Steve: I bought a 22-year-old C&C 34 a little over a year ago. Had her surveyed and she was sound. Since then I have refitted her from stem to stern and from top to bottom. New rigging (standing and running), all new ground tackle, full electrical upgrades (wiring, batteries, etc), and the list goes on and on. I have brought aboard safety equipment that I feel is absolutely necessary (e.g. Winslow life raft, GAPER, several GPSs–two are chart plotters–etc, etc.).
With all of this I still have the nagging feeling about my boats survivability under adverse conditions. I feel confident in my skills, but still the feeling exists about my boat. If you are not familiar with the C&C 34, she is 33’6" in length, 11′ at the beam, medium height single spreader rig (again, with all new rod rigging), a 20 hp Yanmar diesel that works every time. But still, I have this feeling about her, even though I’ve had her out in 20-30 knot winds and she’s brought me back every time.
I use her for coastal cruising and plan some small coastal trips to Mexico. If you know, what’s your opinion of C&C’s, and especially my C&C 34? I would be most grateful to hear your response. Martin
Hi Martin: The most important thing in heavy weather is the skill mix of the crew. A long way after this on the list comes the boat. Lots of cruising folks with poor heavy weather skills have gotten into trouble in well built, well equipped boats. And lots of good sailors make it through horrible weather in inadequate boats.
Re: your boat in particular, very few production boats are built for heavy weather. They are typically built for the average conditions in which they sail 99.99% of the time. I am not familiar with the C&C 34 itself, but if you are talking about dealing with a really severe storm with potential rollovers involved, your instincts are probably correct. – Steve
Posted by Steve Dashew (November 30, 1999)
