It would be easy, observing the sea change in fiberglass production boatbuilding in the U.S. over the last several decades, to feel a little blue about how many builders have not survived the industry’s ups and downs. But seen through the lens of smaller boats, this story can be not only heartening, but inspiring.
Whether the endurance of a design like the Catalina 22—still in production in Florida after 55 years—or the upstart innovation of the Salish Voyager 17, built at Washington’s Gig Harbor Boat Works, a wide range of American boatbuilders continue to turn out smaller boats that make it easier and more fun for all of us to go sailing. The range in design, purpose, and price is wide, so we chose eight builders of fiberglass boats and one of their designs under 26 feet to hopefully encompass that spectrum.
Despite this diversity, one constant remains across the board: Smaller boats are powerful levelers. In their simplicity of handling, maintenance, and transportability, they open sailing’s possibilities to more people, and they remind us of the essence of moving across the water, propelled only by the wind and our wits. Whether letting an older sailor stay on the water longer and with less hassle, bringing that sailor’s grandchild to the water life, or allowing us to explore places our big boats could never go, small boats continue to open doors to the sailing life.
Photo courtesy of Kristen MarshallMarshall 22
Marshall Marine Corp., South Dartmouth, Massachusetts
Like many of these small boats, the Marshall 22 comes from a family owned enterprise. Built at Geoff Marshall’s Marshall Marine Corp., this romantic little catboat has been in production since 1965 when Geoff’s father founded the company. Hull No. 1 is proudly displayed on premises, and early boats are still on the water.
“I think there’s something to be said for American craftsmanship,” says Geoff. “Ninety-nine percent of our parts are American made. We want them to be around for many, many years. We want durability, but still that classic New England look. But it’s also important [to be locally made] so that people are able to come down while we’re building the boat and talk to us and see what’s going into it.”
Indeed, there’s quite a bit of customization possible. It can be cat or sloop rigged and, remarkably, set up as either a daysailer or a cruiser. And with a fully insulated icebox, a manual pump sink, and a proper marine head with a holding tank, why not? Owners have taken these small boats snowbirding from New England to Florida and sailed them as far north as Greenland.
When asked who tends to sail the Marshall 22, Geoff says that many of them go to “people in their mid to late 50s to 70s, people who’ve had a larger boat and they’re looking for something smaller and simpler. Some of the younger people who buy them have a young family or they want to bring grandkids out.”
In fact, being a great boat to have younger kids on is in the very design of the boat. Instead of a keel, it relies on the wide beam and weight in the bilge to combat heel. That means it takes longer to get up on its ear, and therefore it’s a pretty stable ride. The flip side is that it needs to be reefed earlier than another similarly sized boat might, but for those looking for a gentler side of sailing, that shouldn’t be an issue. In addition to reef lines and lazy jacks, the sail controls distill down to just two halyards and a mainsheet.
“It’s a very social boat. You can sail with six adults in the cockpit without being knee to knee. It’s conducive to not just sailing, but evening drinks afterwards,” Geoff says. “And beyond just the crew social hour, we’ve had meet-ups with upwards of 40 boats, sometimes six boats rafted together, swapping stories, sharing information.”
The boat’s owners, he says, are “committed and hands on. They like working on their boats, they like to be involved. Like- minded people who all just want to sail really great boats.”
LOA 22’ 2” Beam 10’2” Draft 5’1” (board down) Displacement 5,660 lbs Ballast NA Sail Area 388 sq ft (cat rig) Sail-Away Price $96,900
Photo courtesy of Gig Harbor Boat WorksSalish Voyager 17
Gig Harbor Boat Works, Gig Harbor, Washington
Since 1986, Gig Harbor Boat Works has been creating small boats based on classic designs and rooted in the philosophy that fun, easily sailed and/or rowed boats can inspire a lifelong love for sailing and exploring on the water. The family owned outfit, which in May moved into a new 12,000-square-foot facility, now has 10 designs. The most recent, the Salish Voyager 17, is arguably the culmination of that founding ethos.
People kept asking for “a real expedition boat,” that could sail well, row well, carry a ton of gear, and allow for sleeping aboard, says Production Manager Falk Bock, who led the Salish Voyager 17 project. “We have a great rowboat, we have a great sailboat, we have a great camping boat. I wanted to take all of those features and try to incorporate them into one design.”
