C&c 34?

[jpasha]

OK, since so many people really loved my earlier thread on the Irwin question (just kidding) I thought I would try again.

Anyone out there have something to say about a 1979 C&C 34? I think it may be a better boat for us in terms of sailing fast(er) and still having enough room to live aboard and coastal cruising for the summer months. I am not familar with the below decks, are they fairly spacious? I remember C&C's being sort of narrow, though this 34 has an 11' beam.

Any words of wisdom would be appreciated. In fact just having ANY response would probably make me feel good.

Thanks.

Joshua

[Gene T]

A good friend of mine had an early 80s C&C34. He lived aboard in Connecticut for at least 15 years. It was roomy enough and sailed pretty well. The biggest problem was blisters, lots of big blisters. He did a complete and proper blister job but it failed with blister coming back after one year. It had a cored hull and some of the blisters were all the way to the core.

One boat, one situation should not paint them all with a bad brush. But It soured me enough to keep me from looking at earlier C&Cs.

[sailingfool]

The 34 was hte first of the third generation C&C's, bringing in cored hulls - and not a very good boat. The core runs close to the keel, one good smack to the bottom of the keel and you can endup with a totally wet core - I sawone back when that dripped for weeks and weeks after being hauled. Boat is also very tender. Looks good and that about it, same for the 29 and the 36.

My advice is see if you can find a 35-II, they are built very strong, provide great performance and have a much better down below. The 35-II is a classic for all times, the 34 is a mongrel.

[nolatom]

I just helped deliver one (1981 I think) with owner on a 150-mile trip in 10-25 knots form all directions along the Gulf Coast.

I didn't think the boat was overly tender, and did quite well on all points of sail, and was reasonably fast, with no bad habits that I could see.

I can't comment on the structural stuff mentioned above, but if that weren't a problem, she seemed like a very nice, fairly fast, cruiser and maybe club/ beercan racer.

[Faster]

We took a long hard look at a 1981 C&C 34 during our last boat hunt, liked the layout, the look, and the cockpit. However we had heard of the problems they'd had (such as those SF alludes to) and found some other questionable items in the one we were interested in and in the end let it go.

On the one we looked at, I could easily swing any stanchion through about 5 degrees with little force, with corresponding flexing of the hull deck joint. I didn't much like the look of that.

From all accounts the biggest issue with this generation of boats for C&C is in fact the coring and therefore each model needs to be thoroughly and completely surveyed with such problems in mind.

[jpasha]

Hmm, OK. Doesn't look like the C&C 34 is such a great boat. I didn't know too much about them, but had thought that C&C had a pretty sturdy reputation, but perhaps that was with another generation.

This boat search is difficult.

I have gone from an interest in the early (Cherubini designed) Hunter 33, to an Irwin 39 Citation, to the C&C 34, and now none really impress me. There was a Pearson 323 in there for a little while, but I didn't like the forward wheel location in the cockpit.

Back to the search?

JC

[Sailormann]

Check out CS boats. They are a bit better built than C&C's and sail very nicely. They have solid hulls, and although the deck is cored, there is less balsa in it than a lot of other boats. If you don't want to spend as much, then Cal's are well built boats that also sail nicely. Tartans and Bristols are good quality. O'day is another option. Catalina perhaps, if you find one that has been taken care of.

Also:
YachtWorld.com Boats and Yachts for Sale
YachtWorld.com Boats and Yachts for Sale
YachtWorld.com Boats and Yachts for Sale
YachtWorld.com Boats and Yachts for Sale

[jpasha]

Thanks for the links SM. That is funny that you mention Cal, because that is the only boat I have owned. I had a 1969 Cal 27 for a while, great boat, sailed fast, nice layout down below, and with a kevlar 120 up front she could roll over many other, much more expensive boats.

Also funny that you mention Oday, because there is one for sale down in Boston (I am in NH) but I had never thought of Oday as a coastal cruiser. It is an '88 322. I just looked at it (since you mentioned them) and it looks decent. sort of modern, which isn't bad. I read that they have small winches and potential keel boat problems, but not sure.

I will look more closely at the links you sent too. Thanks.

Josh

[seabreeze_97]

Along with the issues mentioned, like the balsa coring, C&C was always pushing the envelope on composites. The 34 made use of kevlar/fiberglass hybrid composites, nomex, etc., and they don't have the long-term track record in such combinations that more traditional materials/applications have established. It did come in two versions, the 34 and 34R. These boats were noted as being high-pointers and were able to stand up pretty well in a blow. The rudder is very effective. One quirk that is important in slip fees. The 34 is actually 35'6".

[Faster]

Seabreeze, while your data on the C&C 34(R) is correct, the model the OP refers to is a much different boat, not nearly so high tech but put to market in the late 70s with the advent of extensive coring in the hulls of production boats.

It's essentially a blown-up C&C29 from the same era, I believe they first came out in 78 or 79. In 1980 they were updated with smoked lexan windows rather than the previously typical aluminum framed types.

This model did indeed suffer from early attempts at new building techniques, but it's not the late 80s version that you refer to.