How Capable is an Islander Bahama 24?

[Timsh]

I just got my hands on a 1965 Islander 24 sailboat. Obviously the size will limit overall comfort but this boat seems a lot more capable than many of the later model boats in this size range. With a full keel and heavy ballast and a generous displacement it seems like it will handle weather quite well. the capsize ratio and angle of vanishing stability rival many alleged bluewater cruisers. 4200 lbs displacement, 1700 ballast, 7.83' beam, 20' lwl, 24' loa, 269 sa. So I am looking for opinions on how capable this boat is. Would you take it 200 miles offshore? 500 miles? Or would you keep land in sight? Thanks for your input.

[pressuredrop]

set up right that boat will take you anywhere you care to go in as much comfort as a 24' could offer short of a falmouth cutter... the hull (from shear line down) is the same as the lapworth gladiator 24, the boat that robin lee graham sailed 3/4 of the way around the world...

i just restored and sailed and sold a 1962 islander 24, very fun capable boat, easy to handle enginless...

[Timsh]

Just mentioning my boat in the same post as a Falmouth Cutter makes me feel important. Thank You for your insight.

[minaret]

My first boat of any size was an Islander Bahama. I sailed her out of Emery Cove Marina in Emeryville, on the east side of SF Bay.This would have been about 1990. I used to take that boat out to the Farallon Islands and down to Monterey Bay pretty regular. The boat could take just about anything,I was young and crazy and did lots of stupid stuff with her. She got me through it all. I remember single-handing her across the potato patch in a 17' swell reported and 35 knots sustained wind late at night one night. Couldn't believe I made it....

[Blue Crab]

Boat will almost sail itself. Run aground? Jump out and push off. Engine? No need. "Starter" boat? Not hardly, tho easy to sail ...RTW if you're up to it. Not fast. So what?

[Timsh]

She needs some rigging replaced and some love all around but she's solid overall with five sails and a small outboard that started easy. I went to look at her and I told the nice lady I was gonna check some other boats before choosing one and she asked me "what if I just gave it to you?" And she did... Crazy world. Anyway I will upfit everything with the money I was gonna buy with. This is my first boat, very exciting. I am in CA now and I wonder if it could be the same boat that Minaret had??? That would be a crazy coincidence. Her name is Sierra and she's lying in Berkeley, CA.

[minaret]

Originally Posted by Timsh

She needs some rigging replaced and some love all around but she's solid overall with five sails and a small outboard that started easy. I went to look at her and I told the nice lady I was gonna check some other boats before choosing one and she asked me "what if I just gave it to you?" And she did... Crazy world. Anyway I will upfit everything with the money I was gonna buy with. This is my first boat, very exciting. I am in CA now and I wonder if it could be the same boat that Minaret had??? That would be a crazy coincidence. Her name is Sierra and she's lying in Berkeley, CA.

It's funny but it's been so long I can't even remember the name of that boat, though I'm sure it would have been changed by now. Sure could be possible though. The one I had would probably be easy to recognize. I had a friend at UC Berkeley at the time who was an avid brewer, and we installed a small beerkeg and tap setup built in under the galley counter where the kerosene tank for the old gimbaled stove was before. The tap was in the counter next to the sink like a faucet, it was a bar tap but I dont remember what kind. Every time we'd take her out for the weekend my buddy would refill the keg with the brew du jour. Those were the days! UC Berkeley hippie girls love to go sailing to Angel Island. I also installed a club on the jib as I often single handed her.

[Catpainzmcspice]

There's an islander 28 laying abeam on the junk ship by the Ballard locks. Reel fast on that catch

[pressuredrop]

Originally Posted by Timsh

She needs some rigging replaced and some love all around but she's solid overall with five sails and a small outboard that started easy. I went to look at her and I told the nice lady I was gonna check some other boats before choosing one and she asked me "what if I just gave it to you?" And she did... Crazy world. Anyway I will upfit everything with the money I was gonna buy with. This is my first boat, very exciting. I am in CA now and I wonder if it could be the same boat that Minaret had??? That would be a crazy coincidence. Her name is Sierra and she's lying in Berkeley, CA.

good deal tim!, that is exactly how i got my islander 24, free also, and hence i restored it and sold it... the guy i got mine from had restored the boat with his dad 20 years ago and never launched it, sat on a trailer in a storage yard outside since then, so it was ready for another refit. he was asking 700, i looked at it on jan 29th, took my time looking it over real good, and he finally said, if you get it out of here before the end of the month its yours, just something about a free islander 24 you cant turn down...

p.s. there is an album with some pics in my profile if you want to check it out

[CougrrCJ]

As a former 'family' of a Islander Bahama 24, let me just say that I loved that boat! Ours was hull 313, and a '67. It was the boat I learned to single-hand in the late '70s when I'd 'steal it' -- ie use it without his permission. Dad had bought it from his cousin, who raced it under the MORC rules. Spent most of it's life on western Lake Erie.

One of dad's friends had a Pearson 26, and we often cruised together. The Islander took heavier waves better than the fin-keel Pearson, but he could point higher into the wind and was faster in light-moderate waves. The Islander was more stable in pitch - meaning that with the full keel it sliced through the waves rather than riding up-and-down each crest.

I see that there are different versions of the IB24 - our had the small window in the V-berth area, and the lazerette well for the outboard. We used a 9.9hp.

The only problem we ever had was when we lost the rudder. The marina we were using at the time had a problem with sandbars at the mouth of the breakwater. We bottomed-out -- bumped a bit -- leaving the channel one day. Unbeknownst to us, the pin at the bottom of the rudder popped out of the socket. a little while later - bloop! - it fell off the tiller shaft. We didn't even know it until we tried to change course. We had to use the outboard to steer back to the harbor... Dad had a replacement made out of stainless bar stock for the shaft and 1/4" stainless plate.

[Don C L]

Originally Posted by Timsh

I just got my hands on a 1965 Islander 24 sailboat. Obviously the size will limit overall comfort but this boat seems a lot more capable than many of the later model boats in this size range. With a full keel and heavy ballast and a generous displacement it seems like it will handle weather quite well. the capsize ratio and angle of vanishing stability rival many alleged bluewater cruisers. 4200 lbs displacement, 1700 ballast, 7.83' beam, 20' lwl, 24' loa, 269 sa. So I am looking for opinions on how capable this boat is. Would you take it 200 miles offshore? 500 miles? Or would you keep land in sight? Thanks for your input.

My first boat was a Columbia 24, the nearly identical cousin to the IB24. I loved that boat, very capable and I had it out in a wide variety of conditions. I wouldn't mind taking it anywhere, its limitations are space of course and speed, though it did pretty well for a 24! It is a boat you can run aground, or throw it off a wave and you can be sure the hull will take it. One of the best pocket cruisers around. I sailed mine around the Channel Islands and the channel can get rough but I never worried about it.

[Don C L]

BTW there is a member here, Newhaul, who lives on his Islander, very knowledgeable and experienced, I'm sure he can give you a lot of good information too.

edit:
Ahh! I did it again! Sucked into a 5 year old thread! Well, thanks Newhaul!

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, CougrrCJ.

[piara108]

A friend of mine had a neighbor that passed recently, but she used to sail from the SF Bay Area to Hawaii every year in her Islander Bahama 24. I'm trying to get my hands on one. Did you purchase this boat, b/c I would love what you think of it. I'm having a hard time finding info on it on the web. Cheers.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, piara.
➥ https://sailboatdata.com/sailboat/islander-bahama-24
➥ Columbia - Islander Connection