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The CS 36's are/were very, very well built boats. They are comparable to Sabre, Tartan, Cape Dory Bristol etc. in terms of build quality and they were ahead of their time in terms of features and design characteristics.
The 36T was designed by Raymond Wall who had been the chief designer for Camper Nicholson (Very, Very high end European built boats read: Morris like quality) and the 36T was his first design after joining CS in Canada. He designed this boat like he designed Camper Nicholson's for the North Seas.... Tough!! It is a heavy boat for it's size and type and the rated 15,500 displacement has been reported by many owners to be rather low in reality. With water,
fuel and supplies most 36T's weigh in easily at over 17,000lbs..
I previously owned a Catalina 36 and the difference is like night and day. I have nothing against the Catalina 36 and feel it's a great boat for coastal cruising. The CS however is stiffer and handles rough weather without even batting an eye lash and the Catalina would pound, shimmy, shake and creak in rough weather. The Catalina was indeed faster in light air but the CS performs, tracks and sails much better in anything over 10 knots than the Catalina ever did. If you mostly sail light air and are opposed to the iron genny the Pearson's may be a better boat. If however you like to sail in our fall Nor'Westerlies which can blow well over 35 the CS is a better choice for those conditions.
Construction:
The hull to deck joint, inward flange, is bomb proof and through BOLTED, NOT SCREWED, every 3" for the entire length of the vessel. The stringers, and there are many of them, are solid fiberglass beams with no wood to rot. She also has longitudinal foam cored stringers running bow to stern to stiffen the hull even more. The bulkheads are glassed into the hull, not free floating and screwed like many production boats are. There is no exterior teak, a big plus in my mind, and way ahead of the time. Even without the teak we get lots of compliments on her appearance and lines even though our's is a 1979! The teak joinery is very well done and well above average for the era. There is no "fake wood" formica on the bulkheads.. The galley is very well laid out and she has a HUGE ice box. She carries plenty of water under port and sbd settees and decent
fuel too. The head is amazing, big, and even my wife likes it. There is also no exposed wood in the head so showering / mold is not an issue at all. The cockpit is t-shaped, large and free flowing. The keel is external lead & through bolted with very high quality stainless bolts and very hefty backing plates. As far as I know I have not heard of any CS-36T keels needing re-setting yet.
It's the Little details CS did that I really enjoy. For instance; The genoa track, stanchions and toe rail all go through SOLID un-cored sections of the deck!! In 1979 these boats had dual built in LP tank storage! You don't find to many builders that employed even one LPG tank location, let alone two, in 1979 or even came close to, or met, ABYC regulations before the ABYC existed..! CS did..The entire bilge of these boats is gel-coated! Even under the salon floor boards where you can't see. I have a major pet-peeve with Pearson NOT gelcoating bilges (we too had looked seriously at the 31 and the 33-2).. The picture bellow, of the bilge, is the original gelcoat (NOT PAINTED) and the original keel bolts after I cleaned th bilge this past winter! The chain plates affix directly to the hull, not the bulkheads, via solid fiberglass, glassed in, load distribution points. The cabin sole in my boat is a full 3mm veneer! this means you can actually sand and re-finish the cabin sole many, many times! Just for reference a 4X8 sheet of teak and holly with a 3.0 mm veneer will set you back over 1k today!! Everyone else uses a veneer that is about 0.2mm These are just a few of the little details that help these boats age better and hold their value.
I've owned a lot of boats and this is the first boat I've owned that I do not feel the need to "upgrade" from.
As with any boat care and maintenance are the most important features. If you can find a clean well cared for 36T buy it other wise continue looking!
In short CS built way to much boat for the money to compete with Sabre, Tartan and the other high end productions builders. It was probably the US / Canadian exchange rate combined with all the "extras" they included that finally did them in. Had the US and Canadian dollar been as they are now there is no doubt in my mind that CS would still be in business today..
Feel free to check out my boats photo gallery and ask any questions you may have.
My only two complaints are:
#1 Steep companionway (you get used to it quickly)
#2 Relatively shallow bilge but not as shallowas the Pearson's (I have a PSS seal so it's no big deal.)
P.S. Why are they so heavy? Heavy construction. This past Spring I installed a new seacock in the head. When I pulled the core plug out of my hole saw I was amazed. I pulled out my calipers & measured it at 3/4 of an inch thick! This through hull was quite a distance from the keel, where you'd expect thickness like that, yet the hull was still 3/4" thick solid fiberglass and a good distance from the keel..
CS 36T Photo Gallery
Interior:
Salon stringer layout (the mast base stringers are about 7" apart!):
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WELL DONE!
