J 35

[Ricar]

I been thinking on getting a J35 to cruiser in the caribbean since I am from Puerto Rico. I plan to sail it with my girlfriend thats almost single handed.I am looking for a fast cheap cruiser. I am a little worried,because I think this boat might be a little to sporty for a single handed. Does anyone have any suggestion? does anyone know if their is one for sale in the caribbean?

[djmarchand]

I had a J/32, the little sister to the J/35. Particularly if you have the deep keel, it is a very nice sailing boat, going to weather better than anything I have ever owned.

It does have a lot of sail area, a SA/Disp of about 21. So you have to reef early and have the ability to reef deep for offshore use. Install a third reef if necessary or if you are going to buy a new mainsail, put in two very deep reefs.

The boat is well built and will do fine for an offshore sailing boat.

David

[Bash]

one good way to lose a non-sailing girlfriend is to take her cruising on a boat with a high sail area/displacement ratio. The J35 is a great boat, but it was designed to perform with a couple tons of crew on the rail. I've found that it sails particularly well, at least compared with other sloops, sailing under mainsail alone. But otherwise, it's not a design that lends itself to singlehanding.

[sded]

But of course the J35 has competed successfully in a lot of single- and double- handed races, even including things like the OSTAR. Actually a great shorthanded boat for its time, with more crew useful for around the buoy races.

[Ricar]

Thanks for the info. I really like this layout. I think that is a good option for the price. I saw one down in PR that was set up for cruising and it was very nice. I hope I can find one for sale near my island.



thanks to all of you for your help

[speedoo]

Originally Posted by djmarchand

I had a J/32, the little sister to the J/35. Particularly if you have the deep keel, it is a very nice sailing boat, going to weather better than anything I have ever owned.

It does have a lot of sail area, a SA/Disp of about 21. So you have to reef early and have the ability to reef deep for offshore use. Install a third reef if necessary or if you are going to buy a new mainsail, put in two very deep reefs.

The boat is well built and will do fine for an offshore sailing boat.

David

Having never even sailed on either boat, I am not completely sure about this, but I think the J32 is not really the little sister of the J35. The J35 is very much toward the racer end of the racer/cruiser spectrum, while the J32 was designed as a cruiser for a couple or solo.

I think this is a J-Boats site, calling it "The J/32 is a current production cruising J."

J/32

on edit: a glance at boats for sale shows that the J32 is a much more expensive boat ($100K plus) vs. the J35 which typically can be found for under $50k. I'm sure some the price difference is explained by lots of comfort that's built into the J32 vs, the more stripped-down J35. And some is also explained by the hard racing life the typical J35 has endured.

To further complicate things, there is also the "J35C" which is apparently a J35 hull modified to be more of a cruising boat. It had a relatively short production run.