# Australian Yachts 32-34ft



## Ilenart (Jul 23, 2007)

Now that the Roberts 45 is sold I am officially boatless and looking for the the next boat. For various reasons I am looking at yachts in the 32 to 34ft length mainly for cruising up and down the West Australian coast. Four models that are available locally are:

UFO 34
Cavalier 32
Northshore 33 &
S&S34​
The UFO 34 is a British design by Holman & Pye which were built locally here in West Australia. One issue I have with this yacht is the displacement appears light at 4,800kg / 10,600lbs.

The Cavalier 32 is a New Zealand design that I believe was built on the East coast of Australia. They appear to have a good reputation, as per the following article.

The Northshore 33 was built by Northshore yachts, apart from that I do not know to much about them. They also appear a little light at 4,800kg / 10,600lbs.

The S&S 34 is the famous Sparkman & Stevenson design that Jessica Watson and a number of others have sailed around the world, so they are undoubtly a strong seaworthy design. The negatives with this yacht is that they are fairly heavy at 5,500kg / 12,100lbs and down below they are fairly limited for room at the rear as the stern pinches in fairly tightly.

Any opinions on these yachts would be appreciated.

Ilenart


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## Plumbean (Dec 17, 2009)

Ilenart:

How many are you? I own an S&S 34, and they are great boats, but you are correct that the space below is small compared to today's designs. They are well mannered and easily single-handed.

For my current purposes (mostly day sailing and hoping to do some casual racing) it is just about perfect. I have three kids, though, so for cruising it will be tight. At least around here (U.S., where these are rare), it is a boat that always gets comments. People are always asking about her history, etc. I have had random people approach me in the boatyard and hand me their business card and say "If you ever do the Bermuda race, please give me a call -- I'd love to do it on a boat like that."

For more information, you should check out the S&S 34 Association website (which you may have already found, since it is W.A. based). See S&S34 Association. Good luck with your search and feel free to pm me with particular questions.

Best,

Plumbean


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## claverton (Mar 29, 2009)

Ilenart, what about the Brolga 33? A couple of 60 year olds completed a double circumnavigation in one including around the north west passage recently. Apparantly a lot better boat in a big following sea than an S&S34.


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

First of all, I would suggest that 10,500 lbs is on the heavy side for a 34 footer and not on the light side (that is what my 38 footer weighs). But I would also suggest that of the bunch the UFO 34 has a very good reputation and would be a nice boat to own. 

If the open interior is acceptable to you, the Northshore 33 looks like a very nice boat and the fractional rig should make her easier to handle and short-hand. I have never seen one in real life, but they look like a great all around design. 

Jeff


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Claverton....we once considered a Brolga but they do have very restricted interior space. Berrimilla, that amazing critter and her equally amazing crew has done things that leave me gobsmacked but she'd not be my choice for an all round cruiser. The S&S 34 and even the venerable old Duncanson 35 would be a far more comfortable alternative with around the same performance.

for those interested....

http://berrimilla2.blogspot.com/

Sydney - Hobart, Sail to England, Fastnet, Sail back to Sydney, Sydney - Hobart. Alex then sailed her back to England via the North West passage before finally returning to Sydney again via Good Hope.

Jeff H......The Northshores are a fine boat. We did in fact consider the NS38 but forward cabin accomodation is limited for a couple of old farts. If I was after a mid thirties fast cruiser to single hand the 33 would make the short list no doubt. there is a 38 moored near us and we rarely pass her without the odd positive comment. Handsome.


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## blt2ski (May 5, 2005)

Gotta ask, I believe a Farr 1020 was made down under.......any thoughts on this for such a task. There is one here at my marina in PUget sound. Fast, nice interior.......may be a bit light, but then again, to a degree, to me lighter is better, to a point mind you!

Marty


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

blt2ski said:


> Gotta ask, I believe a Farr 1020 was made down under.......any thoughts on this for such a task. There is one here at my marina in PUget sound. Fast, nice interior.......may be a bit light, but then again, to a degree, to me lighter is better, to a point mind you!
> 
> Marty


Marty,
Ilenart posed this same question somewhere else (AS I think) and at the time the Farr 1020 was one of my suggestions. They were built in NZ (as good a place as any, better than most) and from what I saw having looked at other NZ Farrs they have excellent build quality. 1020, 11.6, 1220.

