beachable sailboats

Best Sailboats You Can Beach

Last Updated by

Daniel Wade

December 28, 2023

Sailing is a unique experience unlike any other, especially in shallow waters. There are plenty of sailboats you can beach to enjoy these opportunities.

Beaching a sailboat allows you to park the boat right along shallow waters so you can explore where other large boats cannot. So what are some of the best sailboats you can beach?

The Catalina 22, Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40, Hunter 22, and Lagoon 39 are great examples of sailboats you can beach. Others include Nautitech 40, Hobie 16, and the Hunter 15. Essentially, every catamaran trimaran, and full keel sailboats are capable of being beached as long as you use caution.

The beauty of beaching a sailboat can help save you time and money. Instead of anchoring and using a dinghy to get closer to shore, a beachable sailboat can skip that entire process.

According to experts in the industry, you want to make sure you are capable of beaching your sailboat first before trying it out. Failure to know if your boat can safely do it can result in expensive damages or potential injury.

Table of contents

‍ 10 Sailboats You Can Beach

When sailing on a boat that you can beach, you have a luxury like no other sailboat. Whenever you want to explore shallow waters, you simply head that direction and ease it into the sand. A handful of variables come into play, but generally lower draft boats are capable of doing so.

Catalina 22

The Catalina 22 is an excellent option and is one of the most popular sailboats in use. Due to its retractable keel, this makes all the difference in the world when trying to beach your sailboat.

For a sailboat under 25 feet, it is hard to beat the comfort and ease of use of a Catalina 22. Whether you are day sailing or sleeping in it overnight, you can easily go back and forth between beaching and to deeper waters.

Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40

The Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40 is a relatively newer design for catamarans. The Lucia 40 debuted in 2016 and has received very positive reviews.

This 40 footer offers plenty of space on board for several people to live on. It has plenty of power and stability to handle any conditions. In addition, the sailboat can be beached since catamarans are two long hulls.

The Hunter 22 is everything you need to get out on the water and is completely beachable. This sloop rig is comfortable enough for family and friends without compromising anything.

Some include a performance package that you can use to make it in a racing sailboat. Either way, you can safely beach it since it has a hydraulic lifting centerboard.

The Lagoon 39 has very similar features compared to other Lagoon models. However, the mast and center of buoyancy are different since the hulls are further apart.

For a 38.3 foot sailboat, some sailors might find it intimidating to beach one of these. Luckily this is a catamaran, which is easy to beach and has no risk of damaging your boat if you do it correctly.

Nautitech 40

Another good size catamaran right at 40 feet is the Nautitech 40 . The fractional sloop and open design is a great set of features that many gravitate to when looking for a sailboat.

For the perfect balance of speed and comfort, this one is up there with the best. The biggest difference between the Nautitech 40 and other competing catamarans is that it uses foam composite instead of balsa cores, which saves a ton of weight. Beaching this catamaran is easy, especially with its four foot draft.

The Hobie 16 is an excellent sailboat that is trailerable, fun, and can be beached. This boat’s design debuted in 1969 and offers one of the best options for getting your feet wet with a catamaran.

With its kick up rudders and a mix between fiberglass and foam hulls, you should have no problems beaching it. If you are wanting to sail with a companion for the day or want to sail by yourself, the Hobie 16 is a great size to do either one.

The Hunter 15 provides simplicity when you need it, whether you are an expert or newbie to sailing. The fiberglass hull and foam floatation, it is a very sturdy sailboat for its size.

With its stability in addition to its kick up rudder, you can safely take this one to the beach to explore your surroundings. They also make this one in an 18 footer for those that want a little more room.

Montgomery 17

A boat that has surprised many in the pocket cruiser category is the Montgomery 17 . The masthead sloop and swing keel make it a unique sailboat for around 18 feet.

When the swing keel is up, the boat is just shy of two feet max on the draft. This allows you to beach it or explore shallow waters with ease. They also make these in 15 and 23 foot editions, whether you want more or less space.

Flying Scot

This 19 footer is one of the most popular daysailers of all time, dating back to 1957. The sloop rigged design remains popular to this day and has been competitively raced in over 130 fleets across the U.S.

When the centerboard is up, the boat glides gracefully at just eight inches and can be beached or used in shallow water. Many have used this boat to sleep on with some accommodations, even though it was designed to be a daysailer.

WindRider 10

The Wind Rider 10 is a trimaran that is fast, stable, and has an extremely low draft. This particular model joins the likes of other Wind Riders, like the 16 and 17, but is not as large for those wanting to have something smaller.

The six inch draft and weight of about 125 pounds makes it easy to transport and beach. The beauty of this trimaran is that you can go anywhere you want without having to worry about size.

What Does Beaching a Boat Mean?

Beaching a boat is when a sailor decides to park their boat on the beach in the event that they do not have a marina to tie off to or if they want to explore the area. There are two ways to beach your boat, which is stranded or partially stranded.

When stranded, the boat is completely out of the water. This allows for repairs to be made on the hull or to inspect it periodically if you travel full time with it.

As for partially stranded, this means the boat is still in the water but the majority of the bow is in the sand. This allows you to take a break from traveling or to go ashore for a while. Both beaching methods have their advantages depending on why you need them at that moment.

Compatible Boat Types for Beaching

The lowest section of your boat needs to be tough if you want to beach it. This needs to be a strong material because you are hitting against something firm every time you are wanting to stop your boat.

If the lowest part of your boat has a propeller, rudder, or anything that sticks out too low, it is not a good candidate for beaching. This is why it is important to know what is underneath your boat and what it is made of.

Fixed keels usually have a better chance at standing up to the wear and tear of beaching since they are made with the hull. They are more sturdy and provide stability while beaching.

Full keels, twin keels, multi-hulled boats, and a few varieties of bulb or wing keels are good candidates for beaching. Doing your research based on what boat you have is the most important thing before attempting to beach.

Boat Types to Avoid Beaching

A boat with dagger boards is not quite strong enough to handle beaching. Since the keels are not fixed, it might cause damage if it has any pressure in the wrong direction.

If your boat has skegs, it might be wise to avoid beaching. If your boat takes on a wave and slightly gets lifted while in shallow water, the chance of damaging the rudder is much higher when the boat comes back down and there is no water to stop it.

Tips for Beaching Your Sailboat

If you are curious about beaching your sailboat, you are not alone. Most likely you have seen other sailors do it or have seen pictures online showing boats of all shapes and sizes tackle this feat.

The problem is that beaching your boat is not good, especially if you are rough on your boat in the process. However, when done properly, beaching your boat will not harm anything.

Pick Flat Areas

When you want to beach your boat, you have to choose a section that is relatively flat. While this sounds like common sense, it should always be your first choice when given the opportunity.

It is also important to note that you do not want a lot of rocks or debris in your way. If you can safely navigate to the shore without anything potentially stopping you underneath, that is your best bet.

Position the Boat

You will need to take into account your environment while trying to beach your boat. The wind and ranges are going to act a bit differently closer to shore than they are in deeper waters.

When positioning your boat to the beach, you have to have the same mentality as if you were trying to park it in a packed marina. Paying attention to your surroundings is going to be key.

Slow Speeds and Kill the Engine

If the conditions allow you to safely drift to the beach, allow enough momentum to carry you there at a nice pace. After that, you should turn off the engine or propeller in case you hit shallow water faster than you anticipate.

If you hit the beach a little harder than you would have liked, it could potentially damage your prop or hull. Navigating using slow speeds and turning off the prop will stop it from trying to turn in the sand.

Make Sure You Have Good Conditions

Unless you are in an emergency, you should wait for the right time to beach your boat. If the wind and waves are not in the best place, you should consider waiting it out. Your environment does not have to be completely perfect, but it would be best to have desirable conditions while trying to beach your boat.

Use a Dinghy if Needed

The whole purpose of beaching your boat is that you can park it on shore and then simply get out of your boat. However, there are times when the tide comes in or the water is extremely shallow for a section of the beach.

During this time, you might have to consider walking a bit until you get where you want to be or use an inflatable dinghy to help you out the rest of the way. In addition, the dinghy can be used to help deploy your anchors on your main boat.

Dangers of Beaching Improperly

Beaching is a great way to explore shallow waters or to hit up a nice looking area. There are plenty of reasons to beach your boat. However, there are plenty of dangers associated with beaching that you need to be aware of.

Being Stuck

This happens a lot more than you would think, especially when waves or the conditions change while you are beached. Waves can carry your boat further into the beach where you cannot move it.

If this is the case, you would have to try and pull or push it out by hand or wait for the water to come back to you. This could potentially damage your boat too.

Damaging Your Boat

If you get stuck, the dangers of damaging your boat go up. In addition, you could damage your boat before the chance of getting stuck even occurs.

Over time, you are effectively rubbing the hull into sandpaper. This means you will need to periodically check your hull out to make sure it is not wearing down too fast.

Failure to locate rocks or anything in the water beforehand is going to ensure your boat is damaged. If you damage your hull, you definitely would have to beach it in order to make repairs.

You could also mess up the prop, rudder, or whatever you have that sticks out lower than the boat. These delicate, but essential parts of your boat do not need to be beaten up.

Losing Your Boat

If you do not beach your boat properly, there is a chance you could lose your boat. This is why picking a flat surface and checking out your boat after you beach is important.

If you beach your boat onto a rocky surface, there is a good chance that the material is not supported underneath. This could potentially wiggle your boat loose or mess with your anchor. Taking your time while beaching your boat is crucial to making sure your boat does not take off anywhere.

I've personally had thousands of questions about sailing and sailboats over the years. As I learn and experience sailing, and the community, I share the answers that work and make sense to me, here on Life of Sailing.

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Welcome to freedom on the water and good times on the shore. The all new Stiletto X-Series offers performance the whole gang can enjoy with a new line of multihull catamarans that are as easy to own as they are to sail. With a cleverly appointed interior offering all the must-haves for coastal cruising, including space for six to sleep down below, Stiletto-Xc is perfect for day outings or overnight sail-camping adventures. On the water and on the beach, chasing thrills or catching sunsets, this cat’s a memory maker.

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Ventura Sport Boats

Pocket Cruising Sailboats

A Fun, Affordable Pocket Cruiser

Hailed as a Modern Classic

The Malbec 18 has been hailed as a modern classic by the sailing press and small boat aficionados alike. Nominated as a Best Boat for 2018 by SAIL Magazine and praised as “charming…fun and responsive” by Cruising World, the Malbec 18 blends performance with comfort, stability, and versatility. It has twice appeared on CBS’ “The Price is Right.”

Great Performance

This lightweight, beachable cruiser offers a huge six-foot cockpit with seating for six adults, and features a spacious, airy cabin that sleeps a family of four. That makes the Malbec 18 the perfect boat for experienced sailors looking to right-size from larger or smaller boats, and its safe, forgiving sailing characteristics make it ideal for newbies, too.

As a spritely performer, the Malbec 18 would make a superb one-design club racer. As a first family boat, it’s easy to handle for the youngest hands.

Created by a leading marine architect and the former manufacturer of the wildly-popular West Wight Potter and Voyager 20, the Malbec 18 hull design features hard chines for great aquadynamics at heel, and semi-planing at higher speeds. The most experienced sailors will appreciate its excellent pointing ability, and zippy off-the-wind performance.

