CT, Formosa, and Ta Chiao CT…?

[Trident50]

Hey Everyone!

Still researching stuff…and gawking at boat porn…and loving these boats.

But what's the difference between them? Are they the same company? Is one better built than the others?

I just happen to see a 56' Ta Chiao CT, 54' CT, and a 55' (I think it was 55) Formosa. All appeared to be, and claimed to be, in fantastic condition - the pricing, year, equipment roughly the same.

I'll be livingaboard and sailing the Gulf/Caribbean/Bahamas and up the east coast and I love these boats - I'm definitley leaning towards a ketch as I read somewhere that they are more easily single-handed?

What say you?

Hope all is good!
Rob

[GordMay]

Yes, Ta Chiao Yacht Building built Formosas, Cts, and others.
➥ Sailboats built by Ta Chiao (TAIWAN) by year on Sailboatdata.com

[zeehag]

ta chiao is not the only builder of these boats.
many came from Formosa Boat Builders in taipei, taiwan, where 51s and many 41s were built over many years, including ct by formosa. formosa boat builders was a major yard for formosa and ct builds.
the ct 48, 54, 56 are perry designs, 41 and 51 are garden design. not sure which exact yard built them all, but it wasnt merely one yard for all of them, as they are not production boats.
different yards, there were at least three, built these boats.
there are also young sun, island trader and some others all same. (mainly 41)
leaky teaky yacht club, a yahoo group , has a lot of info on many of these. there is also a formosa 51 group.
as thse are not and were not production boats, many are different yet same.

[MadScientist]

FYI after some research, there were two CT 48s

1) Bob Perry design, the transom sterned one you see on sailboatdata
2) A double ender in the style of Colin Archer.

I spent a bit of time checking on #2, and it appears it was designed by CS Chen, the boatwright at Ta Chiao who designed the CT34. Neither Bruce Bingham nor Dan Streech, as mentioned by Mr. Perry as possiblities, had anything to do with it.

In the case of CT34 and CT48, it seems they adapted a classic deign in wood to fiberglass. the CT34 was inspired by the DOGSTAR (extensive info elsewhere), but we have no authoritative info on what inspired the CT48. I would be surprised if it was not a Colin Archer, as the underbody is a very full keel with wineglass section, and she has high sides, and a sheer similar to the Colin Archer lifeboats.

But.. more knowledgable than I people should comment on that. :-) James S, a forum member here, has a full body picture on the hard of his double ended CT48 in his refit collection on his gallery, so you can see the whole boat and decide for yourself!

[HankOnthewater]

Here is another link that may interest you:
http://www.cruisersforum.com/forums/...oup-64500.html

Some posts there by James who has or had a canoe stern type CT 48.
I have been told by a CT 48 owner (like featured in the sailboatdata) that the design originally was by Bruce ?Bingham, and that Bob Perry did the rigging and maybe some other features. One could check with Perry. I believe he gives good service at a reasonable cost.

The CT 48 I looked at (with pirate windows in stern and fin keel) was built by Ta Chiao.

Although I only have seen photos of the canoe stern CT 48, and I have been on the other one: the two types of CT 48s are completely different boats in my opinion.

[MadScientist]

Bruce Bingham replied to me with "I only designed one boat for Ta Chaio.. the Fantasia 35"

So FYI. Its directly from Bingham. He is very nice, and is currently sailing around Cuba.

So Bingham didn't design either one originally.

Elsewhere, Bob Perry has said he "modified" the Transom sterned design, which was his understanding of what a CT48 was, and had no idea what the canoe sterned one was.

So absent further information, I think it is safe to assume the canoe sterned CT48 was designed by C.S. Chen, who did the CT34 as well as a modification of a classic, non proprietary design. The CT48 certainly is evocative of a classic design, resembling a colin archer in many ways. So that's my guess, especially since CHEN is on the documentation.

As to who designed the transom sterned one originally.. no idea. It could have been a Chen interpretation of a Formosa design I suppose. Ta Chiao was apparently playing it pretty fast and loose at the time.

[rognvald]

" I love these boats - I'm definitley leaning towards a ketch as I read somewhere that they are more easily single-handed?" Trident 50


I think Z has provided a good background on these boats. My good friend in Annapolis, Maryland(formerly Miami) has owned a CT 56 for 25 plus years. I've had the pleasure to captain the boat in the Gulf Stream on a light/moderate northerly and several day sails on Biscayne Bay, Miami. They are surprisingly fast boats in spite of their 70K plus pound displacement and for a small boat sailor like myself--it rides like a dream in big seas. However, even with electric winches, it is in no way a single hander's boat as the dynamic forces for sail controls, reefing, etc. are massive. Back in 2004, we met a CT56 owner that had sailed to Miami to sell his boat at the boat show at MiaMarina. I asked him what was the safest number of crew to sail the boat offshore. The captain told me that it was possible for four persons to safely sail the boat, in all conditions, but that he preferred 6 as a standard crew. The boat sailed from the West Coast of Africa direct to Miami. Hope this helps. Good luck and safe sailing.

[barnaclejim]

Check out the Vagabonds as well, classic Tiawan built, teak as fear as the eye can see and all the best and some of the worst issues of the rest. We own and have cruised our Crealock, Farrington 52' stasail schooner built with a Vagabond 52 hull. Just returned from Europe via the Caribbean and getting her ready to sell.

[Tachiao34]

I own a ct34 they are an excellent boat very strong built they will handle just about anything you can throw at them you’ll give up before the boat will. There not for everyone but we definitely enjoy are’s. Fair winds all