van de stadt yachts review

Yachting Monthly

• Digital edition

USED BOAT: Van de Stadt, Legend 34

• Philippa Park
• November 12, 2015

The Van de Stadt Legend 34 is a sturdy and seaworthy yacht, built for serious coastal and offshore cruising in all weathers. Duncan Kent sails one off Portland

Product Overview

Manufacturer:, price as reviewed:.

The owner Quetzal was launched in 1972 and bought by Guy Dickinson in 2006. Prior to then Guy owned a Hunter Sonata and a variety of small plywood cruisers and dinghies. Guy has upgraded Quetzal considerably, including replacing her old Sabb with a new 25hp Beta with a feathering three-bladed prop. He’s also added a new electric windlass, solar panels, upholstery, wiring and instruments. Guy keeps her on a mooring at Castle Cove SC (www.ccsc.org.uk) in Portland Harbour, where she is protected by the long harbour wall. CCSC has a recently built clubhouse overlooking the harbour and a membership of 350 cruisers and racers of all ages. The club also provides a range of training facilities.

It’s always interesting to sail boats from the 1970s, seeing how yacht design has evolved in 40 odd years, how hull shape and interior volume has come on, what remains and what has been lost. Few design houses have stood the test of time, are so well known or are as prolific as Van de Stadt.

They were famous for such well- known designs as the Trintella, Pionier, Excaliber, Invicta, Wing, Seal, Etap and many more cruising and racing yachts. Producing over 400 designs since 1933, and some 25,000 Van de Stadt-designed yachts were launched.

We joined retired GP Guy Dickinson for a sail aboard his 1972 Legend 34, Quetzal. The Legend 34 was produced from 1969, with the majority built by the Tyler Boat Company in Tunbridge.

Performance A seaworthy masthead sloop, 34 was designed and built for ocean sailing. Despite being heavy by today’s standards, she is predictable and drama-free in her handling and exhibits a thoroughly easy, sea-kindly motion through the steepest of seas, allowing her to make up in overall passage times what she might lose against a modern yacht in lighter airs and flatter seas. At first we tacked back and forth inside the harbour walls of Portland where the water was flatter, (with a reef in the genoa and full mainsail), making a healthy 6.0-6.5 knots in 16 knots true wind. This increased to 7.1 knots on her best point of sail, a close reach, but dropped a little to 5.6 knots with the wind on her quarter. Running downwind, we unfurled the rest of the genoa and went goose-winged. My guess is that she would most often give average passage speeds of between 5-6 knots with ease, provided the wind didn’t drop below 10 knots.

At the helm Designed around the IOR racing rules, the Legend has pronounced narrowing forward and aft, which reduces accommodation and narrows the cockpit. She’s easy to helm using her long tiller and bracing your feet against the seat opposite. Most controls fall to hand, which means she can be sailed singlehanded. The mainsheet runs along the bridgedeck and the primaries are beside the helm on the coamings. Guy has yet to install single- line reefing and lead it back to the cockpit, but he’s thinking about it when it’s time to replace her slab-converted roller boom.

Her lines are sweet and her overhangs add to the classic look, as well as increasing her waterline length and consequently her speed when heeled. Her original full-depth skeg-hung rudder means she can suffer a little from weather helm when overpressed, but nothing that reefing the sails can’t sort out. Some have had their skeg shortened by 200mm or so and the rudder extended forward a little to offer some balance to and ease the weight off the helm.

Sailplan She has a fairly conservative masthead sailplan with the option of a baby stay or removable inner forestay for a storm jib. Her short boom means her mainsail is relatively high-aspect and was originally designed to be furled around the roller boom. She has a 125 percent genoa sheeted to short tracks atop her teak toerails.

Her deck-stepped mast is supported by stout shrouds, including caps and fore-and- aft lowers with a single pair of straight spreaders. Quetzal has a removable inner forestay, which makes tacking the overlapping genoa a bit more difficult.