Control and Safety

Stability, control, and modern ergonomics are crucial to a good pocket cruising experience. The ballasted swing centerboard can be controlled from the cockpit for simple singlehanding, beaching, and trailering. An adjustable backstay enables performance tuning, and because most of the ballast is not in the centerboard, the boat offers high a stability ratio under all circumstances.

You can confidently take the Malbec 18 on any lake, wide river, or bay—then out onto the ocean for coastal cruising.

Comfortable and Airy Cabin

Decades of experience in designing pocket cruisers have gone into laying out a cabin which is surprisingly roomy for a compact, 18-foot boat. The oversized companionway hatch opens much of the cabin roof to standing room, the V-berth is bright and comfortable, and two additional sleeping berths double as cushioned bench seating for the convertible dinette table. A hideaway portable head comes standard, and a slide-away galley is available as an option. You will find lots of storage both fore and aft.

Easy Trailering and Setup

Trailering the Malbec 18 is a breeze with a four-cylinder automobile. The optional, custom trailer rides low into the water, and the boat draws just 10 inches with the swing centerboard raised. The mast-raising and brand-name rigging systems can be handled in minutes by a single person. On the road, you can use the Malbec 18 as your own easily handled and easily parked RV!

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The Malbec 18 is entirely manufactured in the USA at our Oxnard, California factory, and each boat is tailored specifically to your needs, with a wide range of options. To make ordering easy, three options packages are available to suit any budget—making the Malbec 18 the new, affordable pocket cruising standard for easy “fun in the sun.”

Discover or re-discover the simple joy of sailing when wind fills the sails of this beautifully-designed and responsive boat. Find new adventures wherever a boat ramp awaits!

Malbec 18 2022 MSRP “Sail Away” From: $39,995.00

Beachable Pocket Cruiser with sleeping accommodations for four
Complete Sail Control fittings, Halyards and Lines
Featured Ronstan Hardware
5oz White Mainsail and 100% Jib with Malbec Logo
Swing Ballasted Centerboard with Cockpit Mounted Lifting Control
Removable Rudder and Tiller with Mast Crutch
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13×23 Transom Mounted Storage Hatch
Open and Airy Cabin with V Berth for Two and Two Quarter Berths
Forward Opening Hatch by Bomar
Premium Marine Vinyl Covered Cabin Cushions
Ample Storage Below
Optional Slide-out Porta-Potty tucks away for storage
Optional Slide-out Ice Chest tucks away
Custom Fitted Trailer Galvanized or Aluminum
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Stainless Steel Cockpit Rails
Stainless Steel Boarding Ladder
Adjustable Motor Mount Bracket
Single Handed Package

Make Your Boat Special, With Options from Trailer to Spinnaker! Click Here for the Complete Options List

Malbec 18 specifications.

Length Overall………………………. 18’

Length at Waterline…………….. 16’

Beam……………………………………….. 7’2”

Draft………………………………………… 10” to 3’6”

Cabin Height………………………… 4’6”

Mast length………………………….. 23’

Mast height………………………….. 26’

Boat Weight……………………….. 1500 lbs

Centerboard Weight………… 90 lbs

Additional Lead Ballast……350 lbs

Main Sail…………………………….. 102 SqFt

Jib………………………………………….. 55 SqFt

Optional Genoa…………………..98 SqFt

Optional Spinnaker…………….120SqFt

Power…………………………………. Up to 9HP Outboard

Electrical……………………………..See available options

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Sailboat Reviews

Shannon Shoalsailer 35

With just 30 inches of draft, this model simplifies the fine art of gunkhole cruising..

Sequestered in a warren of buildings in the heart of Rhode Island’s boatbuilding capital — Bristol — Shannon Yachts is a semi-custom boatbuilder that has established a reputation over the past 30 years for solidly constructed, traditional cruising vessels. To date, the company has built over 250 sailboats (and 100 powerboats) from 28 to 51 feet.

Founded in 1975 by Walter Schulz, Shannon Yachts has since maintained a firm grip on this niche of the market. Schulz’s formal training in fine arts — he earned a master’s degree from Parson’s School of Design — is not what he credits for the company’s refined products, but instead the 15 or so years he spent working in New England boatyards repairing boats. His hands-on involvement as the principal designer and an active presence on the building floor is and always has been a Shannon hallmark.

In 2004, the company gained new investors as a means of diversifying the business and branching out into new realms, which now include brokerage. Bruce Brown, a seasoned cruising sailor, boatbuilder, and large yacht project manager, came on-board as the CEO, effectively freeing Schulz up to concentrate his energies on design and execution. It was shortly after that juncture that the company unveiled the Shoalsailer 35, which it markets as the ultimate coastal cruiser.

This model, which is an evolution of the Shoalsailer 32 introduced in 2001, represents a distinct departure for Shannon Yachts. In essence, the design melds both power and sailboat elements, yet the 35 is decidedly not a motorsailer. And most notably — drawing just 30 inches — it’s not deemed an offshore cruiser.

The 32-foot version came to life after years of research and prototyping by Schulz, and was spurred in part by the request of a client who wanted to sail the shallow waters of New Jersey’s Barnegat Bay, yet have the speed under power to return home quickly. Of course the customary response to those parameters is “you’re talking about a multihull.” But on-the-water research led Schulz to dismiss that approach, principally due to the inevitable requirement of daggerboards for upwind sailing. “To get a cat — and most trimarans — to sail satisfactorily into the wind you have to drop daggerboards down about six feet, and then you wipe out the shoal draft advantage,” explained Schulz. So, he devised a different scheme based principally on hull shape.

The Shoalsailer 35 comes standard with a 40-hp engine, but Shannon offers the option of what it calls the High Speed Package with a 125-hp engine and a hydraulically operated trim tab just beneath the swim platform. The company advertises that this combination makes the boat capable of 11 knots under power.

PS spent five days aboard Hull No. 2, which is equipped with Shannon’s High Speed Package as well as a bow thruster.

Design In profile, the Shoalsailer 35 resembles many mid-size cruising auxiliaries, except for its rig, which is situated well forward and has two headstays, what Schulz and company began calling the “scutter” rig back in 1997. The J measurement on this boat is 10 feet, which means that almost 70 percent of the boat is aft of the mast partners. Schulz explained that this is a simple solution for the most manageable sail plan: “The easiest sail to handle on a boat is the mainsail.” He also wanted as much drive as possible with the mainsail, hence the large roach.

The scutter rig — derived from Schulz’s amalgamation of the words “sloop” and “cutter” — uses a 125-percent, roller-furled inner headsail tacked on the bow for light and moderate winds. When the breeze gets above 20 knots, that sail is furled and the 150-square-foot, high-clewed jib, which is tacked to a furling unit on the bowsprit, comes into play.

This rig, says Schulz, offers more flexibility than a standard genoa. “No matter what you do with sail design, furling a genoa more than 30 percent makes it into a bed sheet, not a jib,” he asserts. “The sail you need the most when you’re clawing off a lee shore is a jib.” For the lightest wind conditions, he says, you simply turn on the engine. “I’ve been cruising on sailboats for more than 40 years, and a third of that time has been spent under power. Everybody has a schedule to meet.”

To fulfill his self-imposed shallow-draft mandate, Schulz designed a keel that extends just 30 inches below the waterline. Unlike almost every other monohull, it’s not the keel or the twin rudders on this vessel that produce the lift under sail, but the shape of the hull itself, which Shannon has patented. According to Schulz, it’s primarily the twist in the hull, and how that directs the laminar flow of water over it that develops lift.

The Shoalsailer has a very fine entry at the bow, and full sections in the stern, which might equate to too much weather helm when heeled, but the cutback in her forefoot alleviates this problem. The other aspect that Schulz likes to point out about the hull is the stability it offers due primarily to its exceptional beam. “The hull shape is where the initial and ultimate stability come from,” says Schulz, “and the beam has a lot to do with it.” He likens the boat’s heeling tendency to that of a cruising multihull.

Like some cruising multihulls — and a few monohulls — the Shoalsailers are built to withstand groundings. In fact a principal benefit of this design is that it’s intended to be beached. PS put this aspect to the test numerous times.

One of the most remarkable characteristics of the Shoalsailer 35 is the breadth of its cockpit. Max beam on this craft (12’9”) is situated well aft, 60 percent of the way back from the waterline entry at the bow. That girth extends another 25 percent of the way aft and then tapers only slightly near the transom. The effect of this is a voluminous cockpit, one we’d expect to see aboard a sailboat at least 10 feet longer.

On Deck The Shoalsailer’s deck layout is primarily clean and functional. A stainless steel bowsprit (the aft portion is filled with a welded stainless plate, the forward section with a panel of Starboard) serves to support a single bow roller as well as the stainless pulpit. We’d prefer two bow rollers, which would be an easy option because these are semi-custom boats. Extending down from the bowsprit to the stem is a stainless rod bobstay, which transfers the load of the forward-most stay. The deck is framed by an anodized aluminum toerail running from stem to stern on either side.

Just in front of the cabin trunk on the foredeck is a low-profile, midsize Scanvik hatch — one of five on the boat — which offers good ventilation and access to the forward cabin. Forward of this, there’s sufficient deck space for one person to comfortably handle the ground tackle using the Maxwell windlass mounted on the bowsprit’s stainless plate. Deploying a second anchor would be somewhat less convenient because there’s no on-deck access to the chain locker (it can be reached via an opening in the bulkhead at the forward end of the V-berth down below). We also noted that the anchor rode does not have a fair lead from either of the twin cleats on deck forward to the bow roller.

The diamond-patterned non-skid molded into the deck offers good, secure footing. But on the sloped cabin house leading to the foredeck, where you’re most apt to need nonskid, there is none. This can be resolved by installing textured strips or some other form of traction to ensure good footing.

Moving aft, sections of aluminum track fitted with leads for the inner headsail are mounted well inboard, at the base of the cabin house on either side. This not only makes for relatively tight sheeting angles on the genoa, but also leaves the side decks uncluttered.

On either side of the cabin house, a stainless steel grab rail runs fore and aft nearly the full length of the house. And just aft of the mast partners, on either side of the house, is another pair of Scanvik hatches that open to the main saloon. Between them, running all the way aft to the companionway, is a seahood that houses the run of halyards, reefing lines, and other sail controls, which are led aft to a pair of Lewmar two-speed, self-tailing winches.

The Shoalsailer’s cockpit is protected by high, broad coamings that flare out from the aft end of the cabin trunk. Atop each, within easy reach of the helm, a Lewmar 40 two-speed, self-tailing winch is mounted. This hardware is secured only with washers and nuts, not backing plates, but Schulz affirmed that the coaming top is cored with ¾-inch marine plywood expressly for this purpose. (The winches on the cabin top are fastened through a solid glass laminate.)

Shielding the aft end of the cockpit overhead is a fixed, fiberglass panel supported by a stout anodized aluminum frame (optional) that also serves as the aft pulpit. At the forward end of this is a collapsible vinyl bimini that covers the rest of the cockpit. Plexiglass viewports above each steering station let the helmsman check mainsail trim.

Beneath this wide cockpit, there’s room for a very large locker (accessed via a hatch in the portside seat) that contains the boat’s many support systems (generator, inverter, steering quadrants, autopilot, holding tank and macerator, refrigerator-freezer, and air conditioning), and the aft cabin’s double berth to starboard.

