Gypsy Dancer: Moody 419 Sailing Yacht

Moody 419

Gypsy Dancer is a Moody 419 sailing yacht built in 1986.

Moody 419's are 41' 9" LOA, bermuda-rigged yachts manufactured by Marine Projects in Plymouth UK between 1984 and 1986.

They are medium displacement, centre-cockpit yachts with 7 or 8 berths in 3 cabins and the saloon. They have two heads. This design works well as there is a large 'owners cabin' aft with its own head and two two-berth cabins with a second head forward. The saloon is large and comfortable and easily able to accommodate the crew round the extended table.

The chart table is large and comfortable and the galley is U-shaped with twin sinks, a two burner propane stove with grill and oven and a refrigerator.

Gypsy Dancer is equipped with davits to hold a dinghy. Her radar is mounted on the rear stay. She has a working Loran set aboard, the fore-runner to GPS and its interesting to compare the positions given by the two systems. Most Moody 419's seem to have been supplied with a Thorneycroft diesel engine but Gypsy Dancer was supplied with a Perkins 4108, 48 hp diesel presumably because she was built for the US market.

I have added an inner forestay to Gypsy Dancer (just visible in the picture above) so I can fly a storm jib or another smaller jib without having to remove the main headsail. This runs from just below the mast head to a new chain plate at the aft end of the anchor locker. The chain plate was incorporated into the windlass mount when that was added during the Barker's Island refit. The stay is attached to the chain plate with a Highfield Lever so in theory it can be removed and stowed to make tacking the headsail easier.

Moody 419 Internal Layout