Deck layout She has a lazarette locker, which houses two big gas bottles and another seat large enough for all the fenders and lines. To port, a full-depth cockpit locker gobbles up the large stuff like inflatables, warps, fenders etc. and still provides room for a decent battery bank. Her coachroof is at a constant height, making the long handrails easy to grab, and her side decks are reasonably uncluttered, allowing unhindered access to the foredeck, which is rather narrow, but workable. High teak toerails help considerably going forward when heeled – they also look pretty too. The cleats are stout, as is the bow roller and other static deck gear.

Living aboard The companionway steps are very steep and the lower one is small, so care needs to be taken when descending. You arrive at a half bulkhead on the edge of the galley to port, where there’s a pole to grab to steady yourself. Headroom is 1.83m (6ft) all the way forward to the heads and handholds each side under the portlights – which are on the small side and don’t open, making it a little dark inside with all the teak joinery. The saloon has a couple of vents in addition to the main hatch.

She has up to six berths if you include the large forepeak V-berth (1.90m long, 2.10m wide at the head and 0.65m at the foot), the saloon double (converted by dropping the table), the single settee to starboard in the saloon and the quarterberth – the latter two making the best sea berths. The heads is where she compares least favourably to a modern cruiser. There’s no shower and only enough room for a smallcorner basin. A vent above keeps it fresh and there’s a small port for natural light. The heads door closes off the forecabin when fully opened and there’s a second door between it and the saloon for privacy. A hanging locker opposite is useful for stowing oilskins. There is plenty of deep stowage beneath the forepeak bunks, but access isn’t easy and there are no shelves or lockers above the berth.

Chart table

To starboard by the companionway, the chart table is small (0.75m x 0.54m ) and on Quetzal the corner drops away to allow access to the quarterberth. Instrument space is good, though, and there’s useful stowage in the dedicated nav seat.

The galley is tightly L-shaped with room for a cooker and oven, although having two full-size sinks means there’s no worktop space. Guy has overcome this brilliantly by building a fold-over tabletop on the bulkhead. While there are lockers behind for crockery and a few other things, most food will have to be stored in the saloon lockers. Guy is also converting the aft return of the saloon settee into a top- loading fridge compartment.

Maintenance The engine is not the easiest to access, although there are side panels in the cockpit locker and under the quarterberth. The top step lifts up for checking and the whole front can be removed for servicing.

OUR VERDICT ON THE BOAT

What’s she like to sail? The Legend 34 is typical of a lot of IOR-styled boats of the 1970s, but I love the way these classics sail. She’s heavy, yes, but her lines are sleek and her keel not too long. She feels positive, steady and safe under sail, with a reassuring motion in big seas. Her deep-vee bow parts the waves without a hint of slapping and her generous keel keeps her tracking on rails.

Fast for her day, the Legend still has the ability to surprise – her displacement giving good momentum to punch through waves. Although she’s reasonably stiff, her high-aspect main means you need to use her mainsheet track to spill the gusts. She could also do with a decent kicker or flattening reef in strong winds.

Her powerful genoa needs reefing first – we put a roll in when the wind started to blow 20 knots or so over the deck, which isn’t unreasonable. This balanced her out and took some of the weather helm away. In reality she prefers to be reefed at 16 knots true for comfort, although under full sail she coped admirably when we set off out of Portland Harbour in a strong easterly.

What’s she like in port and at anchor? If you like cosy, snug interiors together with a sparse but practical layout, this boat should appeal although, dare I say it, she won’t be to everyone’s taste. The toilet and washing facilities are just one level above utilitarian (functional might be the word), so you might be tempted to stop over in a marina if/when you have company unless they share your simple requirements. Saying that, the forward cabin is the pick of berths, the others are a half- decent size, the saloon double measures 1.90m x 1.10m (6ft 3in x 3ft 7in), and the quarterberth 2.0m x 0.75m (6ft 6in x 2ft 6in).

The cooker would cope with a meal for six hungry sailors, but you’d need to have an extended worktop, or make sink and cooker covers for food preparation. I’d also be tempted to lose one sink and have that as a fridge, rather than disturb seated guests every time they want another cold beer.