Apart from its unusual breadth, the cockpit’s most notable feature is its twin steering stations. Each is fitted with a 30-inch Edson wheel, dual Morse controls for the engine, an analog steering compass, autopilot controls, and controls for the bow thruster. There’s enough room behind each helm that you don’t feel at all crowded.

Standing at the wheel on either side, you can easily lean forward and reach the primary winch or either of the two cleats mounted there to secure the headsail sheets. If you’re at the weather side helm and you need to move to leeward to tend the headsail sheet, it’s just a few steps away. However, the mainsheet winch and controls for the Schaefer mid-boom traveler are situated forward on the cabin top, far out of reach from the helm. The controls for raising and lowering the rudders are located on the transom, just aft of the helmsperson’s stations. We found it difficult to get the rudders to drop consistently when we released the lines from the horn cleats. The problem persisted even after we cleaned the lower section of the rudders of all marine growth.

All instrument readouts are mounted on a pivoting display panel that’s situated just aft of the centerline cockpit table, between the steering stations. We found that the panel would be more functional if it were extended another 20 inches higher so that the user didn’t have to look so far down and thereby be distracted from his or her course. Also, the remote VHF mic installation restricted the panel’s rotation, but that could be readily corrected.

The cockpit has a broad, centerline opening just aft of the steering stations where one step down takes you to the wide swim platform. In the center of the platform is a flush hatch that opens to the interior space beneath the cockpit where the majority of the boat’s support systems are housed. We’d rather this were a separate compartment with its own drainage. To get to the stern ladder, you have to duck under the port section of the boat’s split backstays. If the stays were given a wider base, the rig geometry wouldn’t be affected but access to the ladder would be improved.

The Shoalsailer’s two-spreader mast, which is stepped on the keel, is stayed by four shrouds on either side of the mast, the two headstays, and the aforementioned split backstay. This might seem like overkill, but this boat is built to go aground and keeping the rig in place in those situations requires an additional degree of safety. The only issue we see here that one set of lower shrouds terminates well forward of the mast on the cabin trunk, meaning that the clew and lower leech area of the inner headsail will brush past these stays on every tack and most jibes when the sail is fully unfurled.

Accommodations The Shoalsailer 35 comes standard with a two-cabin layout, but calling the area that houses the quarterberth to starboard a “cabin” is a stretch. (The double berth here is just long enough to accommodate two people who are no taller than 6 feet, and personal stowage is limited to a large compartment outboard of the berth, one small hanging locker, and one drawer.) Despite a small overhead hatch and a portlight that opens to the cockpit footwell, ventilation here is less than ideal, which is why a small fan has been mounted on the aft bulkhead. Also, the hinged teak panel that sections off this area is more of a privacy screen than an actual door. Elsewhere down below, this boat is much more accommodating, particularly the personal stowage capacity in the V-berth cabin.

The interior layout is quite traditional, as is the styling. The saloon is arranged around a large teak table fixed on centerline, which has drop leaves ample enough to seat six people in relative comfort. To port and starboard are full-length settees that can be used as berths if required. Outboard of these are storage compartments and shelves.

The saloon is well lit and well ventilated. There are two deck hatches located over the settees and four ports on either side of the cabin trunk (two opening and two fixed), as well as two small fans mounted on the main bulkhead.

There is no nav station on the Shoalsailer 35, a reflection of the designer’s preference for what he calls “laptop navigating.” “The reasons for going below to look at a chart or radar have all gone the way of the carrier pigeon,” says Schulz. However, he says he still carries paper charts when voyaging, and these would be spread out on the broad teak countertop to port in which the door to the large refrigerator and freezer compartments is recessed. Just outboard of that is the boat’s nerve center, where the electrical panel is mounted. There’s room here for instrument repeaters, a VHF, stereo, and nav light, as well as other accessories.

Opposite that area, to starboard, is the small, L-shaped galley, which features a single stainless steel sink, a double-burner propane stove, a microwave oven, and sufficient cabinet space to stow food and cooking implements for a weeklong cruise. The counterspace is limited, but what truly demands creativity on the part of the cook is the location of the microwave. On the boat we tested, it was mounted outboard of the propane stove. To open the door on the former, you must first remove pots from the latter and turn down the flame. Again, this is a semi-custom boat and microwave location is something that could be changed.

The boat’s head, to port of the companionway steps, uses space well. The shower and toilet share the same compartment, segmented from the sink area by a curtain and a clear plastic panel. The interior surfaces other than the plastic panel, the sink, and the cabinet faces, are made of easy-to-clean gelcoated fiberglass. And all the mechanicals (macerator pump and holding tank) are situated aft beneath the cockpit.

Access to the forward section of the engine is managed by removing the structure around the companionway steps. There is also a small hatch in the shower stall for accessing the port side. To inspect the dripless shaft coupling, you must remove the cushions in the aft berth as well as a plywood panel, but space here is limited and working with large wrenches would be cumbersome. The boat’s other systems — batteries, water valves, bilge pump, etc. — are more easily accessed.

Performance The Shoalsailer is an easy boat to operate, whether under power or sail. Because it draws only 30 inches and has a fair amount of freeboard, the bow is susceptible to being blown around when maneuvering at low speeds under power. Because of this, a bow thruster is now standard equipment, and we quickly grew to appreciate its use, despite the noise it produces.

Under sail, the boat heels very little, at least in the moderate breezes we experienced. The steering system was somewhat stiff, but the twin rudders still offered sufficient feedback for us to feel like we were getting the boat in a groove when sailing upwind in 10 knots or more. In lighter breezes, it was difficult to really get a feel for the helm. (The rudders are simple stainless-steel plates with little variation in chord thickness, except for the upper sections into which the lower portions retract.)

We were only briefly able to make the 35 we tested tack through 110 degrees true wind — Shannon says the 35 can sail 35 degrees relative to apparent wind — and we could not hit the projected boat speed of 11 knots under power.

Underwater photos taken during our test seemed to indicate that the starboard rudder was out of alignment, which could have adversely affected performance. Shannon wasn’t sure what might have caused the misalignment — we certainly didn’t hit anything — but suspected that a grounding shortly prior to or during the boat’s delivery to the Bahamas might have caused this. We intend to give the Shoalsailer another sea trial.

On one occasion, sailing in essentially flat water and an average wind of 9 knots, we managed a top speed of 5.8 knots over the ground, but couldn’t get the boat to tack through less than 140 degrees. (We confirmed this with the track on our GPS chartplotter.) A few days later, in 11 knots of wind, with the breeze occasionally surging to 14, we sustained almost 6 knots of boat speed and managed to tack through 110 degrees in very flat water.

We learned quickly that this boat needs at least 4 knots of speed to be tacked. It didn’t take much to develop a technique of bearing off slightly and easing the sheets somewhat before tacking to ensure that the boat was moving through the water fast enough to tack well. We had been forewarned that initially oversteering through tacks is commonplace due to the lack of a deep keel, so putting the boat over does take some getting used to. But the 35 accelerates out of a tack better than we had expected, particularly if you ease and trim the sails accordingly.

We also tested the boat under power. First, we raised each of the rudders. Then, with a 6-inch chop, we revved the 125-hp engine up to 3,500 rpm, but couldn’t achieve the 11 knots of boat speed that the company advertises. Instead, our top end was 9.1 knots (verified by the speedo and the GPS) despite trying various settings with the trim tab. At 3,000 rpm, we managed a comfortable 8 knots, and at a more seemly 2,600 rpm, the speed settled in at 7.8 knots. The boat turns easily and responds readily to the helm under power. From a standing position, the 35 gets underway quite quickly when the big four-blade Autoprop is engaged, but as expected, the engine is fairly loud at the higher rpm ranges.

Shannon’s scutter rig takes some getting used to. We initially tried sailing under both headsails with the main, but performance was always better with just one headsail flying. Which jib worked best depended on the wind conditions and point of sail. Both headsails did furl and unfurl easily and reliably on their Furlex systems. And the Doyle Stack Pak system for the mainsail made raising and lowering this sail very simple and convenient. The fixed windows in the rigid bimini offer a limited view of the main from either helm: You can only see the lower telltales on the headsail if you fold back the forward portion of the bimini.

What really takes getting used to is running this boat up on a beach on purpose, which we did numerous times. It would be a welcome aspect of cruising in many locations to know that you could do this, and then hop into three feet of water off the transom to walk forward and check the anchor out.

Conclusions The Shannon Shoalsailer 35 handles well under power, and is easily sailed by a shorthanded crew. In the sub-genre of beachable cruising sailboats, this boat is unique. The vessel’s interior isn’t compromised by keel-raising or housing mechanisms, and the generous cockpit is a true anomaly among monohulls this length. Additionally, this is the one single-hulled sailboat that we’re aware of that could safely venture across a large span of shoal water like the Grand Bahamas Banks, or certain reaches of the Chesapeake Bay under sail.

This boat truly redefines the term shoal draft, and it’s capable of a number of things that other shoal-draft boats aren’t. But this versatility comes at an exceedingly high base price — $368,000 — even for a semi-custom sailboat.

While we certainly applaud the designer’s efforts to wrest superior performance from a hull without the use of a conventional appendages, we were not able to verify the company’s claims regarding windward sailing ability, nor speed under power. But we came close enough to certify that this potential exists, and we will hold a second sea trial in the near future.

For sailors not deterred by price and who require a shallow draft vessel with reasonable creature comforts, superior speed under power, and acceptable sailing performance, this boat tops the list of candidates.

Contact- Shannon Yachts, 401/253-2441, www.shannonyachts.com .

Also With This Article “Hits and Misses” “Shannon Shoalsailer 35 In Context” “Critic’s Corner” “Construction Details” “Form Stability”

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Materials list Picture Album (Princess 22/26)

The Princess Sharpie 26 like her little sister, the Princess Sharpie 22 , is an easy to build trailerable, beachable vessel.

The sharpie hull shape as developed for this has been well proven in the 22.

This boat also has the V-bottom to maintain the handling and performance which has made her little sister such a joy to sail.

The boat has been designed for variable draft/ballast. Whether you need ultra shallow draft for creeping into hidden creeks and the minimum trailering weight, or a bit more stability for open water, the boat can be built to suit your specific needs. The boat is not intended to cruise around the world and pass the Great Capes, but if you choose the deeper draft and greater ballast, it is a boat that will not mind being caught out in a blow – and you will not have to wait out the weather until that one perfect day! It will not disappoint in light air and takes the heavy stuff on the chin.

The cat ketch rig is friendly and kindly to the crew. The freedom of not having to tack wildly through a sudden storm with all hands on deck makes family sailing a whole new experience.

Again the offset centerboard makes the cabin much roomier and more open. The open cabin layout allows for builder-owners to do a good deal of “customizing” of the interior within the parameters of the structural bulkhead requirements. There is room for an enclosed head or relatively luxurious galley for the gourmet chef on board. The layout shown is only one possibility, and we are always happy to work with our builders with ideas and guidance (not complete re-designs) to accommodate their needs.

In order to get the shallow draft and lightweight trailer-ability, we have have to forgo full standing headroom, but there is ample sitting headroom, even for tall people, at 5′. However, in the standard layout and any variations, by placing the galley below the hatch, you do have standing headroom for cooking duties. We may also look at the option of a “pop-top”, for those who want the headroom, even at the cost of added complication in building and added expense.

