Chuck, First let me say that I love my 37+ (tall mast wing keel). The queen sized birth in the aft and the standup shower along with the PHRF of 75 all make for a great combination. The very deep, partially balanced rudder means that getting rounded up is virtually impossible.
*Now on to the dirt:* I don't have a lot to compare to and certainly no other 37/40s but I find the boat to be pretty tender. Edd Schillay has said that his boat races best with 10 to 12 crew and most of them are rail meat. It really seams to come down to mast height. I do have the tall mast, so that could be exacerbating my situation but a single foot seams like it would be insignificant. Really I think the standard rig is probably just about as tender. The deepest and heaviest keel you can accommodate on your sailing grounds would be the best. As for the wing keel I've never had any problems. Supposedly, the wing keel can get tangled on underwater grass, plow/scoop mud, and looses pointing ability... I don't have a reference point to compare but I kinda perceive that the lighter swing keels spend much of their time up. Even when down the lighter weight kinda ends up being a wash compared to the wing. If your slip and sailing grounds can accommodate then seek out the deeper, heavier wing keel. I order to accommodate the queen sized aft birth, they had to sacrifice having an additional quarter birth or a large lazaret on port or stbd. Additionally, in order to create limited head room in the birth the cockpit floor is high - specifically the companion way. Consequently the boom is high, making mainsail handling a challenge but dodger height needs to be low making for a crouched approach to the companion way. The installation of a Bimini is challenged by the boom height and cockpit traveler. I tend to stand on the aft lazaret hatches when helming so designing a Bimini high enough for me to stand and short enough to avoid the boom creates a problem. In my mind I would have the Bimini project out the back in an overhead mirror image to the reverse transom. Properly designed this could accommodate davits and over 800w of solar power. While technically 39.6 feet long the reverse transom accounts for about 4 feet of that length. The narrowing in the hips is athletically and functionally pleasing but combined with the reverse transom makes the size of the boat more equivalent to other 35 footers. I've been told that the designer had been drafting a new model of 37 and was attempting to compete with the other build styles of the time with near vertical bow and stern. He hated the appearance. On the drawing board he took the rectangular profile and stretched the corners making a parallelogram. As I understand it, he described this as something to the effect of having added $40 of fiberglass to the bow and stern and having resulted in an overall length of ~40 feet. In order to differentiate the old model of 37 from the new the marketing team called it the 37+. Since this obviously creates confusion, the 37+ was later referred to as 37+(37/40). And then later as just 37/40. The marketing team sold these as semi-custom builds and released 3 variants. The +, the XL, and the R. The R was designed to be a racing boat. It was stripped out, had a deep keel, and tall mast. The XL had a tall mast and a deep keel but included the interior of the +. The + was supposed to fill the racer-cruiser niche. It had a shorter mast and shallower swing keel. All of these variants could have the various options mix and matched. The tall rig has triple spreaders and check stays/running backs. I find that the check stays get in the way more than anything. I've seen the backstay attachment break loose from the transom in another boat with the shorter mast. I would inspect closely. I've also heard criticisms of the tabbing but have not personally seem examples of poor quality. The tankage is low compared to other more cruiser oriented 40 foot boats. 60 gallons of water, 20 of black water and 40 of fuel. In a conservation mode you should plan on at least one gallon of water per person per day. One gallon of fuel per hour. And with the traditional jabsco toilet pump plan on 1 gallon per flush. 20 flushes is pretty limited. Fortunately, the PO installed a vacu-flush on board my boat. At 1 pint per flush, I can handle ~150 flushes. It uses water from the freshwater tanks but this also minimizes the development of hydrogen sulfide and associated smell. The freshwater also flushes uric acid that clogs the pipes. Of course this is at the expense of the already limited supply of fresh water. Compare these tankage limits to those of a Morgan OI /41 or a Caliber 40. The reverse transom is about the only feasible place to locate a fixed generator and/or a water maker. Putting them there would make servicing a real pain. Alternatively you could put them under the v-birth but at the expense of storage and you would have to overcome considerable distances and potential noise. I have an A/C unit installed directly above my engine, under the companion way stairs. It doesn't have adequate distribution and is horrible at cooling the boat. The unit may have other problems making matters worse. The reverse transom also projects out such that damage during the life of the boat is nearly inevitable. This projection also makes installing any type of davit or wind vane system quite challenging. The crown jewel aft queen birth has less than adequate ventilation and it is difficult to know which way to sleep in the bed. Feet aft seems to be the least likely to result in a concussion but the reading lights are such that you would have to be head aft to make use of them. Our original cushion was inadequate and resulted in a very uncomfortable night. We had a new latex mattress made and not sleep much more comfortably. The steering system has a fatal flaw which positions the entire steering gear under a removable fiberglass deck panel. The edson bull gear is unpainted aluminum. Not the worst case but not the best. Inspection, service and replacement are a breeze. A more fatal condition is the turning sheaves which reside directly under the steering pedestal. Edson never expected these to be exposed to the marine environment and as such made the base plate out of carbon steel. This wouldn't even be so bad except that the part is no longer made. Particular attention should be given to this item before any serious strain is placed on the steering system. The boat does sail like a dream and for a few days on the hook is fine. Much more than 3 or 4 and you'll probably start wishing for more water. Offshore or in heavy weather you'll probably wish for something stiffer and with a full or modified full keel. I have the original Yanmar 3HM35F (freshwater cooling) engine. It is slightly under powered in my opinion. I have the 3 blade maxprop and with clean prop and bottom can just barely reach 7 kts. I have a 100 amp alternator which keeps my batteries nicely topped up simply motoring in and out of port while cruising. I have 200AHr as one bank of batteries and 400AHr as the second. I also have 200w of solar on the roof of the hard dodger. Feel free to reach out with any other questions. Josh Muckley S/V Sea Hawk 1989 C&C 37+ Solomons, MD On Jul 8, 2018 4:28 PM, "Chuck Saur via CnC-List" <cnc-list@cnc-list.com> wrote: Happy summer! I'm wondering if y'all have opinions/wisdom to share about the basic C&C 37/40? Wing keel...5'3" draft specifically. Might be time for my son to take over my 35-3 if I can find the right boat. Thoughts? *Chuck Saur* (517)-490-5926 _______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
_______________________________________________ Thanks everyone for supporting this list with your contributions. Each and every one is greatly appreciated. If you want to support the list - use PayPal to send contribution -- https://www.paypal.me/stumurray
