tartan 30 for offshore work?

[deckhanddave]

In my continuing search for a good solid cruising boat I've come across a Tartan 30 that is pretty much being given away. What are the opinions of the tartan 30 as far as seaworthiness go? Would one of these be capable for offshore cruising? I know Jeff_H has some good things to say about the T30 and I'd love to hear more.

[T37Chef]

You might want to try posting to these sites as well:

http://www.tartanowners.org/
http://www.cbtsc.com/cbtsc2000.htm
http://tartan30.org/

Don't know much about the T30, but I can tell you that there are great sites and associations for Tartan owners.

Best of luck

[owlmtn]

The T30 is a solid, fairly stiff boat. The drawbacks that I see are: the companionway doesn't have a bridgedeck, the companionway is only about 5" off the cockpit floor, this obviously invites flooding below in rough weather. Dropboards would have to be solidly attached for any offshore work. the T30 has two belowdecks configurations, side galley and the aft galley. the side galley eliminates a potential leeward seaberth, i think the quarterberth would be pretty uncomfortable in unsettled weather, but may do. While the boat tracks well on most points of sail, in large following waves it seems to require alertness on the part of the helmsman, this would probably be tiring on a long passage if the autohelm couldn't handle it. we don't have a autohelm on our boat so I don't know how one would respond to these conditions. I think that most boats around 30' would have their strong and weak points for off shore applications and would guess, assuming that the boat is sound, that the T30 would do as well or better than a lot of boats this size and vintage. I would be curious to hear the opinions of more experienced offshore sailors. Jim L

[JakeLevi]

I am curious, what do you consider "pretty much being given away" ? How old is she?

That floodable companionway would be a deal killer for me if it couldnt be rectified. Heavy weather isnt an if, its a when.

[sailingdog]

Just a word of warning... most boats that are "being given away" are going to cost you far more in the long run than buying one that is in saleable/sailable shape. The repairs and upgrades to a "free/low-cost" boat are often more expensive than getting the same model boat in good shape.

[JakeLevi]

All our little catch phrases mean something different to everyone, so I was wondering what he meant about"being given away" . To me that'd be about what the hulls worth. To save storage costs.

To someone else it could mean 60 thou.

Also wondering the year, that could be a big reason. Did older Tartans have cored hulls ? I have recently read of a number of Tartans sailing all over the gulf.

[sailingfool]

Cored construction stated showing up in the late'70s, the Tartan 30 started production in 1971, so no cored hull. IMHO the Tartan 30 is a very sturdy and well designed boat, the best example of the "70s production racer/cruisers. Most boats designed from the late '70s and on have cored hulls, although some manuafacturers even up to today have never made a production cored hull boat - Cal, Hunter, Catalina, Beneteau come to mind.

[sanjuan2R]

To get a good boat, you must have a good, fundamental design --- Sparkman & Stephens designed a great model in the Tartan 30. Tartan has been building quality sailboats for decades and continues to do so through 2006.
Thie t-30 will hold together better than some other production boats and yes, they do have an active orgainization throughout the U.S.
If the survey comes out well, go for the Tartan 30. You could do a lot worse with some other sailboat manufacturers.
Enough said.

[sailingfool]

Originally Posted by deckhanddave

In my continuing search for a good solid cruising boat I've come across a Tartan 30 that is pretty much being given away. What are the opinions of the tartan 30 as far as seaworthiness go? Would one of these be capable for offshore cruising? I know Jeff_H has some good things to say about the T30 and I'd love to hear more.

I don't know what Tartan you have been looking at, but this http://web.mac.com/bicgreen1/iWeb/Site/Home.html is a Tartan that is being given away, even though its not cheap...!!

[JakeLevi]

This one is a beauty, but, that low companionway to cockpit sole is a scary one, even with new boards in the companionway. I'd be thinking of wanting some 2" cockpit drains before going far out with her. A solid beam wave will make that interior pretty wet.