A mate of mine has an 11.6 btw. Cataclysmic steering failure on his honeymoon cruise of all things. You might want to check that weakness. He posts here on occasion...name of Jeff....

Seriously though, the only build complaint I have heard of re those Farrs is that the cabiin floor bearers need to be beefed up. Presuming McDell build, you would be hard pressed to go wrong.

Of all the available boats in Ilenarts area the one Farr1020 for sale was my favourite. could have done with more water capacity and that was about it.

Ben Lexcen Marine Brokers WA

Cheers

Andrew


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## Ilenart (Jul 23, 2007)

Thanks for all the comments Guys.

Claverton, I have never seen a Brolga 33 in West Australia, most appear in the eastern states, which is around 2,500 miles away.

TDW, I'll definitely check out the Farr 10.2 when I start actively looking.

Ilenart


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

Ilenart,
Probably not many Duncanson 35s over WA either. More luck with S&S given they were built there. You'd find a few Duncs in SA but while that is closer than the East Coast there is still that small question of crossing the bight. brrr.......

The Brolga, btw, has very limited headroom forward of the mast. Reality is you would probably not sleep up front, particularly in warm weather, which means the saloon is going to double as sleeping quarters. Small head with no standing headroom so no reasonable chance of installing a shower. Galley only average for a 33'er.

Joubert was a fabulous designer but reality is the Brolga was designed as a racer not a cruiser. To boot...7' draft which is a fair whack for a smallish boat.

This one's in Tassie but I reckon you'll get my drift.

Boat Sales Tasmania - For Sale


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

Be very careful with the Duncanson's they have an inherent problem with the sceg. A good surveyor should check for the delaminating that causes the wobble/flex. It is an easy fix but costly. I still like the Duncanson's and they would be my choice, and sail better than a Roberts.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

SimonV said:


> Be very careful with the Duncanson's they have an inherent problem with the sceg. A good surveyor should check for the delaminating that causes the wobble/flex. It is an easy fix but costly. I still like the Duncanson's and they would be my choice, and sail better than a Roberts.


Simon, G'day.

I'd have thought that after this amount of time the sceg issue with the D35s would have been a thing of the past.

I knew that the early D35s had that problem but I also thought it was fixed in the later models. Maybe not. Did this problem also exist in the D34s and D37s?

One other thing to consider with the D35 is that the early ones also had that weird offset propshaft.

D35s also were known to leak around the chainplates and for some reason the fix was very difficult. Again I think this was an early model problem.

Nonetheless, the Dunc, particularly for me the D35 and the D37 aft cockpit were very handsome boats indeed.


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## SimonV (Jul 6, 2006)

Hi Andy, 
Yep and they are still being found so even when fixed it may come back. I think it is less of a problem on the 34's though the 34s I have seen have had a problem with the mast step. As a deck stepped mast they need to be checked in this area as the ply core in the deck is prone to collapse. A friend of mine has the D37, one sexy boat. (edit) and he needed to fix his sceg.


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## tdw (Oct 2, 2006)

SimonV said:


> Hi Andy,
> Yep and they are still being found so even when fixed it may come back. I think it is less of a problem on the 34's though the 34s I have seen have had a problem with the mast step. As a deck stepped mast they need to be checked in this area as the ply core in the deck is prone to collapse. A friend of mine has the D37, one sexy boat. (edit) and he needed to fix his sceg.


Sorry people but minor hijack in process....Simon is your mates boat the D37 aft or centre ? Nearly bought a 37aft a few years back. Great boat but a couple of quirky interior issues convinced us otherwise.










OK...now its back to our regular programmes.....


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## Jeff_H (Feb 26, 2000)

I must say that really love the Farr 1020's. My sense is that these were the last and the best of Farr's first generation performance-cruiser designs which included boats like my own much earlier designed Farr 11.6. I have been aboard a few of these boats they seem to be well constructed and nicely laid out.

These are easy boats to sail across a very wide wind range offering a nice balance of very good performance (especially for that era) and very nice interior appointments. You can't go wrong with one of these if you find one at a decent price. (They seem to have held their price extremely well) Obviously some of the newer designs are faster and have more overall stability but compared to similar sized boats of that era, they are very hard to beat.

Jeff



blt2ski said:


> Gotta ask, I believe a Farr 1020 was made down under.......any thoughts on this for such a task. There is one here at my marina in PUget sound. Fast, nice interior.......may be a bit light, but then again, to a degree, to me lighter is better, to a point mind you!
> 
> Marty


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