Unlike on many modern yachts there is plenty of stowage space – it’s just not all that user-friendly. The saloon lockers are excellent and quite deep, but there’s nowhere for clothes other than under the bunks.

Would she suit you and your crew? If you like a sturdily-built and classically shaped yacht that looks downright pretty from most angles, then the Legend might be for you. While the design is quite dated, I believe there’s still a place for these delightful boats and I’d certainly be more than happy to chance a well-maintained example over a long ocean passage.

In performance terms she’s not going to win races around the cans any more, but she’ll log some impressive passage times when it blows and your crew will at least be able to sleep, eat and ablute off watch without fear of being bruised from head to toe.

The trick with a boat of this age is to find one that you have to persuade the owner to part with. If he or she is reluctant to sell, or wants to know your life history, then there’s a fair chance she’s been looked after and kept in tip-top condition. Be prepared to keep spending money, though – boats of this era need regular attention and updating to keep them seaworthy.

FACTS AND FIGURES

Guide price £17,500-£25,000 LOA 10.36m (34ft 0in) LWL 7.86m (25ft 9in) Beam 3.05m (10ft 0in) Draught 1.4m (4ft 7in) Displacement 4,150kg (9,130 lb) Ballast 1,600kg (3,520 lb) Ballast ratio 38.5% Sail area 56.67m2 (610sq ft) SA/D ratio 22.42 Diesel 40lit (8.8 gal) Water 275lit (60 gal)  Engine original: 16hp Sabb; now: 25hp Betamarine Transmission Shaft drive Designer E.G. Van de Stadt Builder Tyler Boat Company (Tunbridge) Website www.stadtdesign.com

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Van de stadt review.

In the 1930’s, Ricus Van de Stadt bought a yard and opened a design studio in the Netherlands. A door manufacturer Bruynzeel fabricated a superior form of plywood called hechthout . The plywood was particularly suited for making sailboats. In 1939, Ricus designed the Valk and using the hechthout plywood built her in his yard. She was an instant and enduring success. In the Netherlands today, the Valk is still the most popular open sailboat design. Some of the original production 70 years later are still sailing. Van de Stadt ever an innovator continued seeking the next big improvements in design and contruction. He modified the Valk into the Zeevalk with a spade rudder and fin keel.

In 1955, Van de Stadt started experimenting with fiberglass. He designed and built a 30′ fiberglass sailboat called the Pionier . He embraced fiberglass contruction. In 1960, he introduced the first Maxi ocean racer, the 70′ Storm Vogel .

In 1973, Van de Stadt sold the yard but kept the design studio. In 1978, Ricus retired leaving the design studio to associates. In 1999, Ricus passed away at 89 years old. Today, Van de Stadt is a famous custom design studio. They have an excellent reputation for fast, modern designs of luxury sailboats, Maxi ocean racers of aluminum or fiberglass contruction.

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It's a Seahorse!(Van De Stadt that is)... opinions please.

Discussion in ' Sailboats ' started by hansp77 , Apr 8, 2006 .

Ok, this shall be brief. Elsewhere here, I have detailed my recent buying process and consequent questions surrounding the repair of the cabin... blah blah. What I say here is, that the yacht that I recently bought, that the clueless guy I bought it from told me was a "Harrod" designed boat, is actually a 30ft marine ply Van De Stadt Seahorse. Details are in my other thread, so if you want read that, and see pics. I love this boat regardless, but, if anyone knows anything about this design, good bad ugly or interseting, then please share your opinion. Also, does anyone know of any sort of community of owners or anything interesting regarding this? Hans.  

Pedigree Hans, Your boat has real pedigree. The first in this line of designs was Valk (Falcon) one of the first plywood sailing boats, still a popular class in holland. Later followed Zeevalk (Seafalcon) a very succesfull offshore racing yacht extremely light displacement for its time, and Zeeslang (Seasnake) a very slender yacht, more Sea(animalname) van de Stadt designs exist.  

