Carter 37 thoughts

[Blakesail]

Hi to all
I am interested in buying a carter 37 from the mid 70s for cruising and possibly offshore cruising.
If any body out there has any experience of sailing these boats I would love to hear your thoughts of there pluses and minuses. Also does anyone know why most of the information in can find is in French when the boats seem to be built in Greece.

Many thanks for your thoughts

Blake

[Don C L]

I don't know them personally at all, but since it is an IOR one tonner you will have all the quirks associated with those designs, and I'd guess many folks on here would say it's a fast cruiser but don't capsize it, it may not spring back up too fast. That book by Marchaj, "Sail Performance," he definitely didn't have much to say in the positive about IOR designs for bluewater/cruising purposes. Personally I would still check it out, but with the awareness of the possible shortcomings.

[Snowpetrel]

I have a 78 two Tonner. Like all things these designs have good and bad points. I have no experience with that particular design, so this is just general info on this style of boat.

The carter 37 was based on Ydra, the one tonner that did very well in the 73 one ton cup. So she obviously can sail very well.

She was near the end of an era, S&S and Carter were about to slowly give way to the newer breed of lighter and more extreme designs from the likes of Peterson, Holand and Frers. So in that regard she is pretty untained by the worst of the IOR that really started to generate some extreme and unwholesome designs in the 80's, as the rule explotaitions pioneered in the late 70's by the 1/4 and 1/2 tonners moved upwards into the bigger classes. So in this she is probably closer in ancestory to say the S&S 34 than the later IOR designs. Anyway, these boats are pretty stiff, they carry sail well and the 55% ballast ratio is high even for the type, It should go to windward very well, even by modern standards. Downwind they can be twitchy at higher speeds. Slow them down a bit, just below hull speed and they behave fine, though the roll can still be pretty wild at times. The rudder on the carter looks a touch small?

The traditional big lowcut genoas are a nuisance. I found a non overlapping jib worked fine for me, but the carter has a lower SA/disp and might need the genoa for power in the light. A 120-130% high cut genoa on a roller might be a good compromise, prehaps with a removable solent jib or a staysail for stronger winds.

They are thoughbread sailing machines, rewarding to sail, not really the best for motoring. From the look of the design, and the specs they look like they should be safe enough in a blow.

Jim and Ann sailed a similar design for many years and many miles, also look at Web Chiles boats Resurgam, and Hawke of Tuonela. for examples of what an old IOR boat can do in the right hands.

[GordMay]

Greetings and welcome aboard the CF, Blake.

[Blakesail]

Thanks all for your thoughts
I have found a carter 37 lying in Greece in a ship yard with a fairly new engine and mast and seems to be in really god nick.
It seems to good to be true at 17 000euros
I am still waiting for more info on the service history ect
Based on what I have seen online it's seems like great value.
Any thought would be greatly appreciated
Blake

[svbohemia]

Hi, we have a 84 Carter 35 and are very happy..
The Greek boats had a little bit of a reputation for hit or miss quality control but mostly cosmetic not structural. You will get a good sailing boat, I can't find any bad ones that came out of his design office, and remember while the old IOR boats had some interesting sailing characteristics it was while racing. If it still has a racing rig and sails you may have to spend a little to make it easier and more practical for short handed sailing. Snowpetrel pretty much sums it up well.
It's a little funny because there are quite a lot Carter boats around but not to many people have heard of him so the boats sell for less. There were some well known designers that worked out of his office as well.
There is a 33 going around the world solo right now and a Facebook owners group, Carter owners are a pretty happy bunch and trust their vessels to get them home . 😆
Regards Andy

[barnakiel]

Fast and seaworthy (look at her ballast ratio and it is supposed to be lead).

If built in Greece then build quality may be an issue. Have a very thorough survey.

A guy here who has one has plenty of issues with the lamination just ahead of the ballast fin - every time he touches something hard, there is some amt of damage done. Perhaps their lamination is a bit delicate in that part. Or maybe he has a lemon.

But it sails really well - fast and points well too.

Cheers,
b.

[KarlH]

Originally Posted by Snowpetrel

They are thoughbread sailing machines, rewarding to sail, not really the best for motoring.

Is that because of a small fuel tank, or is there something else that makes them unsuitable? I've never sailed a racer, so perhaps this is a silly question...