"DSK" wrote in message
...

We have some good friends who had a series of Cape Dories up to the 36,
they
kept wanting something 'a little bit bigger' before they started cruising
for
real. They did make a trip to Bermuda and back on the CD 36, the comment
was
that it too was not big enough. Of course your mileage may vary, but one
item
to keep in mind is that the old fashioned seakindly hull is not roomy for
it's
length. They also are a bit pokey and tend to motor a lot (our friends
also
said they needed more tankage). But they certainly earned their reputation
for
being solidly built, and they are great looking boats.

The comments on the CD 36 are pretty accurate. Narrow beamed boats are
_lot_ less roomy than wider beamed boats of similar length.

I think first time N.American cruisers look for a heavy boat that they think
is safe. Europeans tend toward more modern performance boats as a rule
(maybe because they didn't have all those imports from Taiwan to look at?).

If I heard a common refrain from offshore cruisers when we were sailing is
they all wished for a better performing boat. Me too but I've now got a 40'
catamaran that should go fairly quickly.


--
Evan Gatehouse

you'll have to rewrite my email address to get to me
ceilydh AT 3web dot net
(fools the spammers)