The basic hull construction, except for bottom forward section and the keel batten, is straight-forward stitch and glue. Building requires no special skills or tools. All the measurements needed to build are included with the plan. Basic wood working skills are helpful, but if you have patience and are willing to do a little research, this could be a first project.

Princess Sharpie 26' Plans

Michael R. Wing

Daysailers, pocket cruisers and other small sailboats.

Daysailer Designs

I love small boats! I always have, ever since I was a kid. If you gave me a mega-rock star’s money I would not buy a bigger boat, although I might buy some nice waterfront real estate to sail from. But even if you love the small boat you have, you might like the looks of some of the others and be curious about them. (There’s a reason they call boats “she.”) The following are my notes from a life of noticing and sailing small boats. I am arbitrarily not considering anything longer than twenty feet or weighing over one ton, or sailboats used only for class racing.

“Daysailer” can mean any sailboat that’s not in a race or on an overnight cruise. It also means a specific 16’ 9” sloop designed by Uffa Fox which was mass-produced in fiberglass by the O’Day company in Fall River, Massachusetts and is still made today by Cape Cod Shipbuilding. I own one of these, built in 1963. So from now on DaySailer will mean the boat designed by Uffa Fox and “daysailer” will mean a boat you sail for a few hours at a time. A pocket cruiser has a small cabin with berths for sleeping, which mine (kind of) does.

A major division in these boats is between those with centerboards and those with keels. You lose versatility when you put a fixed ballasted keel on a sailboat. Keel boats are heavier, slower and more expensive than centerboard boats. You can’t run up on a beach and step out onto the sand, which for me is part of the fun of sailing. You avoid shallow water. You need to tie up to a dock, or use a tender to get to and from the shore. They may fit on a trailer, but because of their draft and weight it’s a chore to trailer-sail them. However, they are safer in strong wind because they won’t capsize. They have more room, and a steady motion. Once a sailboat gets over 20’ long, rail meat isn’t enough to keep the boat upright.

Don’t buy a new boat unless you have to. New boats are expensive compared to used ones, which sell for 10% – 50% of the price of new. Any fiberglass boat can be restored to a “practically new” condition with a few weeks of work. All fiberglass boats end up in landfills eventually, so by purchasing a used one you reduce waste as well as save money. And the production boats designed years ago are at least as beautiful and functional as those being designed today. Some of the most popular small sailboats ever were designed fifty or sixty years ago and have been made continuously for decades by more than one builder; the hull mold and production rights passing to a new company whenever the old company folds.

The Alcort Sunfish and other popular “wet” boats: The Sunfish and the Laser have a lot in common. They are identical in length (13’ 9”) and nearly identical in beam, draft, weight, sail area, price, and popularity. Today they’re even made by the same company, LaserPerformance , but that wasn’t always true. The Sunfish was designed by Alcort, Inc. and produced by Alcort for decades. With its colorful striped lateen sail, tiny footwell of a cockpit, and flat fish-shaped hull it didn’t look anything like any other boat. The designers had previously build iceboats, then experimented with paddle boards. The Sunfish has won many design awards. It is the most-produced fiberglass sailboat ever. The Laser is more of a performance boat. Even though it is wider than the Sunfish, its round-bottomed hull and tall rig make it faster and tippier. Both boats have been produced by the hundreds of thousands. On both boats, you are just inches off the water with little protection from getting splashed. They aren’t for winter sailing. A third boat in the “wet and popular” category is the Hobie 16 catamaran. There’s no cockpit; you sit on a fabric trampoline. Multihulls are inherently fast but their width makes them awkward to handle at the dock or on a trailer.

The DaySailer was marketed as the “boat that launched 10,000 weekends.” I have not sailed mine that many times yet, but I’m closing in on 100. For me, it’s a right-sized boat: small enough to single-hand, big enough to take a few guests comfortably, fast enough not to be boring, with good-looking curves. The cuddy cabin deflects spray and provides a place for tired children to rest. I sleep overnight sometimes, head-forward under the cuddy on some camping foam pads with my feet sticking out into the cockpit. She draws only a few inches with the board raised so you can sail up onto a sandy beach. When the tide falls while you are on shore, the boat is light enough to push back into the water. The DaySailer’s 145 ft 2 of sail area are really too much for my northern California climate, where winds in the double digits are the norm. When I sail alone or on windy days I reef the main before I go out and use a smaller-than-standard jib taken from a 14-foot O’Day Javelin. Then when the wind gets really hairy I slacken the main sheet, leave the tiller, go up on the foredeck and drop the jib and secure it. The boat naturally heaves to in this situation and is quite stable. Jib secured, I go back to the tiller and sail under reefed main alone. She’s fast and well balanced under all these sail configurations.

One other caveat – I keep my boat on the shore with the mast stepped all the time. I don’t trailer-sail it and if I did that 25’ keel-stepped aluminum mast would be a problem because I cannot raise and step it by myself. Even with two people it’s tricky. If I was going to trailer-sail I would get a boat with a shorter, lighter mast.

The DaySailer was the model that made the O’Day Corporation prosper but they built smaller and larger boats too, up to 40 feet long. The O’Day Javelin is the DaySailer’s 14-foot little sister; it looks different because it has no cuddy cabin but sails similarly. Even smaller than that is the 12-foot O’Day Widgeon . The DaySailer’s twin big sisters are the Rhodes 19 and the Mariner . The Rhodes 19 looks a like a larger, two-and-a-half-foot-longer DaySailer with a cuddy cabin. The Mariner has the same hull as the Rhodes 19 but it has a real cabin for overnight cruising with a bulkhead separating the cabin from the cockpit and a big V-berth below with storage space, room for a small camp stove, etc. The Mariner and the Rhodes 19 are both available with either a centerboard or a fixed ballasted keel.

There have been over ten thousand DaySailers built, and several thousand each of the Widgeon, Javelin, Rhodes 19 and Mariner models as well, so you see these boats everywhere. A rarer cousin of these is the 15’ 8” O’Day Ospray (yes, that’s Ospray with an “a” not “Osprey”.) This boat is only a foot shorter than a DaySailer and looks just like one except that the mast is stepped forward of the raised domed cuddy cabin instead of through it. The cuddy cabin is smaller. I don’t know why O’Day bothered to build a boat so similar to its best-seller and they only did it for a few years. I have only ever seen one of these. The Widgeon, Javelin and Ospray are no longer built but Cape Cod Shipbuilding still builds DaySailers and Stuart Marine in Maine builds new Mariners and Rhodes 19’s.

West Wight Potter P-15 : I had one of these boats when my kids were small. It looked like a bathtub toy, but in a good way. There are famous stories of people making long ocean passages in them, but really if you want to make a long ocean passage a 15-foot centerboard dingy is not the best way to do it. A boat with a ballasted keel is. If you absolutely have to go on a blue-water voyage in a dingy this is probably the one to use. Most P-15 owners trailer-sail them on lakes and bays and they are very good for that because they don’t weigh much and the mast is stepped on deck and is only 15’ 6” tall and is thin also so it’s easy to put the mast up. The mast is so short because the “simulated gaff”-rigged mainsail is compact and wide for its height. The mainsail is in the shape of a gaff sail plus a gaff topsail, with a sturdy batten taking the place of the gaff boom. Plus, the boat is under-canvased (main + working jib = 98 ft 2 ) compared to other boats of similar size and weight. This was rarely a problem for me, sailing in windy northern California. On the occasions when it was a problem I just put on a big genoa jib. The reason the boat is under-canvassed is that it was originally designed to sail in the waters around the Isle of Wight, in English Channel, where it’s blowing a gale most of the time. Strong winds and choppy conditions are built into this boat’s DNA, which is funny because today they are produced by International Marine in southern California where the wind is much lighter.

I miss sailing dry (the Potter deflects spray efficiently) and I sure do miss those two big 6 ½ foot-long berths down below. The Potter is faster than she looks like she would be; I had no complaints about her speed. I did find the cockpit uncomfortable. The P-15 has a lot of big boat features and one of these is a self-bailing cockpit. This means the floor of the cockpit is above the waterline, which makes the cockpit quite shallow. I don’t have very long legs but I wished for more legroom. It was like sitting in a bathtub. And the cockpit coaming didn’t make it easy to sit on the rail. As my kids grew there wasn’t room in the bathtub for four people anymore. So I traded up to my O’Day DaySailer. Then my kids lost interest in sailing. Oh well, the DaySailer is a great boat too. Some other “big boat” features I could have done without are the bow pulpit (what’s it for?) and the bulkhead between the cabin and the cockpit. I like a more open arrangement. But if I were a trailer-sailer I would go back to the Potter in a heartbeat because it’s so easy to wrangle on and off the trailer.

The same company also builds the P-19 which is more than twice the boat even though it is only four feet longer. One difference between them, besides size, is that while the P-15 has a typical centerboard that pivots backwards and up, the P-19 has a 300-lb. metal daggerboard that goes straight up and down. So even though this boat only draws 6” with the board up, you can’t just sail towards the beach until the board bumps. You have to slowly raise it using a winch.

West Wight Potters, especially the P-15’s, hold their resale value much better than most boats. I sold mine for more than I paid for it. Many owners keep them in their garages and polish them obsessively, so used Potters are often in Bristol condition.

Some pocket cruisers similar to the Potters (but with deeper drafts) are the Montgomery 15 , the Montgomery 17 , the Com-Pac 16 and the Sage 17 . In the 1960s and 1970s the MacGregor Yacht Corporation produced thousands of Venture-21’s,and their little sisters the Venture-17’s . These were inexpensively made trailer-sailers with ballasted swing keels, big cockpits, low headroom in the cabin, and very few frills. They are not pretty by anyone’s standard (they look like skinny Clorox bottles with sails), but if your budget is tight they can be had for next to nothing.

The Herreshoff 12½ and its relatives: (12 ½ refers to the waterline length; the boat is almost 16’ long overall.) Nathaniel Herreshoff, its designer, was a member of a prominent family of naval architects and yacht builders in Bristol, Rhode Island. He designed many of the America’s Cup defenders of the Gilded Age and the early 20 th century. Those elegant yachts were his inspiration for this charming little gaff-rigged sloop. It was conceived as a safe and stable boat for beginners and children. It has been in continuous production since 1914. Today you can buy one from Cape Cod Shipbuilding or from Ballentine’s Boat Shop , also on Cape Cod (where they call it the Doughdish) but there are used ones, in wood or fiberglass, all over New England. Warning: these boats aren’t cheap. Expect to pay what you would for a car. The Herreshoff 12½ has a fixed ballasted keel with 735 lbs. of lead in it that draws 2’ 6”. It must be the smallest keel sailboat in common use. There is no cabin, but some people have used it for overnight cruising by rigging a boom tent and making a bed on the cockpit sole, which of course has no centerboard trunk to divide it in half. Of all of the boats I’ve never had or sailed, this is the one that most calls to me.

Two and a half feet of draft is too deep to land on beaches, so designer Joel White modified the design to make the Haven 12½ which is almost identical to the Herreshoff 12½ from the waterline up. Down below it has a centerboard, but also a shallow keel. The Haven 12 ½ draws a foot less than the Herreshoff 12 ½ but weighs about the same. So it still draws 1’ 6” with the board up and weighs well over half a ton. It’s not obvious that this is enough of an improvement to make it truly beachable. The Bullseye has the same hull as the Herreshoff 12½ but has a more modern Marconi sloop rig and a cuddy cabin. Cape Cod Shipbuilding produces the Bullseye. The Paine 14 is a scaled-down version of the Herreshoff 12½ that looks similar above the waterline but has a carbon fiber mast and a modern fin keel and less wetted surface area, so it performs with more zip.

