed. Click to expand...

The PHRF ratings are a good indication of relative speed differences: PHRF New England - Handicapping - Base Handicaps According to the N.E. PHRF, the Cat 30 is 180, the Cal 29-2 is 183 and the Watkins 29 is 219, and the Pearson 10M is 135 or 141. In a race, the Watkins would be given an extra 39 seconds each mile to catch up to the faster Catalina 30. The Pearson 10M would give the Catalina 30 an extra 45 seconds per mile to catch up. On the Chesapeake Bay in particular, even if you don't race, you do not want to have a slow boat or you will spend most of your time motoring. If you are lucky to have enough wind consistently to sail on your coastal passages, you will appreciate the greater speed over the course of much greater differences. Cabin space is highly overrated. If you are like most folks, you will not spend that much time below decks. Sure, it is nice to be able to stand up and move around, but a little extra space may not be worth the penalty you pay in boatspeed.  

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Watkins Yachts

• Thread starter Paul Palmer
• Start date Jun 11, 2001
• Forums for All Owners
• Ask All Sailors

Paul Palmer

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge about Watkins Sailboats? In particular the Watkins 27.Well built?Performance?Good points?Bad points?Any information would be appreciated.Paul  

Andy Howard

Watkins 27 We bought a 1980 Watkins 27 (our first boat) about 5 years ago and enjoyed it for 3 years before moving up to a larger boat as the family grew and became addicted to sailing.Instead of saying "well built" I'll use the term "strongly built" to decribe her construction. With over an inch of fiberglass on some areas on the hull, this boat can take anything. We had a pretty bad case of blisters but that's fairly common for a boat this age that spent her early years in warm Florida. waters. I would of course get a survey done, and under no circumstances buy without a haul out as it might save you big $$'s in renegotioation.The interior is huge for a 27, it's probably the largest 27 ever built. This made it great for what we wanted, a comfortable, affordable weekend cruiser for our family. Of course, all boats are a trade off and the wide beam, shallow draft, and high freeboard, hurts the sailing performance. In light winds, the boat is extremely slow, and we motored a lot. At 15-20knts she's alot of fun but your still not going to win any races, the wide beam makes her very tender at first, heeling quickly to 15-20 degrees, but no more. In short, if your looking for affordability and livability, you've found a great boat, if club racing is in your future, you need to keep looking.The link below is for the Watkins owners site.  

well... A friend has one in our marina. They are heavy and slow. Haven't been built for some time. Don't know about construction, but they don't do much for me. I would look for a Catalina 27 or Hunter 27 for the same $$$.  

Andy said it pretty well ! Great boat for money I had (still have:for sale) a 1980 Watkins 27 since 1992. It is very large for a 27 foot boat, so comfort and cruising are pretty good for this size boat. It is a pretty solid boat and has oversized rigging (for this size boat-- e.g. I think the back/fore stays are 1/4"). I have motorsailed through steep 8-10 foot seas for hours and she felt fine. (I would look for the 15HP Yanmar engine, these boats were equipped with everything even down to a 8HP engine which most people beleive is undersized)It is not a performance oriented boat, but it will move well on a beam reach (I have passed 35+ foot sailboats on the same sail angle -- but I'm sure they didn't have their sails set well) and tends to not do well in light air (get a cruising spinnaker).But all in all a great little boat and I have to disagree with Steve O. I think you get alot more boat for the money compared to a Cat 27 or Hunter 27. (Some of these boats do not have wheel steering or inboard engines -- not that there is anything wrong with that...but) They are both fine boats....but go below on a Watkins and Catalina or Hunter----No Comparison, especially in the amount of room. They have been called a poor mans Island Packet. They have the same look and style. Also they are both a shoal keel/Modified full keel design and (which I thought is a plus) is they have an ecapsulated keel. There is no need to worry about keel bolts like on the Cat and Hunter.Take a look at some pictures here.http://home.att.net/~tom.senator/index.html  

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• Sailboat Guide

Watkins 36C

Watkins 36C is a 35 ′ 11 ″ / 11 m monohull sailboat designed by William H. Tripp Jr. and built by Watkins Yachts between 1981 and 1984.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

Watkins aquired the molds for the PORTMAN 36 (which was originally the CORONADO 35) to produce the WATKINS 36 (with major modifications). The 36C was the center cockpit model. An aft cockpit was also available.

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