SailNet Community banner
  • SailNet is a forum community dedicated to Sailing enthusiasts. Come join the discussion about sailing, modifications, classifieds, troubleshooting, repairs, reviews, maintenance, and more!

Thoughts on 34 Citation

3K views 4 replies 4 participants last post by  Ozarkman 
#1 ·
I am seriously considering a 34 Citation for my next boat. Any Comments would be helpful. Anything that may have really been a pain or just the things you like best. I owned a 26 Westerly for 20 plus years that was wrecked so this will be a move up for me. I definately want the shoal draft model as my primary cruising grounds are Florida and Bahamas. The other model I am considering is the Tartan 34 so I will post something in that sub-forum too. The things I like about the Irwin is they are mostly powered by diesels and nice cabin layout. I am guessing the Tartan is built better and probably sails better but most are powered by gas and cabin is not as large. Thanks!
 
#2 ·
I've owned an Irwin 34 '79 for 6+ years and have had a great time with this boat in the Chesapeake bay. Great cabin layout and she sails well to the wind. Her for triangle is huge, I have the keel cb set up and she is a bit tender, in 15+ kts you'll be reefing the main. When I got the boat there was a lot of water damage to the finish carpentry in the cabin due to a poor mounting design of the portlights. I ripped out all of the wood paneling,mounted the portlights directly to the fiberglass and replaced the interior wood work. There have been some structural issues in her past. At some point her sb shroud dislodged the small wooden bulkhead it is strapped to. The chain plates on both sides were then extended to tie into the fiberglass as well as the bulkheads. A survey was done after the repair and said it is now stronger then the original design. I have not had any problems. So after two winters of work i have her pretty dry an looking good. Curlew is a great bay boat and the yanmar 2qm is bullet proof...knock on wood:)
 
#3 ·
There were many design changes on the Irwin 34. Early ones had a glassed in keel, later models had a bolt on keel, for example. They all suffer from leaking port lights. I have almost completed rebuilding mine, a 1979. The Tartan probably is a heavier boat, structurally. That said, unless you plan on some careless trip planning, the Irwin should be a fine choice. My 2QM is 34 years old and it concerns me. However it still runs. After spending 5 years on my rebuild, I wouldn't mind getting a Beta Marine engine when the time comes.
 
#4 ·
I forgot to mention, that my Irwin cost me $8000 to buy and I have about $8000 in the rebuild, including a roller furling, auto-pilot, radar, GPS, radio, and such. All in all, the money will work out nicely and I will have an awesome boat next summer. The time did not work out so well. I can't get back 5 years off the water.
 
#5 ·
We bought a 84' Citation 34 last year. She is a great boat so far. She sails wonderfully especially down wind (shoal draft keel) There were some leaks around port windows and it caused some water damage in the headliner, nothing too serious. The cabin is awesome, lots of room, well laid out.
I did replace the mainsheet system with a harken, the original had some standing blocks at dumb angles of to one side, this caused difficulty in main trimming for the crew. I am adding two winches on the cabin top for spinnaker sheets. I sail full sails up to 20 knots with a 130 headsail, she heels at 25 degrees and makes 7 knots on beam and 5-6 on close. She really shines on the down wind leg flying wing to wing or spinnaker. We feel blessed to have this boat.
 

Attachments

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top