The Cape Dory Typhoon has been called “America’s Littlest Yacht” although maybe the Herreshoff 12 ½ deserves the title more, being even littler and being designed by a famous yachtsman. But the Typhoon has a proper cabin complete with a bulkhead that separates it from the cockpit and a sliding hatch, sleeping berths below, round portholes in the cabin trunk, teak cockpit coamings, winches for the jib sheets, and all the other details of a much larger keel boat. Plus, Carl Alberg designed it with elegant, understated lines. Several thousand of these were made, a few as daysailers without the cabin, but Cape Dory no longer exists as a company. My uncle Eddie had one of these on Lake Michigan.

As long as we’re on the subject of keel boats, the Cal 20 is ubiquitous where I live on the west coast. I learned to sail on a Cal 20 when I was seven years old, in San Diego Harbor, steering a course between the aircraft carriers and the Hobie cats. The Cal 20 is a stocky little boat with a 7’ beam. My father always said it developed a “vicious weather helm” when the wind got too strong but I’ll bet this problem can be solved by reefing the main – I don’t remember if he ever did that. Used Cal 20s are easy to find and the seller is usually motivated to sell because the slip fees at a marina in the San Francisco Bay Area or Los Angeles are often more than the boat itself is worth. You have to keep it at a marina; it’s no trailer-sailer.

Traditional Catboats : These are heavy, wide, and slow with deep round cockpits, oval portholes on the cabin trunk and one huge gaff mainsail on an unstayed mast that’s right up at the bow. They have their origins as utility boats for clamming and fishing on Cape Cod. They look salty at the mooring but they are not as exciting to sail as more slender sloops. They have a lot of room for their length, though. No one model or manufacturer dominates this category. The Marshall Marine Corporation on Cape Cod makes the 15-foot Sandpiper, the 18-foot Sanderling and the Marshall 22. Arey’s Pond Boat Yard (also on Cape Cod) makes traditional catboats 12’ and up, with their 14-footer being the best-selling model. Florida-based Com-Pac Yachts produces a line of trailerable gaff-rigged catboats 14-20’ with less wood trim that are more affordable then the high-end boats that Marshall and Arey’s Pond makes.

Beetle Cats , however, are catboats that are nimble sailers. The design of this lightweight (for a catboat) 12-footer goes back to 1921 and four thousand of them have been built. There are plenty of used ones available but you can buy new ones in wood from Beetle, Inc. on Cape Cod and in fiberglass from Howard Boats , also on Cape Cod.

The Drascombe Lugger and its many relatives are triple-propulsion boats: they can be rowed, sailed or powered by an outboard motor in a built-in motor well. It should go without saying that design compromises mean that they are not high-performance sailboats, rowboats or motorboats. They are traditional looking open boats with a Gunter rigged mainsail and a small mizzen. They are made in the United Kingdom so even though more than 2000 have been produced there are not a lot of used ones available in North America. Expect to pay top dollar or even to have to buy a new one, unless you live in the UK. There is no cabin on the Lugger but people use them for beach camping on extended cruises because they have plenty of storage space and shallow draft. Their design is based on traditional English fishing boats that had to be beachable. The Lugger is 18’ 9” but Drascombe makes many other models including the 15 ½ – foot Dabber and the 21’ 9” Longboat, all essentially the same except for the size. The Norseboat 17.5 , “the Swiss Army Knife of boats”, made in Canada, is a modern alternative. It is advertised as a sailing/rowing boat but with a beam of just 5’ 2”, round bilges and low freeboard it looks tender. I would sail it in light air; I’m not sure how it would do in a gale.

Cornish Crabbers and Shrimpers are also based on traditional fishing boats, and are also made in England. However, most of these are heavy keelboats that violate my “not more than twenty feet and not over one ton” rule. Even the popular 19’ Shrimper is really over 22’ with the bowsprit and weighs over a ton. Also, since they are made in England there are not that many of them available in North America, unless you want to pay for a new one.

Flying Scot: I used to sail one of these. I single-handed it and found that this boat is really too big and powerful to single-hand very well. The mainsail was bigger than a barn door. Mine had no reef points. I would come screaming back to the dock at the end of the sail thinking “geez, I sure hope I can stop this beast…” It’s not tippy, just has a lot of power. You could water ski from one. The company that makes them, Flying Scot, Inc . is located on a small lake in western Maryland; maybe it’s not very windy there. Also, there is no place in the cockpit or forepeak or even on deck to lay out a sleeping bag for an overnight; it’s strictly a daysailer and racer. That’s unusual for a boat that is 19’ long and almost seven feet wide.

Cape Cod Mercury Sloop: Don’t confuse this with the 18’ “Mercury Class” boats; this boat is 15’ long. It is a favorite with camps, sailing schools and community boating programs but it looks kinda generic and institutional – I don’t think that many people buy these for their own personal use. At least all the ones I’ve ever seen have been in institutional fleets. Come to think of it, there are other sailboats like that, the Flying Junior for instance. Cape Cod Shipbuilding makes Mercury Sloops.

Whitehalls are rowing boats. They were originally water taxis in New York City. So they are light in weight, and have narrow beams and low freeboard. Today you can get Whitehalls with sail rigs but these light, narrow, low hulls aren’t ideal for sailing. I would only sail one in gentle conditions, and gentle conditions are uncommon where I live. Whitehall Rowing & Sail and Gig Harbor Boat Works (both in the Pacific Northwest) are two companies that produce them with sail rigs.

So there you have it – every boat has a story that explains why it looks the way it does. Many of the stories have happened on or near Cape Cod. If you live there, you are lucky to be surrounded by all these pretty boats.

Poem: Sailing Alone – by Michael Wing

Author | Teacher | Scientist

My Cruiser Life Magazine

7 Best Trailerable Sailboats for Cruising

Many sailors balk at the idea of leaving their boat in the water at a marina. Slip fees are expensive, and maintenance bills get bigger the longer you leave a boat in the water. However, if you want a boat under 30 feet long, there are trailerable sailboats that will fit the bill.

Like any boat purchase, you’ll need to analyze precisely what kind of trailer sailer you want. Will a simple weekend sailboat suffice, or do you really need the best trailerable cruising sailboat you can find?

Here’s a look at some of the pros and cons of the best trailerable sailboat. Plus, we’ll look at how to compare them for your purposes.

Best trailerable sailboats, easy to launch trailerable sailboats, quick setup time, towing weight, catalina 22/25 “pop-top”, com-pac horizon cat for classic coastal cruising, marshall sanderling — small, portable, classy, west wight potter 19 — the tiny go-anywhere sailboat, seaward 26rk with retractable lead keel, corsair f-24 trimaran – sporty sailing, macgregor 26m — maximum speed meets maximum living space, long-range cruising boats, 7 best trailerable boats – a recap, what’s the best trailerable sailboat for a cruise, trailerable sailboats faqs.

Catalina 22/25
Com-Pac Horizon Cat
Marshall Sanderling
West Wight Potter 19
Seaward 26RK
Corsair F-24 Trimaran
MacGregor 26M

We’ll get into more detail about each brand in my post today, so hang tight!

What Is a Trailerable Sailboat, Exactly?

For this article, the priorities for a trailerable sailboat are:

Easy to launch
Require minimum setup to launch and store
Lightweight enough to be towed by the average vehicle

Before you can really classify a sailboat as trailerable, you need to evaluate and narrow your search criteria. Truthfully, 50-plus-foot ocean-going sailboats are regularly put on trailers. But that’s done commercially, on a big rig, with special permits for oversized loads, and even led cars.

That probably isn’t what most people mean when they think of a trailerable sailboat. But what is the priority here, the trailerable part or the sailboat part? Compromises are going to have to be made somewhere.

If you’re looking at the 20-foot-and-under sailboat crowd, finding a trailerable example should not be hard. Most sailboats this size are designed for trailers anyway since they aren’t the sort of boats people want to pay to leave in a slip year-round.

Things get more interesting when you look at the 20 to 30-foot boats. In this class, there are stout ocean-going cruisers with deep keels and lightweight centerboard trailer sailboats designed from the get-go to be trailered by the average car or SUV. The differences between these boats are night and day.

Sailboats often have a hard time at boat ramps. First, deep keels mean that the trailer must extend farther into the water than the average boat ramp allows. This means the ramp needs to go back far enough, and the trailer tongue needs to be long enough not to swamp the car.

If you have a boat like this, you’ll need to find the right boat ramps. Unfortunately, not all ramps are created equally. If your boat draws more than two or three feet on the trailer, you’re going to be limited to steep, paved, and high-quality boat ramps. Unfortunately, those aren’t standard features, so your cruising grounds are going to be limited.

Usually, ramps aren’t built steeply because they are often slippery. Your tow vehicle will need excellent traction and torque to pull your fully loaded boat out of a steep ramp. The steeper the ramp, the more trouble you’ll have.

The alternative to finding steep ramps is to use a trailer tongue extender. This lets you get the trailer into deeper water without swamping the tow vehicle. But it also means that the ramp needs to extend deep enough. Many ramps end abruptly. Allowing your trailer to sink off the edge is an excellent way to get stuck or pop a tire.

Pick a boat as easy to launch and retrieve as a similarly sized powerboat to remove all of these boat ramp problems. The soft chines of most sailboats will always require a little more water, but a swing keel and the hinged rudder raised mean that the boat can sit low on the trailer bunks. That way, you only need one or two feet of water to launch, an easy feat at nearly every boat ramp you can find.

The next consideration for a sailboat to be portable enough to call it “trailerable” is the amount of time it takes to step the mast and get it ready to cruise.

To accomplish this, you need a mast that can be stepped by a two-person team–maximum. Ideally, it will have some tabernacle hardware to enable one person to do the task for solo sailing.

There is an entire family of pocket cruisers that could ideally fit on trailers. But you won’t find the Fickas or the Falmouth cutters on my list, simply because they aren’t easy to launch or easy to rig. But, of course, they’re also too heavy for most vehicles to tow, which leads us to the final point of excluding them this trailable pocket cruiser’s list.

One of the most significant financial burdens the trailer sailer faces is their tow vehicle. You are all set if you already drive a two-ton dually diesel pickup truck. But if your daily driver is an SUV or light pickup, you need to think long and hard about the math of the towing equation.

Whatever boat you buy cannot exceed the towing rating limits of your tow vehicle. If you don’t have a tow vehicle, you’ll need to buy one. This will double or triple the cost of getting a trailer sailer in most cases. For the same money, you may want to look at a boat that stays in the water at a traditional boat slip. For the cost of a trailer sailer and a tow vehicle, you can probably step into a nice boat that is larger and more comfortable than any towable.

If you have a tow vehicle, you need a light enough vessel for it to tow. Most modern SUVs tow less than 2,500 pounds. Anything more than 5,000 will require a full-size pickup. Remember that the tow weight isn’t just the boat’s displacement—it’s the empty hull weight, plus the weight of the trailer and any extra gear you need to pack into the boat.

