Peterson 34

[DirtManly]

We are currently looking at a Peterson 34. I''ve never heard of this boat before and have only stumbled across it as we were looking at another boat. It appear to be a well kept version, although a survey should tell us more about the actual condition of the boat if choose to. Are there any inherent flaws with this boat? Or for that matter any info on these boats would be helpful. I can''t seem to find much on them.
Thanks
Dirt

[paulk]

I also looked carefully at a Peterson 34 a while back, and was quite impressed. It seemed like a pretty, fast, and sensibly laid out (nothing out of the ordinary) boat with decent headroom. I.E.- a boat that performs well and also has enough creature comforts to keep mutiny at bay. If I remember correctly, they don''t have the tiny mains their IOR-rule contemporaries may sport. They were apparently built by a number of different outfits, so build quality may vary. They also did things like winning Block Island Race Week, the SORC (or similar- can''t remember exactly what, but that''s the idea) and so may have been raced hard. I believe they''re masthead rigged, so hard racing means pumping up the backstay. This can put major stresses on the stem & bow fittings, tangs at the transom, the maststep, and shrouds. ALL these areas should be examined carefully, along with the fin keel''s attachment points. Stress crazing should be expected in these areas in a boat of this age (1970''s). An attentive surveyor can help determine if this is surface (gelcoat) crazing or more substantial (and expensive) fracturing. He or she could also help determine if it''s something that needs immediate work, or if it can hold on -- perhaps for quite a while -- before it needs to be fixed. PHRF seems to think they''re pretty quick, as I recall, and should be fun to sail.

[Silmaril]

I sailed (Raced) one of the Peterson 34 in the late 70''s early 80''s. The design was based on Doug Peterson''s winning "Ganbere" (Don''t know if I''m spelling that right) which did indeed win the SORC. Another one, "Not by Bread Alone" won BI Week and much of the silverware in her class on Long Islan Sound.

When you are talking about a "Production" Peterson 34, they were built in Texas and were one of the first boats to use composites like kevlar in their hull and stress areas.

You can tell the difference between on that was campaigned and one that was ocasionally raced by the fact that the serious races all had tillers, the casual racers had wheels.

In addition, the production version from Texas also had a pretty nice interior for a racing design. Hot and cold pressure water, nice wood trim, etc.

Look around at the pics in yachtworld, the majority you see are the production boats. You can tell by the similarity of the interiors. Any major deviation from that would make the boat one of the one-off''s and not something I would be interested in.

They are a heavily IOR influenced design and do have the high aspect mains and huge foretriangle that is common in that era. When raced, they are remarkably influenced by very small rig and sail adjustments. The mast is one of the bendy types that uses the baby stay to affect mainsail shape. Runners were needed in slop to stop mast pumping.

They were pretty rugged little boats though. We were comming into the harbor with just the main up at night, when we were caught in a squall that pegged the anamometer at over 60 kts (NOAA later reported micro bursts in excess of 100 kts) we were blown flat, mast to the water and held there for about 5 minutes. Wind died down, boat popped back up, nothing broken, we motored the rest of the way in to our slip.

This is one of my favorite racer/cruisers from the late 70''s. I think that with the advanced (for its day) construction techniques used in the production models, they have held up very well.

With a fresh set of rags, and a competent crew, they are still quite competitive at the club level today. Just remember that they are dip-pole jibes, large foretriangle boats that need some muscle to get the most out of them. They would also make an excellent "Express" cruiser, leaving many of the modern floating condos in her wake.

[big007]

Hi Group
I am currently looking at a 1976 Tartan 36C
My intended use is cruising the Great Lakes and coastal cruising. I have no info or experience with this boat. Any feedback on build quality and sailing characteristics would be appreciated. Thanks

[sailingfool]

Not much info likely to be available - as I don''t believe Tartan ever made a 36 footer - I''ll bet you have in mind the aged (venerable?) 34C, about which there are numerous threads discussing the pros and cons.

Good luck.