There were two models of Chris Craft 35 footers with center cockpits. The originals were built in the 1960''s and were a very nice Sparkman and Stevens design. They were intended as motor sailors but were surprisingly good sailors for thier day. They had a very good reputation as being well constructed. They had a bit of a wierd layout which required walking out in the cockpit to get to the aft cabin. They were somewhat built like wooden boats above the deck level with wooden cabin sides and traditional wooden construction for the cabin tops. Rot and deck problems can be expected on one that hasn''t been carefully maintained. I would imagine that they would be reasonably good boats in rougher conditions (although they tend to roll through comparatively wide angles).
They pointed reasonably well for their time and type (motorsailor) but were not especially fast even when compared to boats of that era. (They are obviously quite slow when compared to more modern designs) I have seen them with asking prices as little as $20K but I have no idea what condition that boat was in. Remember these boats originally had gas engines and given the prejudice against wooden boats and gas engines versions with that combination can be hard boats to sell at a fair price. That said I have always been impressed with these boat''s solid shipiness and nicely modeled hulls.
In the mid 1970''s the original Chris Craft 35 was replaced with a design that was clearly more of a motorsailer and far less of a sailor. This design is sometimes referred to as a Carribean. I''ve sailed on one of these and found them to be very lacking as sailers with pretty uncomfortable motions. My former step father did a lot of repair work on one and really thought they were pretty junky boats in terms of build quality.(I stopped over at Yachtworld and was suprised at the ads claiming this was Chris Craft''s only venture in Sailboats. That''s just plain B.S. Chris Craft constructed a very fine
line of boats in the 1960''s that ranged from a 22 foot daysailer to a 42 foot racer cruiser. Most of these were very nicely designed and constructed boats.) Compared to the prior Chris Craft and the earlier 35 these boats lacked the solid wholesomeness that made the original Chris Crafts so apepaling. These mid-1970''s 35''s are boats that I would would not recommend if sailing ability, and comfort of motion is important to you.
Regards
Jeff
Linear Mode