The result is a boat that seamlessly integrates two sliding rowing stations into a cockpit just over 6 feet long from the back of the daggerboard to the aft bulkhead. A single lug rig sail of 100 square feet with two reef points provides the sail power, and the two can work together, says Katie Malik, Gig Harbor’s general manager and daughter of its founder, Dave Robertson. “You can row and get an assist from the sail or leave the sail up and row when the wind dies. They don’t exclude each other,” she says. “It’ll sail well in really light air and go hull speed in 7-8 knots.”
The choice of the lug over the sloop rig in Gig Harbor’s 17-foot Jersey Skiff—on whose hull the Salish Voyager 17 is based—was also strategic, Dave says. For one, “It’s fast as the dickens, remarkably docile, and easy to set up.”
The lug rig also meant they could move the mast forward, opening the interior for the rowing arrangement and enabling enough length for sleeping—granted, under the stars or a tent. Significantly, an inner liner provides extra flotation, making the boat resistant to capsize and easy to right if it does, and a self-bailing floor means it empties quickly. It also enables immense storage under the cockpit seats. “It really opened the possibility for people who want to boat camp or beach camp, they can really load it up with gear,” Katie says.
With a box keel, the boat sits perfectly upright when pulled up onto a beach. “It also gives it what I’ll call a pivoting surface; it’s damn near impossible to put it in irons, it tacks right over,” Dave says. “But when you’re rowing, it tracks like a railroad train. It’s really a neat combination.”
The first boat launched in 2021, and since then about two dozen have hit the water, including one owned by a couple who sailed 15 months and 1,500 nautical miles through Southeast Alaska. “It’s very stable, fast, powerful, with high carrying capacity and a forgiving design,” Dave says. “It just hits a sweet spot.”
LOA 16’11” Beam 6’7” Draft 6” (board up) 2’ (board down) Displacement 440 lbs Ballast NA Sail Area 100 sq ft Sail-Away Price $19,000
Photo courtesy of Flying ScotFlying Scot
Flying Scot, Inc., Oakland, Maryland
Carrie Carpenter was nine weeks old when she attended her first Flying Scot regatta, the Midwinters, in 1982. Her mom and dad, Harry and Karen Carpenter, had met at a Flying Scot regatta three years earlier, when Harry was working for the company as a sailing instructor. By 1991, Harry and Karen owned the company, and today, their daughter, now Carrie Andrews, is its president; her husband, Tyler, is vice president.
That family tree kind of story is part and parcel of this 19-foot boat, which has been built in western Maryland near Deep Creek Lake since 1958, a year after Sandy Douglass designed it. That’s 67 years of continuous production, nearly 6,300 boats and counting, and lots of people who have grown up with Flying Scots—racing, daysailing, camping, teaching, or all of the above—with their families.
“You can race her on Saturday, but then you can throw eight people in it and have a picnic and go gunkholing on Sunday,” Carrie says. “She really is a beautiful bridge of both worlds. We have boats that have been in the family for generations. It’s a boat that grows with them, not one they outgrow.”
Douglass, who also designed the Thistle and the Highlander, created in the Flying Scot an extremely stable boat; even with the centerboard up, Carrie says, you can walk around the side decks and barely budge her. “She doesn’t scare people,” Carrie says. This, along with more than 600 pounds of reserve buoyancy and a simple rig and sailplan make her a great boat for young families, newbies, and older sailors.
Yet, she’s also a popular racing boat with 125 fleets across the country, and usually at least 50 boats on the starting line at the Nationals (80 raced in the Midwinters this year). In a 2008 story in Soundings, Jodi Palmer, then manager of the U.S. Naval Academy’s sailing program, said the boat’s simplicity is both deceptive and a great attribute: “It’s not a high-performance boat, so anybody can get into the boat,” she says. “You can’t tweak everything. It’s hard to gain an edge. You have to concentrate on tactics and speed. It’s just a solid boat. But these boats do plane!”
Carrie says the company’s goal is to work with the class to incorporate changes carefully, keeping in mind that “the boat was always meant to be a grassroots boat. She’s meant to be a boat that people can learn on. So we’re always doing that dance of making the high performance guys happy while keeping it an easy boat for a family to sail. We want the boat to stay relevant and for people to be able to sail it without dumping out their pocketbooks.”
The company averages about 30 boats a year, and when you buy a new one, Tyler will teach you how to rig and sail it.
