34' Colin Archer Double

[Lendow]

Looking at a 1960 34 Colin Archer Double ender

price is excellent good survey, needs about 25 000 to 30 000
in finishing repairs. It has had 40 000 put into it already. Hull has been restored all decks taken off and redone. Newer Yanmar

I am wondering if this is a decent ocean going boat. Sailing characteristics??

[Jeff_H]

These so called Colin Archers vary widely. True Colin Archer designs are pretty rare and the interpretations rarely got it right as they scaled down his designs. The thing is that the original Colin Archer designs that these boats derive from were brutally heavy because they were working water craft working with big strong crews in bruital conditions.

Their enormous weight and tremendous drag meant that they needed huge sail plans to sail worth a darn.

That does not translate all that readily into an easily handled yacht. To make these boats easier to handle the sail plans were scaled down so that you end up with a underpowered rig on a low performance hull form resulting in boats that were slow, docile, and bear to handle for a short handed crew in heavy going, and useless to try to sail in light going.

But of course, it all depends on the specifics of the boat in question.

Jeff

[Lendow]

Thanks Jeff
The owner did say it was a very heavy boat and was not a speedster but would get you anywhere. That may be a big compromise I am not willing to take. I hate sitting still in ligh air.

[southerncross31]

It will most likely hobbyhorse heavily as did my sc 31. This can be very uncomfortable and drove me crazy.