The Moody 425 – A Modern Classic

The Moody 425 has become somewhat of a modern classic. A Bill Dixon design that evolved from the Moody 422, it was first introduced in 1988.  Like other models in Moody’s range of family cruisers, it offers spacious accommodation including a huge master bedroom in the aft of the yacht, a good size double berth in the bow and twin passage berths between the saloon and aft cabin which can be closed off to form an additional guest cabin if required.

She has a snug and safe center cockpit and a clean functional deck layout. The simple, but robust, double-spreader masthead rig was fitted with in-mast furling as standard from new. Two keels were also offered, a standard (1.8m) draft model and a shoal (1.4m) option both attached with mild steel keel bolts. Vega has the 1.8m draft.

Her hull lay up is tough, durable solid laminate constructed to Lloyds specifications. The deck hull joint is through bolted and all the internal bulkheads are glassed in place. The rudder is semi balanced partial skeg.

Ratios

There are a number of ratios used in yacht design, all of which are subject to healthy debate, however, the Moody 425 stacks up well against a number of the more widely accepted ones:

The Comfort Ratio – A measure of the yachts comfort based on the fact that a faster motion is more upsetting to the average person…this ratio should only be used as a comparator against yachts of a similar length. The Moody 425 Scores 32 putting her in the mid – high average comfort zone. 

The Capsize Ratio – The moody scores 1.9. Anything 2 or below is considered self righting and therefore offshore capable.

Sail Area Displacement Ratio – essentially power to weight ratio. The Moody 425 scores 16. 4, which places her in the fast cruiser range.

Displacement Length ratio – 236 which puts her in the moderately heavy displacement range. Typically bluewater cruises have a D/L ratio in the 250 plus range.

So all in all she stacks up well.

The Moody 425 has a loyal fan base and a search of the web finds nothing but praise for a design that has proved itself again and again…some of the comments i have found are below:

“Comfortable long distance cruiser for 2 – 3 adults or 2 adults and 2 children. Sails very well, and fast. Predictable, very light helm, Points very well. Perfect weather helm. Easily singlehanded with roller furling main and Jib controls run to the cockpit”

“Moody fiberglass quality is excellent. Rigging and hardware are first class and up-sized. Workmanship is very good”

“Best boat under 45 feet that I’ve ever seen. She’s handles beautifully under sail and power. A broad reach in 20 knots of apparent wind is something to behold”

“She is eminently “liveable”. She is built extremely well almost to the point of being overbuilt. Well thought out deck arrangement”

While she is no longer in production, i think its safe to say the Moody 425 will be sailing the seven seas for a long time to come!

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