“It’s pretty unusual when one of the owners comes to help you set up your boat and sail it with you,” Carrie says. “I think she just filles a niche that literally no other boat can fill.”
LOA 19’ Beam 6’9” Draft 8” (board up) 48” (board down) Displacement 850 lbs Ballast NA Sail Area 191 sq ft (main and jib) 200 sq ft (spinnaker) Sail-away Price $29,900 (including trailer)
Photo courtesy of Cai SvendsenTartan 245
Tartan Yachts, Painesville, Ohio
On the hunt for a new performance daysailer at the Annapolis Sailboat Show in 2022, Richard Turman was chatting with longtime Tartan Yachts designer Tim Jackett about the Tartan Fantail 26 when Tim pointed to the boat they were sitting on—the Tartan 245—and said, “What about this one?”
A few days later, Richard took the 245 for a test sail on the Chesapeake Bay. “It was blowing 18 to 20, we put up the spinnaker, and it was stable and flat and moving. It was great.” He was pleased again during a test sail in light air. Having owned three other boats—the most recent a Harbor 20—the 245 checked every box on his list of requirements: competitive in the local PHRF fleet but handy and stable enough for him to singlehand—even with the asymmetrical spinnaker—with an easily managed engine to get home when needed (a three-blade Torqeedo with a 50-pound lithium ion battery) and a small cabin for amenities like a portable toilet.
Not to mention a standard carbon spar and boom, and the comfort of knowing it was built and backed by a company with the legacy and longevity of Tartan Yachts. Richard tries to get on the water every day. “This boat helps me do that.”
The 245 is one of the newest models in the Tartan lineup, launched in late 2021 with hull No. 10 delivered last fall. It came to be when Cai Svendsen, who had run a sailing and powerboat school in Florida and was a lifelong racer, approached Tim Jackett with his ideas about a new boat that would be quick yet stable in a fresh breeze, good for teaching people to sail but also expanding to advanced learning, sturdy and able to carry four people and a coach easily yet sail with some verve.
Tim essentially took the proven Fantail hull, flipped the transom and opened it, making the cockpit self-bailing. Three to four people can sit comfortably on each side of the cockpit. The rig can be as simple or as complex as you wish; the boat is designed with flexibility in mind to accommodate the sailor’s needs and wants.
Among its cool features is the keel; attach a lifting bridle to the keel top, and when the bulb reaches the hull’s bottom, the entire boat rises into a lift, cradle, or trailer. Also, though the rudder is under the boat rather than hanging off its transom (“aesthetically more pleasing,” Cai says), it’s set in a wedge-shaped cassette that lets it kick up when needed.
Though conceived as a teaching boat, the 245 can deliver spirited sailing. During a windy test sail off Annapolis, Cai says he and six people (“some Star boat-sized guys”) put it through all the paces, going upwind at 6.5 knots in a chop and staying dry, and rocketing off the wind under the A-sail. “The knot meter was just beginning to touch on 15 but we were living in the high 13s and 14s, and I said, that’s pretty good for a 24-foot sailboat that’s not really supposed to be a race boat.”
LOA 24’ Beam 8’5” Draft 1’8” (keel up) 4’6” (keel down) Displacement 2,750 lbs Ballast 900 lbs Sail Area 272 sq ft (upwind) Sail-Away Price $70,000
Photo by Billy Black, courtesy of J/boatsJ/9
J/Boats, Newport, Rhode Island
One of the newest boats on this list, the J/9 was conceived in 2020 as the answer to a number of questions. J/ Boats saw that their owners, particularly from the J/105 and J/24 fleets, were moving to powerboats as they aged and wanted something less sporty.
“We want to keep them engaged in the sport and keep their families engaged in sailing, so how do we address some of their needs with a new boat while also diversifying from other boats we have done in the past?” J/Boats Vice President Al Johnstone asks, and that question led to even more questions.
Such as, how do we make the cockpit really comfortable? How do we build in stability that’s meaningful if you only have two or three people on a small boat who aren’t going to be hiking? And how do you make the boat accessible for older people who need to be able to get on and off comfortably?
“Moving away from the performance one design thing, which has been extremely successful for us, was going to be a different focus, but we saw this boat as a beginning of a new line of boats for us. It leans into sailing as a recreation first, trying to tone it down but still appeal to these folks who have already done their one design thing and gone around the buoys, and now they have a powerboat and still want to sail. And this boat will give them what they expect in terms of how it feels and sails.”