Finding a vessel that fits these limitations on weight isn’t easy. If the manufacturer’s goal is to make it towable, immediate limits are placed on the materials they can use. This means less seaworthiness since boats are built light and thin. As far as stability goes, lead keels are generally out, and water ballast systems or centerboards might be used instead. It doesn’t mean these boats aren’t safe and fun, but they aren’t designed for rough conditions, crossing oceans, or living on in the water full-time .

Trailerable sailboats are usually limited to the best paved ramps

7 Best Trailerable Cruising Sailboats

There are more trailerable sailboats out there than you might imagine. Here’s a look at seven popular options of all shapes and sizes to give you a taste of what you might want to take to sea.

The boats here are selected for their storage and living space. With these boats and a little outfitting, you can spend weeks gunk-holing in the Chesapeake Bay or island hopping the Bahamas. If you broaden your scope to include daysailers with no cabin space, there are countless more options.

One of the worst parts of a small trailerable sailboat or pocket cruiser is the lack of stand-up headroom. One clever solution that you’ll find on some weekend sailboat types is the pop-top.

The pop-top is simply an area around the companionway hatch that extends upward on struts. So when you’re at the dock or anchor, you get standing headroom down below—at least right inside the pop-top.

You can build a canvas enclosure for your pop-top to use it in all weather. A pop-top makes your boat feel much larger than it is and allows you to move freely to cook or get changed down below or even do a nice boat bed area.

Later models of the Catalina Sport 22 and Capri 22s lacked this cool pop-top feature, so if you want it, you’ll need to seek out an older model on the used market.

Com-Pac has been building small sailboats since the early 1970s. They currently sell two lines, each with various-sized boats. All are well built, and a majority of their boats are trailerable.

Most interesting at the Com-Pac traditional catboats . The rigging is more straightforward than modern sloops, with only one large mainsail. Com-Pac boats come with a unique quick-rig system to make getting on the water fast and simple.

The Horizon Cat Coastal Cruising has a displacement of 2,500 pounds with a 2’2″ draft when the board is up. She has a separate head forward and space to lounge either topside or down below. The smaller Sun Cat has slightly few amenities but shaves off a few feet and pounds, making it easier to tow and it is one of these amazing small sailboats. Com-Pacs features stub keels, so their centerboard and hinged rudder do not take up space in the cabin.

On the sloop rig side, the Com-Pac 23 comes in a 3,000-pound traditional sailboat or a very interesting pilothouse. Both are incredibly livable for their size , with shallow two-foot-long fixed keels and high-quality construction.

Another option if you like catboats is the Marshall Sanderling. This salty 18-footer oozes traditional charm , all while being easy to sail and easier to tow. And while she has wooden boat lines, she has a modern laminated fiberglass hull.

The Sanderling has a 2,200-pound displacement, so tow weights will be around 3,000 pounds. At only 18-feet, she’s on the small side for cruising. The cuddy cabin has no galley, and the portable toilet is not enclosed. But that small size means a simple boat that’s easy to maintain and take anywhere.

An electric motor package is an exciting option on this weekend sailboat!

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You can’t mention tiny trailer sailers without touching on the famous West Wight Potter . These 15 and 19-foot pocket cruisers have earned a worldwide reputation as the ultimate go-anywhere coastal cruiser.

The West Wight Potter 19 offers the most living space for staying aboard and cruising. So even though its dimensions are diminutive, this little boat packs a lot in. There’s a single burner hotplate and sink and a porta-potty tucked under a cushion. Yes, it’s tight—but the company claims the little boat can sleep five people. Any more than two will feel pretty crowded, however.

The boat comes standard with a mast-raising system that a single person can manage alone. It has a daggerboard for a shallow draft of a half-foot when the board is up. The total towing weight is around 1,500 pounds, which means nearly any car can tow a West Wight Potter.

This little-known trailer sailer is produced at the same Florida factory that makes Island Packet Yachts. That should give you a little bit of an idea of what sort of boat it is—trailerable, yes, but also high-quality, beautiful, and built for cruising. In other words, it’s one of the nicest all round pocket cruisers and it feels like a much larger boat.

The Seaward is easily the saltiest boat on this list . It’s beefy and seaworthy. Instead of a lightweight centerboard, Seaward fits the RK with a bulb-shaped retracting keel. Other big-boat items include a Yanmar diesel inboard motor and an enclosed head. The spacious cabin of the boat features a double berth and is ready for salt water cruising.

According to sailboatdata.com , the tow weight of the 26RK is 6,000 pounds. With the keel up, the draft is 1.25 feet.

Multihull sailors need not feel left out from the trailer sailer club and the pocket cruiser. Beyond the ubiquitous beach Hobie Cat, there are not many options for catamarans. But trimarans are uniquely suited to be towed.

Why? For one thing, performance oriented boats like trimarans are based on it being built light. There is no ballast—a trimaran’s stability comes from its two outer hulls. Additionally, the living space is entirely housed in the central hull–the outer floats are small and sometimes foldable. Finally, there are no keels on tris, so they are extremely shallow draft and perfect for trailering.

If you’re looking for adrenaline-pumping sporty and fun sailing, it’s impossible to beat what a trimaran will offer. Let’s not beat around the bush—most of the trailer sailers on this list have hull speeds around five knots. The Corsair has no such limits, routinely sailing at 15 knots or more .

The new Corsair 880 trimaran has an unloaded weight of 3,659 pounds. It is trailerable behind a big SUV or small pickup and is probably the most fun sailing option that is trailerable at all.

An even more portable option is the older Corsair F-24. It has a light displacement of under 2,000 pounds—so nearly any SUV can tow it.

MacGregor owns the market on trailerable motor sailers since they more or less created the product to fit the bill. The MacGregor 26 is not like other boats. The design combines a planing powerboat with a centerboard sailboat. Imagine scooting along at 20 knots or more when the wind is down or enjoying a sporty sail on a breezy day–in the same boat.

The entire boat is built from the ground up for towing and long-range sailing. So if you want a big sailboat that you can tow behind pretty much any SUV, the MacGregor has to be on your list.

Depending on the model, the 26-foot-long boats have incredibly light dry weights of between 1,650 and 2,350 pounds. Considering the massive volume of the roomy cabin, the ability to tow such a large vessel opens up an entire world of opportunities for owners.

It’s not all good news, of course. MacGregor owners love their boats, but they are built light and are not ideally suited for offshore cruising or rough weather. But in bays and for coastal sailing on nice days, few boats can get as much use as a MacGregor.

The motorboat capability of the 26M and 26X might not appeal to hardcore sailors, but for those looking to maximize their use of the boat depending on the weather, their mood, or location, it makes a lot of sense.

MacGregor shut down in 2015, but the daughter and son-in-law of the original owners took over production and renamed the boat the Tattoo 26 . The company will soon release a smaller version, the Tattoo 22 .

If the 26 is a bit big to make your list of best trailerable small sailboats, consider the smaller Powersailer 19. It’s nearly identical to the 26, just smaller and lighter.

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What Do You Want Your Trailer Sailer To Do?

After you’ve settled on how you will tow and launch your trailer sailer, now it’s time to dream about what you want it to do. Where will it take you?

The beauty of a towable boat is that you can travel anywhere. A boat in the water might take weeks or months to move a few hundred miles. But if you can attach it to your car and do 65 mph on the interstate, you could sail on the Pacific on Monday, the Gulf of Mexico on Wednesday, and the Atlantic on Friday.

We can divide our trailerable sailboats into three groups – daysailers, weekenders, and cruisers.

These are designed with open cockpits and no space to sleep. This is a majority of the sub-22-foot boats on the market. They are designed to be launched, play for the day, and return to the ramp or dock.

A weekender will have rudimentary sleeping facilities. Think of it as a floating tent—it’s not a five-star hotel, but you can sleep under the stars or get out of the rain. Conceivably you could stay aboard indefinitely, but it doesn’t have much room for gear. So most people are ready to get off after a day or two.

A cruising boat has sleeping, cooking, and toilet facilities built-in. These might be small and simple, but in any quantity, they mean you can disconnect from shore for a long time. Unfortunately, squeezing all of this into a tow-friendly package isn’t easy, and very few boats do it well.

The best trailer sailor for your adventures will depend on many factors. Like any boat, whatever you decide on will be a compromise – boats always are. But there are plenty of choices out there, no matter what size your tow vehicle is and no matter what sailing adventures you have in mind.

What size sailboat is trailerable?

Even large yachts are routinely transported by towing across land, so the question is more of how big a sailboat can you tow? Your tow vehicle will be the limiting factor. The upper limit for most large SUVs and trucks is usually a sailboat around 26 feet long.

Sailboats are generally very heavily built, with ballast and lead keels. Sailboats specifically made to be trailer sailers are lighter. They may use drainable water ballast tanks instead of fixed ballast and have fewer fixtures and amenities.

To find the best trailer sailer, you need to balance the total tow weight, the ease of rig setup at the boat ramp, and the boat’s draft. Shallow draft boats with centerboards are the easiest to launch and retrieve.

Is a Hunter 27 trailerable?

No. The Hunter 27 is a one of those fixed-keel larger boats built from 1974 to 1984. The boat’s displacement is 7,000 pounds, not including trailer and gear. That alone makes it too heavy to tow by all but the beefiest diesel trucks.

Furthermore, the fixed keels had drafts between 3.25 and 5 feet, all of which are too much for most boat ramps. In short, the standard Hunter Marine 27 is too big to tow for most people.

On the other hand, Hunter has made several good trailer sailers over the years. For example, the Hunter 240 and 260 were explicitly designed for trailering. They have drainable water ballast and shallow keel/centerboard drafts less than two feet.

Is a Catalina 22 trailerable?

Yes, the Catalina 22 is easily trailerable and makes a wonderful weekend sailboat. In fact, there were over 15,000 Catalina 22s made and sold over the years.

The boat’s displacement is 2,250 pounds, which means your total tow weight with trailer and gear will be under 3,000 pounds. This is within the capabilities of most mid to full-size SUVs and light trucks. Be sure to check your vehicle’s towing capacity, of course.

The centerboard on the Catalina 22 is another factor in its easy towing. With the board up, the boat draws only two feet. This makes it easy to float off the trailer at nearly any boat ramp. You should avoid fixed keel versions of the 22 for towing unless you have access to extra deep ramps.

Matt has been boating around Florida for over 25 years in everything from small powerboats to large cruising catamarans. He currently lives aboard a 38-foot Cabo Rico sailboat with his wife Lucy and adventure dog Chelsea. Together, they cruise between winters in The Bahamas and summers in the Chesapeake Bay.

Can someone tell me why no other manufacturer makes pop tops? Those who have them, love them. Makes sense for head space with a trailerable boat too. Catalina stopped making them decades ago, yet people still swear by them. So, why isn’t there any newer models?

MacGregor put pop tops on many of its trailerables

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Home » Blog » Bluewater sailboats » The best bluewater sailboats (we analyzed 2,000 boats to find out)

The best bluewater sailboats (we analyzed 2,000 boats to find out)

By Author Fiona McGlynn

Posted on Last updated: May 16, 2023

We analyzed two-thousand bluewater sailboats to bring you a list of proven offshore designs

What are the best bluewater sailboats?