Attached Files:

Zeevalk.jpg.

Thanks for the info SeaSpark. That is great to know. Is that blak and whit picture a Seahorse? It looks like one. All the old guys aroung the marina and the boat show seemed to love the boat too. Now it is early in the morning, and we are off to work on her (Altair), fix up the seals on her deck and cabin and repaint. When we are done I will post some photos. Hans.  

Black and white picture The boat in black and white is a Zeevalk(Seafalcon), Seahorse would translate as Zeepaard in dutch. Some articles on van de Stadt www.rlyachts.net/statushistory1.pdf www.rlyachts.net/statushistory2.pdf www.rlyachts.net/statushistory3.pdf www.rlyachts.net/statushistory4.pdf Link to book on E.G. van de Stadt and his designs: http://www.stadtdesign.com/English/book.htm No van de Stadt relative is working for Van de Stadt design anymore. A relative founded Satellite Yacht Design now part of B&S Yacht Design http://www.yacht-design.nl (sorry for this complicated story). Strangely i cannot find anything on the Seahorse design. Most of his boats are named after birds. I think i know someone who owns the book from the link above. I says all his designs are listed in there so it should be conclusive.  

Opinion Looking at the pictures you posted before, http://www.boatdesign.net/forums/showpost.php?p=81729&postcount=6 In the interior pictures i can see a very van de Stadt like construction. Not very sure about the cabin. vd Stadt sold many drawings for home builders(reason for her beeing in australia?) perhaps someone altered the cabin design to his own needs. Probably to create more room, something you benefit from at this moment so don't worry. It's a beauty! One thing to keep in mind: This boat was never designed to take heavy loads so keep her light, and she will fly. Load her full of stuff, you have a bigger chance of breaking something.  

Nice info. Thanks again SeaSpark. It is all very interesting. It is true, it does seem to be hard to find any info on the seahorse. Today I found out that the dried out one at the marina is actually a "Dogger" apparantly very similar to mine, but with a cast iron keel instead of lead. I think that my cabin might be set more for racing, with the low profile. the guy opposite us with another seahorse has a higher cabin with a full 6ft head room. I have just been working away all day, doing what I swore I would not do. Pulling out wood.... If you want to follow, then details shall be on the other thread, probably with a few questions too. Thanks, Hans.  

Hey SeaSpark, Thanks again for your input. (and no offence on the whole pirate thing- Ahhhrrright?) My continuing search for info on the Seahorse design, has still come up with nothing. I have since learned that she actually 28 ft in length, the confusion being that she has been raced in the 30 ft class (and sold to me as 30ft). It would never hurt to take a tape measure to these things. As I will soon be getting her orriginal paper plans from the old owner, hopefully these will shed some more light on the issue. As far as Van De Stadt's in Australia, there seems to be a fare few around. I am pretty sure Charlie Herrod who built the boat, was a proffessional boat builder. In this marina alone, there is another Seahorse (like I said with much higher cabin, a Dogger (virtually identical but with a cast iron keel) right next to us in the yards, and another smaller unknown model out in the water. While my boat bears the sail number 7 (SM7- that we have to give up because we are not members) the boat that owns the even more saught after sail number 1(SM1) is apparantly another seahorse that has ended its days rotting in a paddock somewhere, only to take this number to the grave with it (the old owner will not sell the number). Did you happen to have a chance to glance through your freinds book? I would be very interested in any other info you might have. Thanks again. Hans.  

