Ericson 35
Ericson Yachts has gotten a lot of mileage out of 35-footers over the years. In 1965, the first Ericson 35 was a typical CCA cruising boat; in 1969, the Ericson 35-2 was introduced--an up-to-date racer/cruiser, with swept-back moderate fin keel, pronounced bustle, and semi-balanced shallow spade rudder. In 1982 it was replaced by the 35-3, a larger, more modern boat.
FD-12
In the mid-1970 Dutchman Willem Eickholt, part owner at the time of Flying Dutchman Yachts, decided to build his dreamboat. A lifelong sailor, he knew he wanted an aft-cockpit, flush-decked cutter of moderate displacement and minimum wetted surface with a fin keel, skeg rudder, canoe stern, and clipper bow. "I also wanted her to be fast. Long passages bore me," says Eickholt. "Last but not least, I wanted her to be pretty in a timeless way."
Freedom 33
In 1972 Garry Hoyt set about developing the original Freedom 40. Discarding conventions one by one, he came up with a long-waterline, quasi-traditional hull form and a wishbone cat-ketch rig. In the intervening years Hoyt refined his rig and developed a whole line of boats: a 21, 25, 28, 39 (express and pilothouse models), and the 44. The Freedom 33 is no longer in production, having been replaced in the line by the 32, which is a single masted "cat sloop" with a self tacking jib and gun mount spinnaker. More rig innovation.
Freedom 36
Freedom Yachts were the invention of Garry Hoyt back in the early 1970s. An advertising executive and champion one-design sailor, Hoyt reached a stage in his life when he wanted a cruising boat, but he found the existing fleet ordinary and unsatisfactory. So the story goes he set about designing himself a boat. The result was the Freedom 40, an unusual-looking cruiser with a long waterline, conventional hull, and a peculiar wishbone cat-ketch rig.
J/34c
In appearance, the J/34c looks much like her sister J/cruisers. She has a fixed shoal draft keel, a straight sheer, and a slotted Goiot aluminum toerail. Her waterline, at 30', is long. It leaves her little overhang for appearance.
J/35
In design, the 35 looks like a typical Rod Johnstone boat, with short overhangs for a long waterline, relatively low and flat sheerline, a low cabin house, and a moderate well-balanced rig. Obviously, Johnstone knows something about the harmony between a boat's underbody and the water, but a large part of the boat's speed is also dependent on the light weight--10,500 pounds on a 30-foot waterline--as well as a good distribution of that weight.
Morgan 38/382
In 1977, the Morgan 382 was introduced, designed by Ted Brewer, Jack Corey and the Morgan Design Team. According to Brewer, the boat was loosely based on the Nelson/Marek-designed Morgan 36 IOR One Ton. The most obvious difference between the 38 and 382 was the elimination of the centerboard and the addition of a cruising fin keel (NACA 64 012 foil) with skeg-mounted rudder. They are two completely different designs from two different eras in yacht design.
Niagara 31/35
Best known for his big race boats, Argentinean designer German Frers drew the lines of the Niagara 31. The 35, as noted, was drawn by Mark Ellis, who also designed the Nonsuch line, and more recently, the Northeast 37 motorsailer. The 35 came first, in 1978, and about 300 were built before its run came to an end in 1995. The Niagara 31 was built between 1980 and 1984. A less popular 26-footer also was built, as well as a 42.
Nicholson 35
Just over 200 Nicholson 35s were built over more than a 10-year period, with production tailing off in the early 1980s. Most boats were sold in England, but a number were built for American owners, and still more found their way to the U.S. during the rampage of the dollar against foreign currencies in the mid 1980s. The Nicholson 35 is a cruising boat, plain and simple. Its proportions are about as common-sense and moderate as you can get. The boat is clean, almost austere in appearance, with very little exterior wood trim.
C&C 33
C&Cs have been known for good-looking moderate designs, a tradition started by the original partners and the company's chief designer Rob Ball. Some models--like the early Corvettes and C&C 35s--have become classics of production sailboats, and (except for the Mega, a one-design 30-footer of the late 70s) it's hard to think of any C&C which has been extreme or unattractive to the eye.
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Endeavour 37 Used Boat Review
Rob Valdez and John Brooks founded Endeavour in 1974 using the molds from Ted Irwin's 32-footer to launch the business. The company built about 600 32s in all. Spurred by this success, Valdez and Brooks began looking around for a larger sistership to expand the line. Just how they "developed" the 37 is a tale best left untold until the principals pass away or become too senile to read the yachting periodicals. Brooks calls the 37 a "house design," and that is generous. The total number of Endeavour 37s built is 476 a lot for a boat that size.
