July 06

The Cheoy Lee 41 was merely a knock off with, as I recall, iron ballast instead of the cast lead in the Original and slightly different dimensions. The Offshore 41 had much better performance.

At Lion Yachts in Essex, CT we sold many 41's and I have cruised mine from Maine throughout the Caribbean. I have yet to find a better short handed offshore cruising design.

Tad`W

There is some mystery surrounding the 41's produced by Cheoy Lee.  We know that there was a Pedrick 41 produced.  I have this brochure on the CL 41 (click here) which does not mention any designer, and we have the brochure on the Offshore 41 (click here).  We also have had info submitted on a Richards 41 (click here).  The question has been raised are these 4 different boats or are the Richards 41 and the Offshore 41 the same?  It appears that the Richards 41 and the Offshore 41 are the same boats.  Wilton Rooks sent in the following message from another 41 owner...

It's the question of the ages.  The Offshore and the CL 41 are very different boats.  I even e-mailed Ray Richards about it and he something to the effect that the CL 41 is his design, but not entirely.  The Offshore is narrower, with very different sheer.  The CL 41 has much more tumblehome.  A similar hull, actually, is the Catalina 38.  That's not a coincidence, as that is a Sparkman & Stephens design, for whom Richards worked at one time.  The other 41s were/are Pedrick designs.
So, I consider it a "Ray Richards" design, for the most part, though he was unclear.  What didn't help, too, was a Practical Sailor article on the "Offshore 41" from last year, which confused the two designs as if they were one.  Clearly different boats.  If you have the 1979 boat, yours is likely like mine.  The saloon is curved, but oval, not circular (like the older models).  Your length is 40 feet 9 inches with a 12-6 beam.  The head is aft of the saloon on the starboard side, with a closet, then main  "stateroom" aft of that.
Below is the reply from Ray Richards.  He says the CL 41 is "not one of my originals," but suggests the design was borrowed by the yard.  Hope this helps. 

An old adage may fit, to wit: Different ships : Different long splices.  I am not particularly familiar with it, but your e.mail jogged my memory that  indeed, Cheoy Lee had Pedrick design a 41, "borrowing" from mine but with the, by then, contemporary style of underbody and flatter sheer. I also recall  that Pedrick was or had been in the Sparkman & Stevens office, a factor that  Cheoy Lee probably and understandably would have figured as good for sales. Journalism has its place. It is said that bad publicity is better than no  publicity at all. There were more than a few misquotes and errors. For  example, I turned out 4, not 10 designs for Cheoy Lee. The first was a 39, a  larger and heavier version of an aluminum one tonner that had received some  good press, but it was totally away from the type and style of CL's market  niche. It was flush decked and had a plumb transom from which a dirty big  outboard rudder was hung. Tad Woodhull, Lyon Yachts, Essex, Connecticut, had  one and did well racing it in Long Island Sound. It was he who stimulated  Cheoy Lee toward replacing Phil Rhodes' very handsome RELIANT, which came to  be sold as their OFFSHORE 40. Thus came my 41, which was originally  designated OFFSHORE 40. Maybe that, in CL's mind, was much like replacing a  Richards with a Pedrick. The 32 came next. It was followed by the 38, very  similar in features to the 41. Incidentally, I first used the round settee in the cuddy of the RANGER 20.  ......
Ray Richards 

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