As a fairly rugged full keeled cruiser they are probably what many would consider blue water capable, years back we had one in our club that the owner were fixing up for that purpose. (in the end they came into some money and moved up to a Passport 40!)

As far as sailing, these boats apparently suffered from excess weather helm and many have had short bowsprits added to move the forestay ahead and alleviate the helm issues (they are not alone in that.. many Cat 30s have had the same mods)

I'm not sure that the construction quality is top notch nor if they were as 'heavily built' as they appear.. but I'm quite sure that a good number of them have done offshore passages. I believe some would be owner-finished; I think hull/deck kits were offered.

 

The hull IIRC is reasonably bullet proof. As the fish trawlers that company made of fiberglass were very strong! The sailboats were built accordingly. So from that standpoint, it probably would go anywhere with out issues per say.

One of the issues I see with this boat, is being a pilot house, reasonably smaller in size, they could go/break in some bigger waves etc, causing some serious issues. SO that would be something to figure out how to instal some storm boards that one puts over the bigger windows to keep them from breaking.

About a year ago, there was an article in Good Old boat on one of these, if you can find tha article, read it. If not, let me know, I know the writer, and could probably figure out how to get you a pdf/copy of it.

Personal opinion, I would choose a different boat and style if it were me frankly! For here in the NW, as I got older, a pilot house sailboat like this might be in my future, but even still, there are some better/faster sailing boats than this one frankly.

Marty

 

They are not all pilot house, in fact the PH models were relatively rare.

 

OOPS, maybe the one reviewed in GOB was a rare PH version........

I remember my step dad looking at buying a hull/deck kit to build, taking a tour of the Rawson plant about 10 miles from us, now a roofing supply place...... They are solid from what some would like to see of a boat to handle anything, but iirc, one of the few boats with a 300+ PHRF rating too! I think we can reasonably say a slooooooooooooow boat.

Now that I relook at the pic above, it is not a PH.........oh well,

Marty

 

You are going to have to be patient if you try and make a Rawson 30 go to weather. Patient and very forgiving. Yes, they did have exsessive weather helm. But they are built like tanks. Not high on quality but high on quantity. Like any Garden design they are hard not to like but having raced against them when I was a kid I can tell you for sure, they are slow. But, I still like them.

 

They would make a great offshore boat. One can eliminate the weather helm problem and drastically simplify self steering and inside steering, by taking the keel hung rudder off and replacing it with a transom hung rudder on a skeg. The skeg could become a keel cooler for the engine. I'd fair the trailing edge of the keel for that.

 

I did that:

My Rawson has this Skeg Hung Rudder mod and is viewable on
Search yachtpals dot com on Rawson 30 Sailboat Owners "Skeg hung rudder"

It is fully a Blue Water offshore Cruiser.

The Pilot House model was only about 50 of 300 boats made from 1960-1985.
The slower PH is excellent for its intended waters, Pacific San Juan Islands.

My sloop sails 7kts broad reach (adjusted for current) to windward in 18kts wind.
22kts of wind before reefing if the seas haven't built-up yet.(personal comfort)

Read "First Time Around" for a published Circumnavigation by a Rawson 30 and a family of three aboard.

Many others have made Blue Water lifestyles with this quality boat.
All Hand-Laid Roving fiberglass schedule has NO fillers (chopper gun or even plywood) and the minimum thickness 1/4", which makes it superior to even an Island Packet for hull construction and longevity. And ALL tanks can be replaced without removing the interior unlike nearly all other cruising sailboats.

As for PHRF (265) rating, get a Nacra 17 if you want to race. (( FUN against monohulls !! ))

My Rawson kept pace with 38ft $250K boats around Baja and into La Paz no problem.

The large side windows were replaced with bullet-proof polycarbonate (same as limousines) and 4000lb rated frames.

We've been in 64kts winds and seas without more than splashes getting in the cockpit.
That storm, I lashed the helm with a bungee and hove-to; The underwater shape by Bill Garden did its thing; balancing naturally and automatically to lie comfortably while breakers crashed where ever the boat was not.

Yes, its Blue Water for me and many more people.

