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Buying Wanderlust, our 1978 Gulfstar 37

After our crazy experience with the Mariner 40 we were considering, we wanted to make absolutely sure the Gulfstar 37 was right for us. On paper, it looked very good - all the design parameters were ideal for our intended offshore use. In person it also looked good. But we needed to be sure.

Full sails

Sara sailing

We called Kent Parker from Parker Marine Consultants (since retired and now a wood and stone worker). When I was first looking for a surveyor, the person who recommended Kent first asked if I was working with a broker. When I asked why, he explained that most brokers didn't like Kent. He found too many problems with boats. We considered no one else.

We made a conditional offer on the boat, had an unpleasant haggling session, and finally agreed on a price. The sellers and I then motor-sailed the boat from the Southbay slip to Alameda. We unfortunately chose to go to Nelson's Marine for the survey hang, which turned out to be a big mistake.

We picked up Sara, who had a work obligation in the morning, and sailed out into the bay for our sea trial. I was intent on seeing how the boat handled, and managed to convince everyone onboard to sail over into 'the slot', the area of the bay directly downwind from the Golden Gate bridge.

Sea trial

Sailing together

Most afternoons in the summer the San Francisco bay is perfect sailing weather: strong winds, little chop. Many afternoons have a 'small craft advisory' warning put out by the weather service - this means there's a lot of wind, and you should look out for all the small boats that are sailing around!

We had a blast. The boat handles well, heads up nicely in gusts, and just rips along in 20knts of wind. We hit 8 knots without trying too hard, I put the starboard rail underwater - getting a squeek from the owner - and we had a great time.

Before making a conditional offer, I had carefully examined the boat two separate times in the southbay. I squeezed into the lockers, taken pictures of everything, and felt like it was a sound vessel. Still, I was happy to have Kent's expertise.

Going up the mast

It's really tall!

With the boat at the dock for the weekend, Kent and I spent almost nine hours crawling around looking at things. It was a real learning experience for me, and Kent uncovered more fixits than I had previously found. Looking at the 'todo' list was depressing, but I was much comforted when Kent said it was a sound vessel.

Mast survey

Masthead examination

Buying the Boat

After Kent gave us the green light, we looked at the fixit list and decided that the original price was a bit high. There was a lot of work to do! We didn't have any luck negotiating with the owners; they wouldn't admit the boat had any problems. It was frustrating.

We bought her anyway.

It was a difficult decision. We knew we were stretching our budget, we knew there were a fair number of projects that needed to be addressed, and we knew we probably hadn't considered every expense (we were right - we spent about 2x what we thought we would refitting her).

In the end it was the right decision. The important stuff is sound, the not-so-important stuff can be fixed or replaced, and we were on a schedule! We had to leave in five months!

Why we love the Gulfstar

The Gulfstar 37 has a number of safety design items we were looking for:

  • 19500# displacement to push through waves
  • 8000# shoal-draft fin-keel with 4.8' draft
  • easy-to-handle 40' length (with bowsprit)
  • thick uncored fiberglass hull
  • large protected skeg-hung rudder
  • keel-stepped mast with eight stays
  • full masthead sloop rig
  • solid 51HP Yanmar (4JH2E)
  • marelon stopcocks on thru-hulls

At the same time, Wanderlust is fast and comfortable:

  • PHRF 150
  • 7.6kt hull speed (our max: 10.4kts surfing)
  • standing headroom (I'm 6'2")
  • sunbrella interior
  • lovely teak interior

Metrics

SA/Disp: 13.55 (jib), 17.29 (genoa) (dimensionless). This is a power to weight ratio calculated with a 100% jib. Most inshore monohull designs range between 16 and 18. Racers can be much higher, full-keel cruisers are lower. The ratio is independent of boat length.

Disp/LWL: 266 (dimensionless). This is probably the most used and best understood evaluation factor. Low numbers (resulting from light weight and long waterlines) are associated with high performance. Cruising designs begin around 200 and can go up to the high 300's. Many racing designs are below 100.

Comfort factor: 33.6 (dimensionless). Large numbers indicate a smoother, more comfortable motion in a sea way. The equation favors heavy boats with some overhang and a narrow beam. These are all factors that slow down the boat's response to violent waves. A value of 30-40 represents the typical offshore cruiser. Racing designs can be less than 20, and a full keel, Colin Archer design could be as high as 60.

Capsize factor: 1.70 (dimensionless). An empirical factor derived by the USYRU after an analysis of the 1979 FASTNET Race. Boats with values greater than 2 should not compete in ocean races. Values less than 2 are "good". The formula penalizes boats with a large beam for their high inverted stability, and light weight boats because of their violent response (low roll moment of inertia) to large waves, which are both very important factors during violent storms

Vhull: 7.58 knots. The highest theoretical velocity for a displacement boat. As a boat's speed increases, the wave it creates becomes longer, creating a trough that moves aft. At hull speed, the trough will be as long as the waterline length, creating a "hole" that the boat just fits. An enormous amount of power (50-100 hp/ton) is required to "climb out" of this hole and transition to a 'planing' movement. This is possible when surfing down large waves.

Vmax/Vhull: 1.01 (jib), 1.09 (genoa) (dimensionless). Vmax is a theoretical maximum speed based on empirical relationships of measurements of the boat. Boats with a generous sailplan and light displacement will have a velocity ratio greater than 1. Under powered or extra heavy boats will be less than 1.

LOA/Beam: 3.14 (dimensionless). This ratio measures the fineness of the hull. Fine hulls, having ratios greater than 3.0, are long and slender which promotes easy motion, higher speeds (via lower drag), and good balance when heeled. Many newer designs favor wider hulls for the larger interior volume, sail flatter, and have high reaching and down wind speed potential.

Roll acceleration: 0.06661G. Roll acceleration has been related to four physiological states: imperceptible, tolerable, threshold of malaise, and intolerable. Malaise starts at 0.1G, intolerable begins at 0.18G. Spending much time under these levels of acceleration reduces physical effectiveness and decision making ability through sleep deprivation.

Roll period: 3.8 seconds. A sailboat�s roll period is inversely proportional to its stability. Tender boats have long periods, stiff boats have short periods. Boats with periods less than 4 seconds are stiff and periods greater than 8 seconds are tender. The roll period is related to LOA and strongly related to the comfort factor.