They did away with the transom to make it an easy step on board from a floating dock, and as a bonus, that made swimming and re-boarding much easier as well. They also raised the coamings and redesigned cockpit cushions for better comfort and support. The headsail is easy to furl away, and the boat is still well balanced under main alone, making shortening sail without having to reef or send someone up to the bow abundantly manageable.
Upon announcing the boat, they immediately had upwards of 30 orders. They are currently on hull 49, with a new one launched roughly every three weeks with the help of C&C Fiberglass Components who are building the hulls in Bristol, Rhode Island.
LOA 28’ Beam 8’7” Draft 4’11” (standard) 3’11” (shoal) Displacement 4,250 lbs Ballast 2,050 lbs Sail Area 449 sq ft Sail-Away Price $175,000
Colgate 26
Tartan Yachts, Painesville, Ohio
Steve and Doris Colgate’s Offshore Sailing School—celebrating its 60th anniversary this year—started in a pair of Solings, an Olympic class keelboat the school used from 1964 until 1996. By then, Steve says, they were tired of the Soling’s flaws as a teaching platform, not least its ability to sink and how instructors had to stand on the aft deck, which sometimes meant they went swimming.
“Can you imagine going out the first day of sailing and going overboard and having to coach your people to come pick you up?” Steve asks.
Unable to find a boat that met all of his requirements, Steve collaborated with Jim Taylor—whose designs range from Sabre cruising boats to a series of 40-footers that dominated the ’90s racer-cruiser scene—to develop the Colgate 26 in 1996. It immediately attracted the attention of the U.S. Naval Academy, who chose it to update its training boats for midshipmen. Other schools chose the boats as well, among them Maine Maritime Academy and Eckerd College.
For sail training, instructors stand aft behind the traveler, where they can ease the mainsheet quickly if needed while giving students autonomy to steer, trim, and otherwise manage the boat from the self-bailing cockpit. Features like a solid vang mean that the boom won’t drop unexpectedly on someone’s head when working with the mainsail.
The same attributes that make this boat great for teaching sailing—stability, comfort, thoughtful ergonomics—also make it an excellent small boat for a family, couple, or singlehander.
“We have over 380 boats out there, and most of them are privately owned,” Steve says. “Whatever is a good training boat is a good boat for someone teaching the grandkids how to sail. So it’s been very good that way…we designed it so that it would be an easy transition to a larger cruising boat because that’s what most people want to do.”
To that end, he says, the boats have what you’d expect to find on a larger cruising boat—things like self-tailing winches, roller-furling jibs and a jiffy-reefing main, a fin keel with no bulb, spade rudder, and an interior that includes a V-berth, quarter berths, an ice chest, and portable head.
For years, Precision Boatworks in Florida was the builder, but in 2008 they stopped producing the 26, Steve says. However, he has the molds, and starting this year, the boats will be built at Tartan Yachts in Ohio, he says. They’ll be updating the new boats with an asymmetrical spinnaker and a new pole to accommodate it. The fundamental design will remain the same.
“Jim Taylor’s lines were just great, and it’s been a terrific boat,” Steve says. “Our owners just love the boat.”
LOA 25’8” Beam 8’6” Draft 4’6” (3’6” shoal model) Displacement 2,600 lbs Ballast 1,050 lbs Sail Area 338 sq ft Sail-Away Price $87,500
Photo by eric Weist/Weist PhotographyCatalina 22
Catalina Yachts, Largo, Florida
Wander around almost any boatyard or marina and chances are you will come across a Catalina 22. Few production fiberglass boats are as ubiquitous, and few can boast the longevity of Frank Butler’s design, which he launched in 1969. Since then, more than 15,000 have hit the water, fueling a devoted class association and providing generations of people a chance to learn how to love sailing. Updated over time but essentially the same nimble, no-nonsense, trailer-sailing pocket racer-cruiser, they remain in production, currently as the Catalina 22 Sport.
“It was the heart of the company,” says Catalina President Sharon Day. “It was the first boat that was very successful for us. He [Frank Butler] wanted to keep people coming into sailing, and the 22 was the best boat to do that with…he was determined to keep building that boat forever.”
Butler’s goal was to create an affordable, trailerable boat for a small family to daysail and overnight.
