The big issue with a lot of possible VolksCruisers is that there a bit challenged where displacement is concerned. Here’s an example… One of my favorite small cruising boats is the Balboa 26 designed by Lyle Hess. It’s small, shoal draft, seaworthy and has a considerable amount of room/livability for its size. The problem is …
I’m obsessive in monitoring the used boat market, especially where inexpensive VolksCruiserish candidates are concerned. I find the used market insane and trying to make sense of it is an ongoing conundrum that is entertaining. One thing I’ve learned so far is there is zero rhyme or reason where the cost of boats is concerned. …
A very long time ago we were rafted up in Honfleur and got invited to have tea and cookies on a Westerly Tiger. It’s a nice memory of a half-dozen people chatting about boats inside a very nice, small boat. As it happens, I saw a Westerly Tiger for sale up in Seattle for $1K …
I get a lot of email pointing out that, as far as some are concerned, a good cheap boat is nearly impossible to find. So, let’s look at a good cheap boat… The boat in question is the first boat that caught my interest in the PNW Tempest search of Craig’s List for sailboats. Three …
and in the “no good cheap boats out there” department… Read More »
For me the whole budget thing is colored by something the great motion picture camera designer, Raoul Coutard, who designed the pivotal Eclair NPR said when someone asked him how to design a hand holdable self-blimped camera… “First, you start with a quiet camera.” Over the years I’ve found this bit of logic adaptable to …
Most late 60s and early 70s classic plastic sailboats of the 34-foot variety are actually pretty good boats but exceptionally challenged in the cruising stowage department. It’s not that they are too small but that the long-term cruising stowage was just not part of the design brief. So if you’re looking at buying a …
I know I’ve talked about the Bill Lapworth designed CAL 34 more than a time or two but it is the boat I happen to be sitting on while writing this. Back in 1969, when “So it Goes” was new, the boat sold for $15,950. or thereabouts. Today, a turnkey CAL 34 in good shape …
Back when I was living in France one of the designs that I seriously considered was the ETAP 23 for use as a minimal envelope blue water cruiser. For starters, it’s a nice little sailboat. All of the ETAP sailboats had a very nice look partly because of their excellent use of graphics and just …
Charles Doane (the Wave Train dude) has an excellent post of the VolksCruiser variety that you should really check out. Need I say more?
