Martin 16 Used Boat Review

The Martin 16 is designed for adaptive sailing so people with disabilities can easily control sails and steering. It is an excellent choice for individuals or organizations wanting a sailboat that can be easily and safely controlled by someone with a range of physical limitations.

Challenged Sailors San Diego takes people with disabilities sailing every weekend in the San Diego Bay on their fleet of eight Martin 16s. Their general rule is that anyone who is medically stable and can follow directions can sail these boats from the front seat supported by a trained companion sailor in the back seat. Sometimes service dogs join the fun.

Craig Dennis volunteers as the Waterfront Lead with Challenged Sailors and keeps their Martin 16s afloat, sending them out sailing about 100 times per year. He says, “It’s a very safe, fun, fast boat. So it has all three things going for it. It’s not going to sink. It’s not going to turtle. It’s going to go out there…People are just going to love it, and it’s going to come back, and everybody’s going to be safe.”

DESIGN

Don Martin designed the Martin 16 specifically for an adaptive sailing program in Canada. Don Martin says, “The most important thing about the Martin 16 program is the people,” and he designed this boat with the people in mind. The 16-ft. boat has two forward facing seats, a lifting keel and is trailerable. The sails include a mainsail and a self-tacking jib, as well as an optional asymmetric spinnaker. Challenged Sailors San Diego has no motors on their Martin 16s and relies on an extendable paddle or a motor-powered support boat to move the boats when the wind dies.

The 330-lb. lifting keel makes the Martin 16 impossible to flip, according to the designer and current manufacturer, KAPE Boatworks, and foam floatation filling the inner hull makes the boat float, even if filled with water. The boom is high enough that no one gets hit in the head.

All controls lead to the front seat to make it easy for someone with limited mobility to steer and control the sails without having to leave the front seat. Lines lock in cam cleats, and there are no winches to manage or maintain. The front sailor controls steering using a vertical steering control that gets pushed left to turn left and right to turn right. This steering control is intuitive to new sailors. There is also a tiller handle above the rudder that the rear sailor can use to steer the boat.

The biggest limitations of this design, according to Jane Dunn, who has been sailing Martin 16s for 15 years in San Diego, include a maximum capacity of two people and a 400-lb. weight limit.

ADAPTIVE CONTROLS

Adaptive controls range from the simple to the technologically marvelous.

The easiest adaptation adds a piece of PVC pipe to extend the vertical steering control and make it require a bit less force to steer thanks to basic mechanics. This works well for people who have limited strength in their arms.

For people who have very little upper body strength, a battery powered Power Assist Unit (PAU) connects to the sheets and steering control. The PAU allows the person in the front seat to control the main and jib sheets and steering with a single joystick requiring just a gentle push with one index finger.

For sailors who have no use of their hands, a sip and puff interface with two straws allows the steering to be controlled by sucking or blowing in one straw and the main and jib sheets to be controlled by sucking or blowing in the other straw. This is similar to the interface on some electric wheelchairs.

“Through the sip and puff, they can do exactly the same thing that we can do with the joystick. It’s beyond amazing to see these sailors have that advantage of leaving the wheelchair on the dock,” says Craig Dennis. On the opposite coast, Paul Bollinger, President and CEO of the Chesapeake Region Accessible Boating (CRAB) confirms, “Our quadriplegic guests loved the sip and puff system to steer and adjust sails.”

The PAU units can be hard to repair, though, without electronics expertise, and when they break, they sometimes need to go to the shop for expert repair. An interview with Don Martin explains the origin of the Martin 16 design and shows the sip and puff controls in action.

Challenged Sailors San Diego uses hydraulic lifts at the dock to move sailors from wheelchairs or scooters to the front seat of the Martin 16 if they are unable to make this transfer themselves. You can see a video of the transfer process here.

PERFORMANCE

The first thing I noticed about the Martin 16 once I took it off the dock was that it was willing to move with just a breath of light wind. My first ride in a Martin 16 was in the front seat in 2023, but I have since trained to be a companion sailor and usually support adaptive sailors from the back seat.

The Martin 16 is forgiving and will sail even when the sails are not well trimmed. This makes it great for new sailors or anyone who wants to go for a fun adventure without fussing too much about the sails. It’s also possible to sail the boat nearly flat in many conditions, which helps when a sailor is nervous about heeling.

Challenged Sailors San Diego’s dock spaces usually require an easy downwind sail when departing and a more challenging upwind sail in the marina fairway when returning to the dock in prevailing winds. The Martin 16’s self-tacking jib makes tacking back and forth in the narrow fairway simple. In the lightest winds, it is sometimes necessary to use a paddle to complete a tack, and companion sailors do this when needed. The other job of the companion sailor is to safely drop the mainsail before returning to the dock.

Racers interested in maximizing sail trim have enough control with the lines led to the front seat to have excellent trim control. In addition to the sheets, halyards, outhaul and cunningham are all easily controlled by hand and locked with cam cleats instead of winches. The Martin 16 has a PHRF rating of 277 for non-spinnaker and 261 with spinnaker.

The boat can be wet in chop or when hitting waves or wakes. Hitting a wake from the wrong direction can put a bunch of water in the boat and make everyone wet. A manual pump allows sailors to pump water from the boat when needed, but positive buoyancy ensures these boats won’t sink, even when filled with water.

CONSTRUCTION

Martin 16 construction varies subtly between the different boatyards that have built the boats. Over the three decades since Don Martin designed this boat, multiple boatyards have built the Martin 16s. The design has a molded, cored fiberglass hull with internal foam floatation. KAPE Boatworks, the yard currently producing Martin 16s, added a fully bonded hull/deck joint and reinforced deck, stern and bow, composite rudder blade, and 24:1 purchase keel lift system. The rigging includes a self-tacking boomed jib, tapered anodized aluminum spars, and Harken carbo blocks and cleats.

MAINTENANCE

Craig Dennis says the most frequent repairs are to the fiberglass when the boats hit each other or other objects and to the running rigging, which generally lasts around five years in the southern California sun.

After 10 years in the fleet at Challenged Sailors San Diego, Craig Dennis says “The [Martin 16s] come back, whatever you hit, whatever the conditions, they come back.”

Getting some parts for the older boats is getting more difficult because the more recently built Martin 16s don’t use all the same parts as the older versions built over 20 years ago. According to Craig Dennis, there are small differences in the versions from different boatyards making some parts a bit different, but the successful design is basically the same.

MARKET SCAN

While over 100 Martin 16s have been built, there aren’t many listed for sale online. Local markets may still have used Martin 16s available on Craigslist via private sales.

New Martin 16s are still available to be ordered from KAPE Boatworks in Canada. The 2025 base price is $35,000 Canadian dollars (about $25,000 U.S. dollars at time of publication), with several options available to upgrade sails or add a custom trailer. The PAU assistive device is a separate purchase.

CONCLUSION

When Challenged Sailors San Diego considers their choice of a sailboat for adaptive sailing they consider who will be sailing, where they will be sailing, and the goals of the sailing program. According to Jane Dunn, who volunteers with Challenged Sailors San Diego, “The Martin 16 easily adapts to the wide variety of people with disabilities we serve. It is sturdy and stable and can handle the wave action in the San Diego Bay, and the Martin 16s support our organization’s original goal to get people with disabilities controlling their own boats.” Although Challenged Sailors San Diego has considered other boat designs, the Martin 16s have served them well for a decade.

Support Challenged Sailors San Diego’s mission to provide therapeutic, recreational and competitive adaptive sailing opportunities for people with disabilities to enhance their dignity, well-being, and independence with a tax-deductible donation or apply to be a sailor or volunteer at their website.