This was a question we asked a lot of experienced cruisers when we decided to sail across the Pacific. We needed a boat after all, and we wanted to buy the best bluewater sailboat we could afford.

We heard a lot of strong opinions.

Some sailors thought it was reckless to go offshore in any boat that didn’t have a full keel.

Others prioritized performance, and wouldn’t dream of going anywhere in a slow boat like the Westsail 32 (a.k.a. a “Wet Snail 32”).

Opinions like these left us feeling confused like we had to choose between safety and performance.

If we learned anything from these conversations, it’s that what makes a bluewater boat is a hotly debated topic!

However, there’s a way to cut through all the opinions and get to the bottom of it. The solution is….

We analyzed just under 2,000 boats embarking on ocean crossings (over a 12 year time period) and came up with a list of the ten best bluewater sailboats.

Where did we get our data?

The data for our best bluewater sailboats list comes from 12 years of entries in the Pacific Puddle Jump (PPJ), an annual cross-Pacific rally. We took part in 2017 and had a ball!

You can read about the methodology we used to analyze this data at the bottom of the post.

What do we mean by “best”?

We know, that word is overused on the internet!

Simply, based on our data set, these were the most common makes and models entered in the PPJ cross-Pacific rally. There were at least 10 PPJ rally entries for every make of boat on our top 10 list.

So, these boats are 100% good to go?

No! A bluewater boat isn’t necessarily a seaworthy boat. Almost every cruiser we know made substantial repairs and additions to get their offshore boat ready, adding watermakers , life rafts, solar panels, and more.

Also, you should always have a boat inspected by a professional and accredited marine surveyor before buying it or taking it offshore.

But my bluewater baby boat isn’t on this list!?

There are hundreds of excellent bluewater yachts that are not on this list. For instance, we sailed across the Pacific in a Dufour 35, which didn’t even come close to making our top 10 list.

Choosing the right boat is very much an individual journey.

Where can I find these bluewater boats for sale?

We recognize that a top 10 list won’t get you very far if you’re shopping for a bluewater boat (especially if you’re looking in the used market).

So, to help you find your perfect boat, we’re going to create a big list of bluewater boats that you can use to refine your search on Yachtworld, Craigslist, or any other places to buy a used boat .

We’re also working on a series of posts by size class. For example, if you’re looking for a smaller boat, you can narrow it down to the best bluewater sailboats under 40 feet .

Takeaways from our analysis

There were no big surprises on an individual boat level. All of these makes are considered good cruisers, some of them are even best-selling designs! However, there were a few things that caught our eye.

“Go simple, go small, go now” still holds water

We were thrilled to see the smallest boat in our roundup at the very top of the list! Westsail 32 owners can take pride in their small but mighty yachts (and ignore all those snail-sayers).

While undoubtedly there’s been a trend towards bigger bluewater cruisers in recent years, small cruising sailboats seem to be holding their own. 60% of the monohulls on this list were under 40 feet (if you count the Valiant 40 which sneaks just under at 39.92 feet).

Cat got our tongue

So, we knew catamarans were a thing, but we didn’t fully appreciate HOW popular they’d become!

50% of our top 10 bluewater boat list consists of catamarans—a good fact to toss out the next time you’re trying to garner a happy hour invite on the party boat next door (which will undoubtedly be a catamaran).

Still got it!

We’ve got good news for all you good old boat lovers! 60% of the boats on our list were first built before 2000.

While these older models are less performance-oriented than modern designs, cruisers value these boats for their ability to stand up to rough seas and heavy weather. It just goes to show that solid bones and classic looks never go out of style.

Alright, without further ado, let’s dive into our list of the 10 best bluewater boats!

The 10 best bluewater boats

1. Westsail 32

The Westsail 32 is an iconic bluewater sailboat

The Westsail 32 is one of the most iconic bluewater cruisers and 19 have set out to cross the Pacific in the PPJ rally since 2009.

In 1973, this small cruising sailboat garnered a 4-page spread in Time magazine. The article inspired many Americans to set sail and the Westsail 32, with its double-ender design, set the standard for what a real bluewater cruiser should look like.

There were approximately 830 built between 1971 and 1980.

This small boat has taken sailors on ocean crossings and circumnavigations. Though considered “slow” by some, the heavily-built Westsail 32 has developed a loyal following for her other excellent offshore cruising characteristics.

If you’re interested in small bluewater sailboats, check out our post on the best small sailboats for sailing around the world .

2. Lagoon 380

The Lagoon 380 is a reliable, solidly built catamaran and considered roomy for its size. We counted 18 of them in our data set. With over 800 boats built , it may be one of the best-selling catamarans in the world. Like the other boats on this list, the Lagoon 380 has proven itself on long passages and ocean crossings, winning it many loyal fans.

3. Lagoon 440

18 Lagoon 440s have set out to cross the Pacific in the PPJ rally since 2009.

Why leave the comforts of home, when you can take them with you? The Lagoon 440 is a luxurious long-range cruiser, offering beautiful wood joinery, spacious accommodations, and a deluxe galley. Oh, and you have the option of an electric boat motor !

SAIL and Sailing Magazine have both done in-depth reviews of the Lagoon 440 if you want to learn more.

4. Amel Super Maramu (incl. SM 2000)

Amel Super Maramu is a popular bluewater sailboat

If you follow the adventures of SV Delos on YouTube, you probably know that the star of the show (SV Delos— in case the title didn’t give it away ) is an Amel Super Maramu. These classic bluewater sailboats can be found all over the world, proof they can go the distance.

We counted 16 Amel Super Maramus and Super Maramu 2000s in our list of PPJ entries.

Ready to join the cult of Amel? Read more about the iconic brand in Yachting World.

5. Valiant 40

The Valiant 40 is an iconic bluewater cruiser

When I interviewed legendary yacht designer, Bob Perry, for Good Old Boat in 2019, he told me that the Valiant 40 was one of the boats that most defined him and marked the real start of his career.

At the time, heavy displacement cruisers were considered sluggish and slow, especially in light winds.

Perry’s innovation with the Valiant 40 was to combine a classic double ender above the waterline, with an IOR racing hull shape below the waterline. The result was the first “performance cruiser”, a blockbuster hit, with over 200 boats built in the 1970s.

It’s no surprise we counted 16 Valiant 40s in our data set.

Cruising World magazine dubbed it “a fast, comfortable, and safe cruising yacht,” and there’s no doubt it’s covered some serious nautical miles.

It’s worth noting that there were blistering problems with hull numbers 120-249 (boats built between 1976 and 1981). Later models did not have this problem. Despite the blistering issues, the Valiant 40 remains one of the most highly thought of bluewater designs.

6. TAYANA 37

The Tayana 37 is another hugely popular Perry design. The first boat rolled off the production line in 1976 and since then, nearly 600 boats have been built. Beautiful classic lines and a proven track record have won the Tayana 37 a devoted following of offshore enthusiasts.

12 Tayana 37s have set out to cross the Pacific in the PPJ rally since 2009. Read more about the Tayana 37 in this Practical Sailor review .

7. Lagoon 450

The Lagoon 450 is one of the best bluewater sailboats

If this list is starting to sound like a paid advertisement, I swear we’re not on Lagoon’s payroll! This is the third Lagoon on our list, but the data doesn’t lie. Lagoon is making some of the best cruising sailboats.

The 450 has been a hot seller for Lagoon, with over 800 built since its launch in 2014. While not a performance cat, the Lagoon 450 travels at a reasonable speed and is brimming with luxury amenities.

At least 12 owners in the PPJ rally chose the Lagoon 450 to take them across the Pacific. It’s no wonder SAIL had so many good things to say about it.

8. Fountaine Pajot Bahia 46

Fountaine Pajot Bahia 46 Bluewater Sailboat

There were 11 Fountaine Pajot Bahia 46s in our data set.

Fountaine Pajot released the Bahia 46 in 1997, a sleek design for traveling long distances. Its generously-sized water and fuel tanks along with ample storage for cruising gear are a real plus for the self-sufficient sailor.

According to Cruising World , “Cruising-cat aficionados should put the Bahia 46 on their “must-see” list.”

9. Catalina 42 (MKI, MKII)

10 Catalina 42s (MKI and MKII) have set out to cross the Pacific in the PPJ rally since 2009.

The Catalina 42 was designed under the guidance of the legendary yacht designer and Catalina’s chief engineer, Gerry Douglas.

One of Catalina’s philosophies is to offer “as much boat for the money as possible,” and the Catalina 42 is no exception. According to Practical Sailor , Catalina aims to price its boats 15% to 20% below major production boats like Hunter and Beneteau.

Practical Sailor has a great in-depth review of the Catalina 42 .

10. Leopard 46

Since 2009, 10 Leopard 46s have embarked on Pacific crossings in the PPJ rally.

Leopards have won legions of fans for their high build quality, robust engineering, and excellent performance.

The Leopard 46 also boasts something of a racing pedigree. It was built in South Africa by Robertson and Caine and designed by Gino Morelli and Pete Melvin, who came up with the record-breaking catamaran Playstation / Cheyenne 125 .

Read more about the Leopard 46 in this Cruising World review .

Methodology

What the data is and isn’t.

The PPJ data was a real boon because it reflects a wide range of cruising boats: small, big, old, new, expensive, and affordable. We think this may be because the PPJ is a very financially accessible rally—the standard entry cost is $125 or $100 if you’re under 35 (age or boat length!).

We did look at data from other (pricier) rallies but found that the results skewed towards more expensive boats.

Needless to say, the data we used is just a sample of the bluewater boats that crossed the Pacific over the last 10+ years. Many cruisers cross oceans without participating in a rally!

Entries vs. completions

The data we used is a list of the PPJ entries, not necessarily the boats that completed the rally. In instances where we saw the same boat entered multiple years in a row, we assumed they’d postponed their crossing and deleted all but the latest entry to avoid double counting.

Boat make variations

The world of boat building and naming can get pretty complicated. Sometimes a manufacturer changes a boat’s name a year or two into production, other times the name remains the same but the boat undergoes a dramatic update.

For the most part, we’ve used SailboatData.com’s classification system (if they list the boats separately, then we have also), except where there are two separately listed models that have the same LOA, beam, and displacement.

Fiona McGlynn is an award-winning boating writer who created Waterborne as a place to learn about living aboard and traveling the world by sailboat. She has written for boating magazines including BoatUS, SAIL, Cruising World, and Good Old Boat. She’s also a contributing editor at Good Old Boat and BoatUS Magazine. In 2017, Fiona and her husband completed a 3-year, 13,000-mile voyage from Vancouver to Mexico to Australia on their 35-foot sailboat.

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40 Best Sailboats

By Cruising World Editors
Updated: April 18, 2019

Sailors are certainly passionate about their boats, and if you doubt that bold statement, try posting an article dubbed “ 40 Best Sailboats ” and see what happens.

Barely had the list gone live, when one reader responded, “Where do I begin? So many glaring omissions!” Like scores of others, he listed a number of sailboats and brands that we were too stupid to think of, but unlike some, he did sign off on a somewhat upbeat note: “If it weren’t for the presence of the Bermuda 40 in Cruising World’s list, I wouldn’t even have bothered to vote.”

By vote, he means that he, like hundreds of other readers, took the time to click through to an accompanying page where we asked you to help us reshuffle our alphabetical listing of noteworthy production sailboats so that we could rank them instead by popularity. So we ask you to keep in mind that this list of the best sailboats was created by our readers.

