# Davidson/Crown 18



## Windkiller (Oct 6, 2010)

Has anyone out there sailed a Crown or Davidson 18??
They're a cute little tralerable swing keel sloop


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## mitiempo (Sep 19, 2008)

This one? Looks like a reasonable trailerable boat. Is the trailer included? 

I learned to sail on a Davidson 16 centerboard sloop at a YMCA camp in Howe Sound in the late 60's. Different boat but forgiving and a lot of fun.


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## Windkiller (Oct 6, 2010)

yep that's the one..seems like a good cross between a daysailor and a sheltered water cruiser
I have a mutineer 15 - fun and adaptable (roller reefing and a reef on the main)
And I just acquired a free 80s glass lightning in need of some serious trailer repair(new axle, beds etc) - which is basically a giant dinghy

But something small with a couple of berths that can live on a trailer (no marina fees) would be more what I really want/afford. I'd like to cruise the gulf islands this summer
I'm a stupid poor ^$^[email protected] musician but a dab hand a repair so generally I get things cheap and fix them up..this would humourously be a large expenditure for me


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## FranklinNewhart (Jan 9, 2016)

I was just given a Davidson 18 in Vancouver. I have to go from here in Scatch in the spring to pick her up. It sounds like a perfect weekender for the size of waters we have here on the plains. I used to live in Ontario and I have had a lot of sailboats from a 7 ton motorsailer down to a twelve foot sailing dingy. This looks perfect to teach my Scatch wife how to sail.


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## Windkiller (Oct 6, 2010)

bahaha This thread is 5 years old!!

I just figured out what scatch means..I almost said, "don't talk about your wife that way!"

I had a crown 18 for a bunch of months 
I had to replace about 75% of the bulkheads in her..whooee like grinding fiberglass in a coffin
The ' Glory B' I think she was originally owned by a minister

However once repaired she sailed like a giant dinghy, no worries as far as handling went and if you're not claustrophobic there's just room to sleep in the 'cabin' Easy to walk around on the foredeck and room to lie around
Lot's of storage for camping trips and a big comfy cockpit

A Trip To Dracula's Castle


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## SloopJonB (Jun 6, 2011)

Both of them are basically knockoffs of the Cal 20, albeit some of each with swing keels.

Both well built - the Davidson might have the edge there since they were the manufacturers of the lifeboats for B.C. Ferries BITD.


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## Windkiller (Oct 6, 2010)

The Crowns were built on Crown street in North Van. By fluke chance I met the son of the designer once while towing mine home. Yes they were little Cals with swing keels. I started this thread as I was considering buying one and now it's long gone. But that's not because it's a bad boat, another came along that was cuter.
I remember I also had to re-plumb the cockpit drains and replace the through hull as it was a corroded gate valve that wasn't doing it's job anymore
I think my boat was a special case as far as neglect went...


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## George Robertson (Apr 17, 2021)

Windkiller said:


> Has anyone out there sailed a Crown or Davidson 18??
> They're a cute little tralerable swing keel sloop


I owned one in about 1975-76. I sailed it mainly on English Bay and in the Burrard inlet, in British Columbia. Occasionally I would venture out into the straights of Georgia for day sails. .I kept it stored on it's trailer in the dry land marina in Vancouver's Kitsilano neighborhood, walking distance from our apartment. 
I saw it as a more compact version of a Cal 20. Minus all the gear for a spinnaker it was not a particularly fast boat. Headroom was not much to write home about below. You could get out of the weather there though for a sleep. There was lots of room below for your sail inventory, if you were day sailing, and it had a broad flat deck for everything you do on deck while sailing or anchoring . 
I owned a daysailer of the same maker prior to the D18 and it too was a competent utility for getting out on the bay under sail. My next boat was an old Rhodes 19 and I must say it was considerably faster, but again a day sailer with no escape space below. Davidson has since disappeared I enjoyed recreation on the bays and inlets sailing their D-18.


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