Dehler DB-1

[Burnsy]

Hello all,

I was wondering if anyone had any info about this style of boat? Impressions, opinions, comparison to more common boats, info, etc? I am looking at a 1982 version, with the intended purpose of being mostly for Great Lakes racing and maybe occasional cruising with another couple. It would be a first boat, and given that its German built and the age there is not much info I can find for it. How might it compare to say an Evelyn 32, J30? One other boat I''ve sailed on near its size is a 96 Catalina 30 shoal draft, tall rig. Despite my limited experience sailing & racing boats, that one struck me as too slow, heavy for my tastes, accelerated poorly out of tacks, etc. I am looking for something to learn on & that has a little more run & gun to it. My other comparison is a 55'' custom built 70''s era dedicated racer, which is more in line with what I prefer.

The DB series of Dehlers were intended as serious IOR era 3/4 tonner race boats. I am not all that familiar with the DB-1 but am far more familiar with the DB-2. In a general sense these were grand prix level IOR racing boats. For IOR boats they were reasonably well rounded and well-mannered.

Dehler generally did a better building these many of the ''disposable'' racers of the era and these boats had some nice egonomic details such a the layout of the winch islands and the line organizers at the aft end of the cabins. The DB-2 were nicely engineered but like many grand prix level race boats of that era they are a little fragile.

In absolute terms these are pretty fast boats but not as fast as J-33 or Farr 1020''s of that era both of which were designed to be fast without any of the speed robbing concessions to the IOR rule. Boats like these can be a lot of fun to sail but they really require quite a bit of skill to keep up to speed sufficiently to sail to thier ratings. Other boats of that same genre that you might look for are X-3/4 ton and the Farr 33''s.

Of course the interiors of these boats are quite spartan and really are not very adaptable to other uses besides racing.

Jeff