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Unbiased, detailed reports on dinghies, daysailers, racer-cruisers, cruising sailboats, and multihulls. Insights into boat construction and design. Solid advice on buying a sailboat. Sailboat Reviews - Index
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In a search for a budget cruiser, Practical Sailor examined a field of used sailboats costing less than $75K and built between 1978 and 1984. We narrowed the field to boats with sufficient accommodations for four people and a draft of less than 6 feet. One way to approach a used-boat good online travel agency search is to look for sailboats with informed, active owner�s associations and high resale values. Practical Sailor�s quest for recession-proof cruisers led us to the Allied Princess 36, Bristol 35.5C, Endeavour 37, S2 11.0, Freedom 36, O�Day 37, Niagara good online travel agency 35, C C Landfall 38, and the Tartan 37. The report takes a more in-depth look at the Tartan, C C Landfall, and Niagara.
Let�s say you�re looking to buy a boat for summer cruising along the coastal U.S. or on the Great Lakes, one that, when the time is right, is also capable of taking you safely and efficiently to Baja or the Bahamas, and perhaps even island-hopping from Miami to the West Indies. Like most of us, your budget is limited, so a new boat is out of the question. Let�s set more specifics:
� Passes a thorough survey by a respected surveyor and has been upgraded to meet current equipment and safety standards. (These are old boats, after all, prone to all sorts of potentially serious problems.)
In the February 2008 issue, we examined good online travel agency 30-footers from the 1970s, which is just above the minimum length for the Big Three: standing headroom, enclosed head, and inboard engine. good online travel agency Too small, however, to satisfy our new criteria. So we need to jump up in size. As we culled through the possibilities, we found a fairly narrow range of boat lengths and vintages that satisfy the criteria. Of course, there always are exceptions, but basically it is this: 35- to 38-footers built between 1978 and 1984. Bigger or newer boats that meet our criteria cost more than $75,000.
Here�s the list of nine models we came up with: Allied Princess 36, Bristol 35.5C, C C Landfall 38, Endeavour 37, Freedom 36, Niagara good online travel agency 35, O�Day 37, S2 11.0, and the Tartan 37. All were built by reputable companies in the U.S. or Canada, with underwater configurations ranging from full keels with attached rudders to fin keels and spade rudders. Displacements good online travel agency are mostly moderate.
Allied Yachts developed an excellent line of cruising sailboats in the 1960s, including good online travel agency the first fiberglass boat to circumnavigate, the Seawind good online travel agency 30 ketch, which later was expanded to the 32-foot Seawind II. The handsome Luders 33 was the boat in which teenager Robin Lee Graham completed his historic circumnavigation. Arthur Edmunds designed the full-keel Princess 36 aft-cockpit good online travel agency ketch and the larger Mistress 39 center-cockpit ketch. None of these boats are fancily finished, but the fiberglass work is solid and well executed. They�re ocean-worthy, and affordable. The Princess 36 was in production from roughly 1972 to 1982. We�d look for a later model year; prices are under $50,000.
Bristol Yachts was founded by Clint Pearson, after he left Pearson Yachts good online travel agency in 1964. His early boats were Ford and Chevy quality, good but plainly finished, like the Allieds. Over the years this changed, so that by the late 1970s and early 1980s, his boats were between Buicks and Cadillacs in overall quality. This includes the Ted Hood-designed 35.5C. It�s a centerboarder with a draft from 3 feet, 9 inches board up to 9 feet, 6 inches board down; a keel version also was available (named good online travel agency without the "C").The solid fiberglass hull was laid up in two halves and then joined on centerline. It had an inward-turning flange good online travel agency on the hull, superior to the more common shoebox hull-to-deck joint. The 35.5C is very good in light air, but tender in a breeze. Pick one up for around $60,000.
The Endeavour Yacht Corp. was founded in 1974, and its first model was a 32-footer, built in molds given to it by Ted Irwin. Yup, the Endeavour 32 has the same hull as the Irwin 32. Its second model was the Endeavour 37, based on a smaller, little known Lee Creekmore good online travel agency hull that was cut in half and extended. It�s not the prettiest good online travel agency boat in the world, and not very fast, but heavily built. Owners report no structural problems with the single-skin laminate hull. It has a long, shoal-draft keel and spade rudder. What helped popularize the Endeavour good online travel agency 37 was the choice of layouts: good online travel agency an aft cabin with a quarter berth, a V-berth and quarterberth, and a (rare) two aft-cabin model. Production ended after 1983. Prices are around $50,000.