E.G. van de Stadt yacht design pioneer. Have not seen the book yet, will let you know if i have, perhaps i'm going to buy it. If the owner still has the original plans you are a lucky man. In the new pictures you posted the underwater shape looks great! It's very hard to offend me with an opinion, good luck with your project,  

Hey SeaSpark, Just thought I'd tell you, I got the plans from the old owner today. They are definately the originals, on tracing paper, all rolled up in a poster tube, 12 of 12 big pages. Very beautifull and amazingly detailed (these being the first and only such plans I have ever seen.) Not sure quite what to do with them nor how to use them, but I have hardly even explored them yet (Just got home after another 13 hour day in the wind). I suppose I could use them for the timber and ply that I am replacing. Though I don't know how yet. Currently the job has just gotten bigger every day. Today was a pretty big turning point though. Everything has been uncovered now, Nearly everything needed to be removed removed, and a definate line has been drawn as to where the job will stop. Probably after a day or two more prep, (and waiting out the rain that is forcast for the next three days) it will be time to start reconstructing rather than deconstructing. Hopefully my sanity and health will start to repair along the same lines. Can't wait. Hans.  

E.G. van de Stadt book The friend i mentioned does not have the book, 80 usd is a bit to much for a book that does not contain really new information for me. We have libraries in Holland and some of them have the publication. A system exists to order books from the libraries but for some kind of reason not all these systems are the same... Good news, the book does contain a cd-rom i hope the late E.G. does not mind shareing some of the information on it. I'll keep you informed  

Thanks SeaSpark, I am sure the late E.G. wouldn't mind a little sharing of info.. particularly if it was in the best interests of one of his little girls.. Just to let you know, I have let go of the whole stress and time frame of the restoration. I have come to accept that it is going to take much longer than I anticipated, mainly due to the fact that my university workload has subbmerged me to my eyeballs once again, and this will involve of course more money. But, as I got the boat at the right price, and as I want to do the job right, this is reasonable. After the days of chipping and scraping paint off the entire deck and cabin, It has been decided and agreed upon (by those that are advising me) to replace the whole back 2/3rd of the deck. By no means does all the wood need it, but rather than patching here and there, and filling this and that, and treating and poisening, it seems best to have a fresh start. Next year or the one after when she is slipped again, I will probably aim to do the forward 1/3 of the deck, and maybe even build a new cabin.. It will be time by then to do some work on the mast, so removing the stays will make the remaining deck job easier. Rain again now, and a rather nasty paper due tomorrow, but tuesday, the work is on again. The fixing has begun, rather than the deconstruction. Timber stripped ready for epoxy and laquer, solid brass fittings, cleats, cabin air hole thingies have been cut back and polished and buffed to perfection by my girlfriends father. I have cut out and replaced a small and only soft spot that the slipping helped me find under the waterline on the stern. Slowly and surely she is coming along. And to think, I haven't even been sailing in her yet. Just a quick 5 minute motor from her pen round to the crane that lifted her out. P.S. I will try to track down that book here as well. Hans.  

malish New Member

Seahorse We sailed one named 'Wizz' as a family cruising (and very successful local racing) boat on the south coast of England between 1963 and 1968. The design was sponsored by a UK sailing magazine 'Yachting World' in the early 1960's as a D.I.Y. design though ours was professionally built. Did a lot of cruising in the English Channel, south coast of England, Normandy and Brittanny in all sorts of weather and conditions. Good sea boat, slammed a bit going to windward in big seas but had no real vices. I seem to remember that the floors seemed a bit light for the relatively heavy and deep fin keel, and we had minor keelbolt problems. The boat was sold in 1968, refastened and I came across it again in Antigua in the Caribbean in 1986. On that occasion I was running a Swan 65, recognised the boat talked to the 'new' owners and raced on it with them on a wednesday evening race. The boat was still surprisingly fast heading much bigger and very much more expensive boats downwind in a breeze, but losing out on the last windward leg due to tired old sails and a big sea. Fine boat. you'll have a great time with it when you complete the project.  

Thank you for the information Malish, regarding this design it is certainly hard to come by. The original plans that I got with my boat have the heading "yachting world Build it yourself Van De Stadt Seahorse" So this matches your story, and seems to answer the source of these plans. However like yours , mine was built professionally too. My keel bolts seem pretty good. I am not too sure of their age or what they are made from. All of the original metal that was used in the boat was monel, and then a few bits from obvious later jobs of copper and brass. Apparantly there were no shortcuts taken, ie, that whatever the plans asked for, this or better was used. So if they are original, then I hope they are monel, and if not original then I guess they must be stainless steel, as there is no visable rust on them. I haven't yet checked the tension on them. Maybe next year. If there is any other info or hints/tips that you might have, then if you have the time, please pass them on. You are the first previous owner that I have come across. Thanks again, Hans.  