The money saved on the boat lets One cruise much, much longer, too.

Pardon if this seems 'defensive', but I didn't see any other actual Rawson Owners in the forum. You know, "first hand knowledge".

Fair Winds to you all, if rough winds, I wish you a Rawson!

 

Thanks for the comments. Reason I ask is a friend bought one and is doing work on it then bring it around the island to another slip. I may help him and just curious about how they handle. His is not a pilot house version but here is a Hard dodger version:
1966 Rawson 30 Hard Dodger Sail Boat For Sale - www.yachtworld.com

 

I once saw a PHRF rating of near 300 for the R30.

 

Yeah.... no speedster

 

A friend here on the island had a Rawson 34 PH and I was really impressed with it. Well built and finished. It was a cutter and everything seemed to be well laid out. Unfortunately I didn't get to sail on it before he sold it so can't comment on that.

 

John is that a typo or did you mean '34'? I've never heard of/seen a R34...

 

ALCYONE 333 3B33E RAWS30-1 EHW DEVON BLANKENSHIP

There is the name, rating, code, boat, club and name of a local PHRF NW rawson 30 owner. I'd say 333 is a dang slow rating! SWAG base rating is about 297, gets and extra 6 secs per code 3 for jib, main and fixed prop, with the B being NFS, credit of 21 secs on that one. Not sure what the E stands for.

marty

 

A Cal 20 would have to give it 1 1/2 minutes a mile! Even those horrible Bayliner Buccaneers would owe it more than a minute a mile. Slow doesn't begin to describe it.

 

The one in the ad appears to have a short sprit to move the genoa forward, so this guy may have the weather helm problem fixed.

 

The Rawson is no race boat and it's tracking keel is no capable close quarter maneuverer. You don't get all things in one package. You might get a boat not so good at any task if you don't commit to a specific design. She's a bully boat for heavy weather and with so much head room there is little doubt of her windage attributes. As far as weather helm goes, one can move her rudder back or her bow out.
When you buy a boat you need to know what you intend for it to do. The Rawson is a deep water, foul weather survivor not some fin keeled feather weight class racer. Rather like sailing a Winnabego but that comes with a boat 33% heavier in matt and resin. Some scary tips are the bonding between hull and deck. Chain plates embedded into hull. The shoe on the rudder. The main hatch has a triple bifold door that leaves much to be desired. Over all though I like her. She feels safe to me. Love mine.

 

She could probably take a higher rig.

 

Dont think so, as if I remember correctly the ballast is 'concrete' and scrap iron 'punchings', nothing else.

 

Fast- ha, just saw your question about the R34? I can't really say but that's what I recall him telling me and it looked about that size. 32' maybe, did they make one? I'll ask him next time he's on the island. It was a very nice boat, we met up with them in Squirrel Cove one evening.

 

JR, I suspect it was a PH version of the 30. They are a pretty big 30' and with the added volume of the PH and maybe a sprit, it would be easy to take it as a 32' or bigger.

That PH version was a good looking boat IMO - better looking than the trunk cabin deck. More suited to its performance being in the motorsailer range as well.

 

"My sloop sails 7kts broad reach (adjusted for current) to windward "

What does this mean exactly?
You are either going to weather or you are broad reaching. You can't be doing both.
But I have only been sailing for 54 years so I may have something to learn here.

 

I suppose he meant a close reach.

 

Like how to make a Rawson go 7 Kts?

 

Hmmm, in just learning stuff like Hull speed..so i had to look it up..
Rawson 30...LWL 22'...
Hull Speed...
1.34× the root of the length 22'= 6.3
How am i doing so far?
But..as a novice..forgive me.. I ask: can a boat exceed its hull speed with a huge wind behind (now there's a nautical term)..and with a balloon spinnaker and full sail..
Is it possible?
Can ANY sailboat with Any wind conditions exceed it's hull speed?
As i may have mentioned... I am a rank amateur and i would like to know this.
I've heard a few 'sailors' talk about how fast they go, what boats they beat..and so on..
So i do a quick calculation..think to myself: "ahh, no.. .you probably weren't going that fast, or, they were going slower then you thought or they said.
Sooo,,can a sailboat (displacement hull) exceed it's hull speed..ever?
(Not counting surfing down huge swells)