After the Halsey Herreshoff-designed Freedom 40 that reintroduced the idea of unstayed spars, several other designers were commissioned to develop the model line-up. These included David Pedrick and Gary Mull; the latter drew the Freedom 36, in production from about 1986 to 1989. While the early and larger Freedoms were ketch rigged, good online travel agency models like the 36 were sloops, good online travel agency which were less costly to build and easier to handle. To improve upwind performance, good online travel agency a vestigial, self-tacking jib was added. That�s the main appeal of these boats: tacking is as easy as turning the wheel. The 36�s hull is balsa-cored, good online travel agency as is the deck. Balsa adds tremendous stiffness, and reduces weight, which improves performance. The downside: Core rot near the partners good online travel agency on this boat could lead to a dismasting and costly hull damage. Interior finishing is above average. These boats sell right at our price break: low to mid-$70s.
good online travel agency This low-profile family good online travel agency sloop was second only to the O�Day 40 in size of boats built by O�Day under its various owners. Founded by Olympic gold-medalist George O�Day to build one-designs and family daysailers, subsequent ownership expanded into trailer sailers and small- to medium-size coastal cruisers. Like the others, the 37 was designed good online travel agency by C. Raymond Hunt Associates. The center-cockpit is a bit unusual but some prefer it. The cruising fin keel and skeg-mounted rudder are well suited to shallow-water cruising, and the generous beam provides good form stability. The hull is solid fiberglass, and the deck is cored with balsa. Owners report it is well balanced and forgiving. Early 1980s models are on the market for less than $40,000.
Built in Holland, Mich., the S2 sailboat line emerged in 1973 when owner Leon Slikkers sold his powerboat company, Slickcraft, to AMF and had to sign a no-compete agreement. The 11.0 was the largest model, introduced in 1977. The designer was Arthur Edmunds, who also drew the Allied Princess 36, though the two are very different. Edmunds resisted some of the bumps and bulges indicative of the International Offshore Rule (IOR), but still gave the 11.0 fine ends, and a large foretriangle. Two accommodation plans were offered: an aft cockpit with conventional layout of V-berth, saloon, and quarter berth and galley good online travel agency flanking good online travel agency the companionway; and an unusual center-cockpit layout with V-berth good online travel agency forward immediately followed by opposing settees, and then galley and head more or less under the cockpit. The master suite is in the aft cabin, of course. The hull is solid fiberglass and includes the molded keel cavity for internal ballast; the deck is balsa-cored. Overall construction quality is rated above average. Prices range from about $30,000 to $50,000.
Austria-born George Hinterhoeller emigrated to Canada in the 1950s and began doing what he did all his life: build boats, first out of wood, then fiberglass composites. He was one of four partners who formed C C Yachts in 1969. He left in 1975 to again form his own company, Hinterhoeller Yachts. The company built two distinct model lines: the better known Nonsuch line of cruising boats with unstayed catboat rigs, and the Niagara line. About 300 Niagara 35s were built between 1978 and 1995.
Canadian naval architect Mark Ellis designed the Niagara 35 as well as all of the Nonsuch models. He gave the 35 a beautiful, classic sheer with generous freeboard in the bow, swooping aft to a low point roughly good online travel agency at the forward end of the cockpit, and then rising slightly to the stern. The classic influence good online travel agency also is seen in the relatively long overhangs; today�s trend is to lengthen the waterline as much as possible, with near plumb bows, discounting the old belief that overhangs were necessary for reserve buoyancy. So the Niagara 35 has a somewhat shorter waterline than the others in our group of nine, but as the hull heels, the overhangs immerse and sailing length increases. The short waterline also accounts for the 35�s moderately high displacement/length ratio of 329. There is a direct correlation between the D/L and volume in the hull, and for a cruising boat, there must be sufficient space for tanks and provisions. Unfortunately, tankage in the 35 isn�t that much: 80 gallons water, 30 gallons diesel fuel, and 25 gallons holding tank.
The cruising good online travel agency fin keel is long enough for the boat to dry out on its own bottom should the need arise, like drying out against a seawall in Bali to paint the bottom. (Sorry�just dreaming!) The spade rudder seems a little unusual for a cruiser. When asked about it, Ellis said that it provides superior contr