Milan Senior Member

I have the book and CD with designs list and study plans, (included with a book). Yachting world Sea horse is design number 67.  

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Wow, thanks Milan, I have been thinking about that book a lot. I already have the full plans, so the study plans are not really what I need, However, is there any writing about the actual design? Maybe a little chapter, paragraph or anything? Thanks, Hans.  

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Quiet genius

When reeling off a list of the most famous racing yacht designers of the past 75 years one name does not always trip off the tongue as easily as higher-profile international figures. Yet, as Julian Everitt describes, Ericus Van de Stadt was perhaps one of the most influential designers of them all

Ericus (Ricus) Gerhardus Van de Stadt, usually known more simply as E G Van de Stadt, was an internationally renowned ocean racing yacht designer who succeeded in getting innovation to work for him, rather than letting it frighten his clients away in the conservative world of offshore raceboat design. Van de Stadt pioneered trends that right from the outset of his offshore design career, beginning in 1949, took until the mid-1960s to become the norm and still form the cornerstone of fast yacht design today.

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Van De Stadt 40 - steel hull - preliminary inspection

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Looking at a circa 95 Van De Stadt 40ft steel hull from a liveaboard perspective. Will definitely arrange a pro survey prior to purchase, but would love some pointers on key snags to look out for during the preliminary 'informal' inspection. My experience is with powered fibreglass (about a decade) - I know zilch about masted steel hulls. Any and all tips welcomed, and sincerely appreciated.  

do you have complete access to the hull inside and out? here is one scenario where I wouldnt buy in the water unless the owner is willing to haulout...if he is the price can be arranged into the selling price  

Link to listing? VdStat is a recognized and prolific designer in that genre, but you need to find out more about the builder - I imagine a number of these may have been 'home'built or from relatively unknown builders. Not necessarily a bad thing, depending on attention to detail. While there's no disputing the strength of steel, and with today's coatings maintenance can be much less work than in days past, I fear that what may be making this boat of interest is it's low asking price? For me, you'd have to be planning to sail in areas where those pros of a steel structure are more likely to come into play - serious offshore, remote reef-hopping, high latitude sailing and such. Living with a steel boat for the usual coastal cruising that most of us do wouldn't make sense to me.  

V d Stadt is a wellknown designer. As he was situated in The Netherlands, many of his designs were made for steel - which is immensely popular there. As with some of the recognized sailboats designers it was not just a one-man operation, more of a office. Some of the v d Stadt designs are very good, while some others are not, in fact some are not at all. Building in steel requires a lot. Take a look on the internet, and you are likely to find all sorts from very crudely build to those that are very competitive - in many ways. Many steel boats rusts from inside and out, not always that hauling out will tell so much of the real state of things. Inside is often insulated, hiding nasty things. Before buying ... get a careful look in the inside. Do not disregard steel just because of rust issues, but be certain that all parts can be inspected. Notice that a steel boat that has not been cared for has a life time of max 20 years. /J  

x2 jaramaz some of the designs are excellent some are quote frankly damn ugly as with any steel boat you need to be able to inspect inside and out...if you cant it could be seconds or years or decades before you sink! jajaja for what its worth I cruised extensively on a spanish built french designed steel boat and have some experience with specific maintenance items now for a a liveaboard what you need is sound plating to keep the water intrusion at bay  

While a good survey is important, I think tp the really best survey is the one you do yourself. Get a good light and knee pads and take a couple of days to go over the boat very closely inside. It's those really hard to get to places that will have rust. Ultra sound is OK, but it can also miss a lot.  

