Our boat, our home

Ty Dewi is a Westwind, or Young Sun, 43 Pilothouse cutter. Or a boat, to most people. Let's describe her to you and if you already know the terms, skip over the layman's language.

She is a boat built for long distance cruising. That means comfort, safety and storage come above speed, number of bunks and manouverability. Her hull is 13 tonnes of inch thick glassfibre, and the hull type is known as a long keel (the bottom of the hull runs to the back in one unbroken sweep) double ender (the stern is pointed, as well as the bows)

What's inside?

Our accomodation is compact, as the estate agents would say. In a 43 foot space, 12 feet wide (narrowing to zero) Ty Dewi fits in an amazing amount of living and storage space. At each end is a double cabin - the kid's sleep in the front (forward) one and we are at the back (aft)

There's a toilet (heads) and shower just behind the kid's cabin, and opposite that is a big wardrobe (hanging locker) that holds our waterproofs, lifejackets and various other gear, plus some drawers for clothing.

Next is the kitchen (galley) which is pretty large for a boat, with deep sinks, hot and cold fresh water and a salt water spray to save our supplies of drinking water. A two burner stove and oven is used to cook our meals, and we have a big fridge and cool box, but no freezer.

Opposite the galley is the chart table, where the main instruments, radios and other systems are housed, as well as our paper maps (charts) and navigational books. Also here is the all important CD player and our music collection!

Stepping up and further back, we are in the pilot house, our living room, where we have two setees, a table and plenty of bookshelves and storage cupboards. There is also a steering wheel in here, so we can steer the boat from downstairs in bad weather, and the main electrical switch panel is here too. The engine, fuel and water tanks and other important systems live under the floor of the pilothouse.

If you come and visit, the settee in the pilot house pulls out to form a double bed, and a small person can comfortably sleep on the other settee.

And finally, at the back we have another toilet and the adult's cabin with a cozy double bunk. There's more cupboards and storage in here; in fact it's hard to find a corner of Ty Dewi that hasn't got a cupboard or drawer in it. A year after buying the boat, I was still finding lockers I hadn't looked in yet.

Technical Details

If you still want to know more, these links take you to the technical details


Ashore in Dartmouth


Sailing in the Caribbean

The pilothouse - our living room

The galley - our kitchen

The chart table - nerve centre and office