“What emerged was a boat that caught the eye of everyday folks who had never considered sailing and thus it became an overnight success,” writes the late Gene Ferguson, who owned a 22 named Princess Ann and has been lauded as “the backbone of the Catalina 22 National Sailing Association for more than three decades.”
“With a user-friendly cockpit, simple but workable interior, simple rigging and low upkeep, the boats are a natural for the first-time boat buyer, or a step between a sailing dinghy and a larger cruising or racing auxiliary,” Gene writes in the Catalina History Book. “What happens in many cases, however, is that when owners move up to bigger boats, they keep their 22s to pass on to other family members or to race in the extensive one-design circuit.”
Rich Fox, who runs catalina.org (a deep resource for all things Catalina 22) and is editor of the Catalina History Book, bought his first 22 in 1988 as a used boat. It was an inexpensive entrée to sailing, he says, and he liked knowing that Catalina was still building and supporting the boats and owners. Today, he owns a 22 Sport.
“It gives me that flexibility to enjoy cruising, daysailing, racing all in one package, and it’s easy to trailer and rig,” he says. “I can pull into a venue and have the boat set up in 30 minutes. I have a great time with the boat.”
Even now, he says, people can get an older 22 for a song and, with a little sweat equity, have a nice boat for club racing, cruising with the kids, and gunkholing.
“It opens up the sailing market to people who otherwise might think sailing is too expensive,” he says. “There’s such easy access for parts, it makes it easy entry for anyone who wants to get involved.”
LOA 23’10” Beam 7’8” Draft 5’ (keel down) 1’8” (keel up) Displacement 2,250 lbs Ballast 500 lbs Sail Area 206 sq ft (upwind) 22 Sport Sail-Away Price $43,900
Photo By Fran GrenonMarlin Heritage 23
Cape Cod Shipbuilding, Wareham, Massachusetts
In 1899, two brothers in Wareham, Massachusetts, and their wagon wheel shop faced an existential threat: the dawn of rubber tires. They took their carpentry skills and pivoted to found Cape Cod Shipbuilding. They carried on for 20 years until another threat loomed, this time in the form of a bridge that would make it impossible for their boats to reach the sea. The subsequent move up the road is the only time Cape Cod Shipbuilding has changed locations in 125 years. It is the oldest fiberglass sailboat shop still in operation in the United States.
“It’s terribly important to remember that the only thing that we don’t do here on the premises is the sails, and they’re made in Rhode Island,” says current president Wendy Goodwin. “Our customers are making the choice to work locally, and we’re making the choice to stay local.”
Around the time of the popularization of fiberglass, Wendy’s grandfather, who owned the company, acquired all of the Herreshoff designs. He transferred the building plans to fiberglass and made modest alterations, including for the Marlin, a daysailer and a cruising version, distinguishable by their differing cockpit sizes.
In recent years, the company has relaunched the Marlin as the Marlin Heritage, returning to something closer to Nathanael Herreshoff’s original design, plus some modern accommodations (no one wants to hang an outboard motor off the transom of a boat this beautiful). Though the hull remains unchanged—the original keel mold is still in use—the standard jib has been swapped for a self tacker so that it’s easier to sail shorthanded, and below decks the interior has been upgraded to suit modern convenience.
“I had butterflies, absolute butterflies. And I race Shields! But it was just that exciting,” Wendy recalls of her first sail on a Heritage. “You could be in 3-foot chop with just two fingers on the tiller. It balances beautifully. She handles in rough weather but slips through the water when it’s light. It’s a really nice balance. And then when family is around, you put on the genoa and have the extra muscle to really push it.”
The boats, she says, are passed down through generations.
“I think that was one of Grandpa’s goals, to give families a way to do something together, to have a sport where everyone can contribute, whether that’s the older generation’s wisdom or the younger generation’s strength and energy.”
The real surprising thing about the Heritage is its reach. Wendy says they recently packed one up to send off to the Cayman Islands. “One of the things my father adores most is putting a boat in a container and shipping it to a far-off land. We pack it so that it’s protected, and it can go anywhere.” The Heritage can be found around the world, from Norway to Chile.
LOA 23’ Beam 7’7” Draft 3’8” Displacement 3,845 lbs Ballast 1,400 lbs Sail Area 270 sq ft Sail-Away Price $117,000
August/September 2024