An endoscope will help you inspect behind things. They are cheap as chips now.  

*update* First, thank you to everyone who has chipped in with advice and suggestions. I can now confirm the boat is a home-build. As many have pointed out above, this does not automatically condemn it. However, the part of the world I'm located in is reputed for a wide swing in qualifications, expertise, experience and adherence to best-practices - esp. given the minimal regulatory oversight. In other words, this could be a complete disaster at the hull level. I don't know the builder but that's the next step of inquiry. Any good news? Well, it appears to have been owned by the builder from the beginning. Which would imply that he would have built it the best he knew how, and that he would have got rid of it years ago if it had problems. Not that this means anything without establishing the builder's credibility. I'm thinking maybe this purchase would be ill-advised.  

Stick with what you know. Boat this size is a major investment of time and money. Unless you know what it takes to keep a steel boat in good shape, you will be in for a major surprise. There are hundreds of decent fiberglass boats that size which are reasonably priced and much easier to maintain.  

Seems to me that for what the OP wants steel is not the right answer. Then again a well built VDS40 (presuming one of their better designs) is a damn fine boat.  

Update 06 December Thank you to everyone for pitching in. The boat's size, price and condition is attractive - I personally have nothing against fibre hulls, but this one just happens to be steel. The preliminary bunch of quotations from surveyors were all superficial visuals. I explained I would feel more comfortable with a more invasive hull inspection. Now receiving estimates for thickness gauging etc. Will be seeing the boat myself sometime this week, meeting the owner etc. That should help firm things up. Then finalise a surveyor, lift her and get it done. Will post some pics if I can.  

wish you good luck...please post pics!  

Update 28 Jan 2015 Sorry for not updating earlier but it's been a busy start to the year. I visited the VDS40 and spent about an hour or two aboard, talking to the owner (a well-sailed individual with many a fun story to share) for awhile before he left us (I was there with a friend who recently picked up a beautiful twin-hull from Tunisia or someplace like that) to get on with our preliminary inspection (I had the professional inspectors lined up if I decided to go ahead). I had two questions to answer: - What condition was the vessel in? - Would it suit my intended liveaboard plan? Despite her age the vessel was in great shape. He'd kept up with maintenance, had photos from when her hull was last lifted and painted etc. There were a few rust spots, and I wasn't thrilled at the condition of some of the thru-hull areas, but nothing major as far as I could tell. We were able to lift up the boards wherever we needed to and that was a big help. However, and sadly, there was no way I could consider her as a permanent or semi-permanent home. There was just not enough space. One head/shower and a large berth in the bow, and two independent berths at the stern. Mid-section was the usual saloon/lounge, galley area and navigation table layout. I came home and spent a day or two trying to make the space work for me, but it just wasn't happening. Have posted some photos below. Thank you to everyone for the advice, suggestions and encouragement. Ta!  

deltavee said: A few photos of the VDS40, built 1995, 10,000 kg. Click to expand...

Those who know me will undoubtably chime in that I am not normal, but I lived aboard a Catalina 27 in Los Angeles for a few years and a Catalina 22 for about 6 months in the winter in Seattle. (It was just me) Living aboard a small boat is a real different lifestyle.. You can't accumulate ANYTHING, and having good facilities ashore for showers, etc is real important. I guess the point I am trying to make is that you can't directly map your existing lifestyle to "fit" on a boat. It won't. For me, the real question is are you willing to dramatically modify your lifestyle and priorities to become a liveaboard.... Thanks for the followup, and posting the pictures. I truly wish you the best in your search.  

very nice boat and modern tweaks are nice...as said before check whats important...plating, frames and rust  

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• Sailboat Guide

Jupiter 30 is a 29 ′ 3 ″ / 8.9 m monohull sailboat designed by E. G. Van de Stadt and built by Jupiter Yachts starting in 1982.

Rig and Sails

Auxilary power, accomodations, calculations.

The theoretical maximum speed that a displacement hull can move efficiently through the water is determined by it's waterline length and displacement. It may be unable to reach this speed if the boat is underpowered or heavily loaded, though it may exceed this speed given enough power. Read more.

