CS36T Question

[castoff]

Did CS offer different keel options with the CS36, I have noticed some with a draft of 4'11" and others at 6'3". How would it compare to an Alberg 37 as a bluewater boat?

[Vasco]

The CS36T was offered with either a deep keel or shoal draft keel. A few have sailed around the world. The Alberg is a full keel boat whereas the CS has fin keels.

[bestfriend]

If you have not found it already, here is the CS owners site.
Also look at "Halekai36" homepage. He has lots of good pics. He recently commented on the thickness of the hull on the CS36T and its off shore capabilities in another thread.

[Valiente]

Along with the Niagara 35, the CS36T is on a short list of 35-37 footers I would take offshore. A very nice classic plastic that is still reasonably fast as a cruiser.

[sailingdog]

The Alberg 37, while a full-keel design, has a cutaway forefoot.



The CS 36 Traditional looks like this:

[castoff]

The thing that puts me off the Niagara 35 is the cored hull. Do you have any idea of the headroom or berth length in the CS36. Also I don't see many reccomended offshore boats with a fin keel, what makes it OK on the CS36?

[bestfriend]

cast - This is what I do know. CS36T is 15500 lbs, 6500lbs ballast, cored topsides and deck, CS36M is a little lighter at 13300lbs. The Merlin has an enclosed aft cabin. I have the 34 and have at least 6 foot headroom in all areas. Not sure about berth length.
I think part of what makes it offshore capable is the build quality. For more specifics, I would suggest signing up at the CSOA yahoo group and post your questions. It is a very active site and most of the CS owners here are active on it. There are also members on there that were working for CS when they were being built.

[Gary M]

The Niagara 35 is a very strong boat, I would not dimiss it for a cored hull.

In my opinion if a boat is properly built and maintained then a cored hull is much superior to a solid hull. Much lighter, stiffer and drier.
There are only a few places where there is potential for water ingress and they are easy to deal with.
I do not know for sure but I would be very surprised if the spots where the through hulls etc are are solid glass. If not that is pretty easy to fix.

Gary

[Vasco]

I had a CS30 and now have a Merlin, both bought direct from the factory which was about 20 miles from my home. As far as I know only the Merlin, the 40 and the 34 have cored topsides (from waterline up). All the other CS boats including the 36T had solid glass hulls. The amount of ballast in the 36T depended on whether it was shoal or deep draft. The design weight of the Merlin was 13,500 but I don't think a single one came out of the factory at that weight. They all came out heavier. Mine was closer to 15000.

[Gary M]

I am jealous, I have wanted a Merlin since they first came out.

Gary