 

I have noticed a huge spike in rawson 30 prices lately...about 10, 15 years ago in my searches for boats they were always priced sub 10k...

my dad sailed on them back in the 60s and called them bathtubs...they have a very tubby and non fine entries...

however that aside I wouldnt mind its quirkiness for sailing offshore a bit...

there is one in marina del rey california exhibiting this hug spike in price...

regarding the 7knot speed I dont see it as that far off...I think it can be easily doable if the conditions are right

ps. interesting how this thread got going again. jajaja!

 

It is not a necessity to be accepted as a popular boat. The Rawson 30+2 are varied in the use of ply in their hulls for stiffness but they had little of it in the early works like I have.
I have never sailed a Rawson so I can't give you a complete evaluation but I am invested in one heavily. My thought is the heavy full keel makes her stable and safe. The fast boats are made very light which can translate into cheap.
They might handle well in light air but fear is a factor too and the Rawson, however scant her interior is, is about as good of hull as you can find. I find a safe solid hull beats a fast cheap one in security in heavy weather.
A Pacific Northwest girl, it's my guess she can climb up out of almost anything in heavy seas.
Modifications, opinions on repairs, age and environment weigh heavy on what you are looking at to purchase but my 61' seems sound and has not seen salt water... Yet,,,
Only 5% of sailors ever leave the San Francisco bay so the popular purchases of a sailboat are not so relative to a good cruiser. You can't advise youth on what's about to happen. Only the elderly can look back. Everyone else is just guessing.

 

Re: Rawson 30- A Blue Water Cruiser, yep.

"My sloop sails 7kts broad reach (adjusted for current) to windward "

What does this mean exactly?
You are either going to weather or you are broad reaching. You can't be doing both.
But I have only been sailing for 54 years so I may have something to learn here.

I hesitated in quoting a numerical speed, so added some conditions to the number.
Broad Reach; the wind to starboard of the boat; nicely favorable.
To "Windward" meaning the Apparent wind at 7kts moving across the true wind (broad) is always forward of the actual wind angle of a stationary object. So a fast sailboat on a broad reach is usually close-hauled on the sheets. Rawson, simply a windward angle of apparent wind when the true wind is perpendicular.
Now that this is all written out, i'm glad I omitted it the the original post....its still seems to confuse the concept that a well trimmed boat, can do better than its general reputation...which is what PHRF handicapping tries to do to make a "race" from dissimilar boats, I believe....

 

Bry:
One of us is really confused.

 

I think this is a Rawson.

No matter what a great blog, and wonderful couple.

You need to read from the beginning to really appreciate their trip.

The Fast Way Round...

 

I think this is a Rawson.

No matter what a great blog, and wonderful couple.

You need to read from the beginning to really appreciate their trip.

GULP!!
With a lump in my throat, I'd say yes, that's a Rawson 30 sloop.
Yet a rebuild is justified since the hull is solid 'glass, and all tanks can be replaced without gutting the boat's interior (like most cruisers).

Good luck on the Rebuild!
Cheers!

 

One of the most inappropriate Blog names ever.

 

 

I think this is a Rawson.

No matter what a great blog, and wonderful couple.

You need to read from the beginning to really appreciate their trip.

The Fast Way Round...

Wow. Did you see that encounter with the orca?

The Fog clears, and without engine power we ended up tacking in to st. Johns harbor, 20 odd times to clear "the narrows" in a 15-20 knot headwind funneling down the channel, surrounded by 450ft cliffs. With a jammed halyard/fuller, we had 130% genoa up and it was rough going. Had to gybe 3 times to unravel line hang ups - more race practice needed. It was really tight in there. People watched from shore, cars stopped and honked. finally moored at a city dock under sail with much applause by John the security guard. There is no marina office, no harbor master, no water, no fuel - but it is a splendid location right downtown. It reminds us of the west side highway yacht club. John's first words were "you guys are right stupid."

This guy is awsome. BFS.