Classic hull speed formula:

Hull Speed = 1.34 x √LWL

Max Speed/Length ratio = 8.26 ÷ Displacement/Length ratio .311 Hull Speed = Max Speed/Length ratio x √LWL

Sail Area / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the power of the sails relative to the weight of the boat. The higher the number, the higher the performance, but the harder the boat will be to handle. This ratio is a "non-dimensional" value that facilitates comparisons between boats of different types and sizes. Read more.

SA/D = SA ÷ (D ÷ 64) 2/3

• SA : Sail area in square feet, derived by adding the mainsail area to 100% of the foretriangle area (the lateral area above the deck between the mast and the forestay).
• D : Displacement in pounds.

Ballast / Displacement Ratio

A measure of the stability of a boat's hull that suggests how well a monohull will stand up to its sails. The ballast displacement ratio indicates how much of the weight of a boat is placed for maximum stability against capsizing and is an indicator of stiffness and resistance to capsize.

Ballast / Displacement * 100

Displacement / Length Ratio

A measure of the weight of the boat relative to it's length at the waterline. The higher a boat’s D/L ratio, the more easily it will carry a load and the more comfortable its motion will be. The lower a boat's ratio is, the less power it takes to drive the boat to its nominal hull speed or beyond. Read more.

D/L = (D ÷ 2240) ÷ (0.01 x LWL)³

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds.
• LWL: Waterline length in feet

Comfort Ratio

This ratio assess how quickly and abruptly a boat’s hull reacts to waves in a significant seaway, these being the elements of a boat’s motion most likely to cause seasickness. Read more.

Comfort ratio = D ÷ (.65 x (.7 LWL + .3 LOA) x Beam 1.33 )

• D: Displacement of the boat in pounds
• LOA: Length overall in feet
• Beam: Width of boat at the widest point in feet

Capsize Screening Formula

This formula attempts to indicate whether a given boat might be too wide and light to readily right itself after being overturned in extreme conditions. Read more.

CSV = Beam ÷ ³√(D / 64)

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Review of Van de Stadt 44

Basic specs..

Van de Stadt 44 is typically equipped with an engine.

Sailing characteristics

This section covers widely used rules of thumb to describe the sailing characteristics. Please note that even though the calculations are correct, the interpretation of the results might not be valid for extreme boats.

What is Capsize Screening Formula (CSF)?

The capsize screening value for Van de Stadt 44 is 1.54, indicating that this boat could - if evaluated by this formula alone - be accepted to participate in ocean races.

The immersion rate is defined as the weight required to sink the boat a certain level. The immersion rate for Van de Stadt 44 is about 352 kg/cm, alternatively 1975 lbs/inch. Meaning: if you load 352 kg cargo on the boat then it will sink 1 cm. Alternatively, if you load 1975 lbs cargo on the boat it will sink 1 inch.

Sailing statistics

This section is statistical comparison with similar boats of the same category. The basis of the following statistical computations is our unique database with more than 26,000 different boat types and 350,000 data points.

What is L/B (Length Beam Ratio)?

SA/D (Sail Area Displacement ratio) Indicates how fast the boat is in light wind: - Cruising Boats have ratios 10-15 - Cruiser-Racers have ratios 16-20 - Racers have ratios above 20 - High-Performance Racers have ratios above 24 Sail-area/displacement ratio (SA/D ratio): 22.32

Maintenance

If you need to renew parts of your running rig and is not quite sure of the dimensions, you may find the estimates computed below useful.

This section is reserved boat owner's modifications, improvements, etc. Here you might find (or contribute with) inspiration for your boat.

Do you have changes/improvements you would like to share? Upload a photo and describe what you have done.

We are always looking for new photos. If you can contribute with photos for Van de Stadt 44 it would be a great help.

If you have any comments to the review, improvement suggestions, or the like, feel free to contact us . Criticism helps us to improve.