The quest to building this list all began with such a simple question, one that’s probably been posed at one time or another in any bar where sailors meet to raise a glass or two: If you had to pick, what’re the best sailboats ever built?

In no time, a dozen or more from a variety of sailboat manufacturers were on the table and the debate was on. And so, having fun with it, we decided to put the same question to a handful of CW ‘s friends: writers and sailors and designers and builders whose opinions we value. Their favorites poured in and soon an inkling of a list began to take shape. To corral things a bit and avoid going all the way back to Joshua Slocum and his venerable Spray —Hell, to Noah and his infamous Ark —we decided to focus our concentration on production monohull sailboats, which literally opened up the sport to anyone who wanted to get out on the water. And since CW is on the verge or turning 40, we decided that would be a nice round number at which to draw the line and usher in our coming ruby anniversary.

If you enjoy scrolling through this list, which includes all types of sailboats, then perhaps you would also be interested in browsing our list of the Best Cruising Sailboats . Check it out and, of course, feel free to add your favorite boat, too. Here at Cruising World , we like nothing better than talking about boats, and it turns out, so do you.

40. Moore 24

39. pearson vanguard, 38. dufour arpege 30, 37. alerion express 28, 36. mason 43/44, 35. jeanneau sun odyssey 43ds, 34. nor’sea 27, 33. freedom 40, 32. beneteau sense 50, 31. nonsuch 30, 30. swan 44, 29. c&c landfall 38, 28. gulfstar 50, 27. sabre 36, 26. pearson triton, 25. islander 36, 24. gozzard 36, 23. bristol 40, 22. tartan 34, 21. morgan out island 41, 20. hylas 49, 19. contessa 26, 18. whitby 42, 17. columbia 50, 16. morris 36, 15. hunter 356, 13. beneteau 423, 12. westsail 32, 10. alberg 30, 9. island packet 38, 8. passport 40, 7. tayana 37, 6. peterson 44, 5. pacific seacraft 37, 4. hallberg-rassy 42, 3. catalina 30, 2. hinckley bermuda 40, 1. valiant 40.

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Thinking of a shift to power, tradewinds debuts 59-foot twe6 smart electric yacht, sailboat preview: dufour 44, good bread for good health, center of effort, the halfway point: sailing to bermuda.

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Catalina 12.5 Expo

Catalina 14.2
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Catalina 22 Sport
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The Catalina Expo 12.5 is a fun machine. Thanks to the SmartRig® and Hoyt boom, getting underway has never been this quick and easy! There are no stays, no chainplates, and no halyards. Putting the boat away is also a snap, as both mast and boom are deck-stepped and removable by hand, without any tools, in minutes. This is one boat every member of the family and friends will want to sail all day long.

The tapered one piece carbon fiber mast means more sail power, with less weight aloft. The rotating SmartRig mast acts as a reefing line and furling drum to shorten or increase sail effortlessly. The same line even rolls the sail completely around the mast for storage.

The Expo 12.5 has a seat across the cockpit, perfect for a crew member who is just learning to sail, or just wants a comfortable place to enjoy the ride. Best of all the Expo 12.5 is a Catalina and is built with the same quality materials and attention to detail as every other model we build. Standard items include a one-piece fiberglass deck with molded-in non-skid and hand laid fiberglass hull. Full flotation inside the hull means the 12.5 is virtually unsinkable. The Expo 12.5 is perfect for the new or experienced sailor who want a great handling sailboat that is non-technical.

Simple to rig, exciting to sail, the 12.5 is all about fun on the water.

SPECS & STANDARD EQUIPMENT

Five Year Gel Coast Blister Protection * (2)
Furling Mainsail, Dacron with U.V. Protection, White
One Piece Fiberglass Hull, White
One Piece Fiberglass Deck, White
Molded-In Non-Skid Surfaces
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IMAGES

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Stiletto Catamarans: Fast, Beachable, Trailerable, Affordable
13 Best Liveaboard Sailboats (under 30 & 50 ft)
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5 best small sailboats for sailing around the world

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COMMENTS

Best Sailboats You Can Beach
The Catalina 22, Fountaine Pajot Lucia 40, Hunter 22, and Lagoon 39 are great examples of sailboats you can beach. Others include Nautitech 40, Hobie 16, and the Hunter 15. Essentially, every catamaran trimaran, and full keel sailboats are capable of being beached as long as you use caution. The beauty of beaching a sailboat can help save you ...
Shallow-water Beach Cruising in a Small Sailboat
Another day, another adventure for this thin-water sailor. Beach-cruising or sailing-camping boats come in all shapes and styles, ranging from one-design sail trainers like the Flying Scot, Hobie 16 and Wayfarer 16 to more cruising-oriented craft, like the Hobie Mirage trimaran series, the NorseBoat line or the UK-built Cornish Shrimperseries.
Stiletto 27: The Beachcat Grown Up
The Stiletto 27 gets high marks for its rudders. They have strong aluminum heads and double lower pintles. To be beachable, a catamaran must have kick-up rudders; these kick-up systems often refuse to work when you need them most. However, the Stilettos rudders worked smoothly and positively on the boats we test sailed. Trailerability
Ventura Sport Boats
This lightweight, fully beachable craft is easy to trailer and a delight to camp aboard, with a cockpit that seats six adults and a cabin that sleeps four. Performance features have been infused throughout, earning the Malbec 18 a nomination as a SAIL magazine Best Boat for 2018, and a Winners Circle Award for Best Pocket Cruiser in Cruising ...
Best Small Sailboats and Daysailers
Catalina 16.5. The Catalina 16.5 sits right in the middle of Catalina Yachts' line of small sailboats, which range from the 12.5 to the 22 Capri and Sport, and it comes in both an easy-to-trailer centerboard model and a shoal-draft fixed-keel configuration. www.catalinayachts.com. With the fiberglass board up, the 17-foot-2-inch boat draws ...
Stiletto Catamarans: Fast, Beachable, Trailerable, Affordable
Fast, Beachable, Trailerable, Affordable. Stiletto Catamarans balance these design features perfectly. Stiletto has been the best beach cat for 40 years. ... Owning a sailboat is more than a pipedream with Stiletto. Not only is the Stiletto-X a great value, financing options make life on the water a real possibility for families and enthusiasts ...
20 Best Small Sailboats for the Weekender
Both carry NorseBoat's distinctive looking carbon fiber gaff-rigged mast with main and jib (a sprit-set drifter is optional), and come with a ballasted stub keel and centerboard. Because of its lightweight design, the boat can be rowed and is easily trailered. $36,000 (starting), 902-659-2790, norseboat.com.
Malbec 18
This lightweight, beachable cruiser offers a huge six-foot cockpit with seating for six adults, and features a spacious, airy cabin that sleeps a family of four. That makes the Malbec 18 the perfect boat for experienced sailors looking to right-size from larger or smaller boats, and its safe, forgiving sailing characteristics make it ideal for ...
Shannon Shoalsailer 35
The Shannon Shoalsailer 35 handles well under power, and is easily sailed by a shorthanded crew. In the sub-genre of beachable cruising sailboats, this boat is unique. The vessel's interior isn't compromised by keel-raising or housing mechanisms, and the generous cockpit is a true anomaly among monohulls this length.
Sailboats
Princess Sharpie 26'. Materials list Picture Album (Princess 22/26) The Princess Sharpie 26 like her little sister, the Princess Sharpie 22, is an easy to build trailerable, beachable vessel. The sharpie hull shape as developed for this has been well proven in the 22. This boat also has the V-bottom to maintain the handling and performance ...
Beachable Boats
Gerr Marine is a naval architecture and yacht-design firm that designs yachts and commercial vessels, sail and power, monohull and multihull, in all materials: fiberglass/composite, wood, aluminum and steel. Designs are fast boats and displacement cruisers, patrol boats and workboats. Projects also include work on U.S. Navy submarines, hydrofoil powerboats, and hybrid or green boats/diesel ...
Daysailers, Pocket Cruisers and other small sailboats
Alcort Sunfish. The Alcort Sunfish and other popular "wet" boats: The Sunfish and the Laser have a lot in common. They are identical in length (13' 9") and nearly identical in beam, draft, weight, sail area, price, and popularity. Today they're even made by the same company, LaserPerformance, but that wasn't always true.
Best Boats 2021
Best Monohull Cruising Boat Under 50ft. Beneteau Oceanis 40.1. The new Beneteau Oceanis 40.1 is a true sailor's boat that just happens to also have a drop-dead gorgeous interior as well. The judging panel really appreciated the boat's fine sailing qualities when the wind kicked up.
List of Sailboats that you can BEACH...
Location: Boston, MA. Boat: Bristol 38.8. Posts: 1,625. Re: List of Sailboats that you can BEACH... Let me add the following monohulls over 30 ft: Seaward 32,44, Holby Clearwater 35, some Jeanneau models, some top end Euro boats (e.g. the Aluminum Atlantics from Holland), and a whole bunch of bilge keelers that nobody makes anymore.
Zin Boats Models
The total weight of the boat is 1750lbs (793kg) giving you a much bigger boat for the weight of a tiny rib. Beachable. Every ZinBoats is designed and build with practicality in mind. Need to get from the yacht to the shore? No problem. Our strong all carbon fiber construction and high torque drive make beaching the boat simple and quick.
7 Best Trailerable Sailboats for Cruising
Quick Setup Time. Towing Weight. 7 Best Trailerable Cruising Sailboats. Catalina 22/25 "Pop-Top". Com-Pac Horizon Cat for Classic Coastal Cruising. Marshall Sanderling — Small, Portable, Classy. West Wight Potter 19 — The Tiny Go-Anywhere Sailboat. Seaward 26RK with Retractable Lead Keel.
Trailerable Cruisers
Com-Pac's range of trailer sailers with accommodations starts with the 16-feet 6-inch Legacy, an entry-level trailer sailer that can sleep a couple plus a small child or two, but is otherwise devoid of amenities, and moves up through the 21-feet Eclipse, the CP23 Pilothouse and the 23/IV. Aside from their well-thought-out rig-raising systems ...
Ocean Capable Small Sailboat
Building a strong, trailerable, 14' sailboat, that's watertight and custom built to cross oceans. Preparing for an ocean crossing. Big boats, big problems, small boats, small problems.
The best bluewater sailboats (we analyzed 2,000 boats to find out)
The 10 best bluewater boats. 1. Westsail 32. Photo credit: SailboatData.com. The Westsail 32 is one of the most iconic bluewater cruisers and 19 have set out to cross the Pacific in the PPJ rally since 2009. In 1973, this small cruising sailboat garnered a 4-page spread in Time magazine.
40 Best Sailboats, Types of Sailboats & Manufacturers
30. Swan 44. A strong, robust cruising boat built for high-seas, blue water adventures, the Swan 44 was designed by Sparkman & Stephens, and the yacht's well-known Finnish manufacturers, Nautor Swan, produced 76 boats in a production run that lasted from 1972-1975.
Catalina 12.5 Expo
The Catalina Expo 12.5 is a fun machine. Thanks to the SmartRig® and Hoyt boom, getting underway has never been this quick and easy! There are no stays, no chainplates, and no halyards. Putting the boat away is also a snap, as both mast and boom are deck-stepped and removable by hand, without any tools, in minutes.