Thoughts on the Tartan 34C

[bmacfarquhar]

After nearly pulling the trigger on a Tartan 30 I have become intrigued by the slightly larger Tartan 34C. It looks almost exactly like a Tartan 30 with a upswept overhanging stern glued on. It only weighs 2,000 pounds more about a thousand of which is in the keel. The keel is encapsulated not bolt on (some say bolt is a plus) and is a centerboard shoal draft design. The interior looks almost identical but is listed at 6'2" of headroom which will work for me (the Tartan 30 had my head touching the ceiling and I'm 6' it was acceptable right by the galley).

My reservations are that the overhang in the rear is less seaworthy than the T30 - the cockpit seems a bit bigger though there seems to be a bridge deck which was one of the objections to the T30s blue water capability.

The 25' LWL seems like a rip off as I'll pay for a 34 footer but get the same hull speed as the average 30 footer. Or when heeled does the LWL drastically increase and the boat is in fact far faster than the 25' LWL would suggest?

So all in all a T34C has a great look to it but seems an awful lot like a T30 with slightly better headroom and an overhung stern glued on... If anyones sailed these boats I'd love to know more about how they compare (speed, space, seaworthiness etc)

[puddinlegs]

You might have already seen this:

Tartan 34C Profile and Perspective

also a less than prefect method of establishing some basic performance perimeters, some phrf ratings from the NE:

TARTAN 10 126
TARTAN 26 234
TARTAN 27 234
TARTAN 27 YAWL 234
TARTAN 28 177
TARTAN 30 171
TARTAN 3000 162
TARTAN 30C 165
TARTAN 31 SD 159
TARTAN 33 153
TARTAN 34 174
TARTAN 34-2 132
TARTAN 34-2 SD 135
TARTAN 3500 117
TARTAN 3500 WK126
TARTAN 3700 102

No one can answer the 30' vs. 34' argument other than you. One thing to think about, though, is the additional cost of moorage and maintenance of a larger boat. It won't be insignificant.