The search results provide a good amount of information for the Newbridge Navigator.
Here's a breakdown of what I found and how I'll use it:
- Introduction:
- Designer: Robert Tucker
- Builder: Newbridge Boats Ltd.
- Production Start Year: 1977 (Builder article says "around 1980" for Navigator) - I'll use 1977 from the/sailboatdata.
- Essence/Purpose: Affordable, practical, seaworthy, ideal for family cruising, coastal adventures, inland waterways, small cruiser, pottering. Some suggest it's a "marina queen" with loads of space for its size.
- Reputation: Can be seen as "chubby", "sails like a brick" by some, but others praise good build quality and that it "sails not bad" and handles well for its purpose.
- History and Design:
- Designer: Robert Tucker, known for "huge numbers" of designs, often using chine plywood and bilge keel configurations.
- Newbridge ethos: Affordability, practicality, well-built, easy to handle.
- Navigator design goal: Popular due to performance, spacious interior, and affordability. A small sailboat designed in the late seventies.
- Variations: Mention of junk-rigged versions. Also available in fin and bilge keel versions, in addition to the centerboard from the, 12, 19].
- Sailing Performance and Handling:
- It's a small boat, so no ratios.
- General consensus: "Chubby little cruiser", "pottering more than 'performance'". Not the most close-winded. Some say "sails like a brick" or "like a bungalow sideways", others say it "sails not bad" and "handled well". Performance is not its strong point, but accommodation and family sailing are.
- Stability: One owner mentioned "a gust of wind came through, you were suddenly standing on the lockers looking at the sea" which suggests it can heel, but generally considered stable for coastal cruising with its twin keel (bilge) design.
- Keel types: Centerboard (from), also fin and bilge keel versions, 12, 19]. Bilge keels allowed drying out.
- Accommodations and Layout:
- "Loads of space for a 19 footer".
- Sleeps 2 adults with comfort.
- Interior layout had to be designed around the keel case.
- Maximum headroom is 4ft 8in (1.42m).
- Typically a 4-berth family motor sailor.
- Some comments mention no upholstery or table inside in a boat needing work.
- Owner's Perspectives:
- Strengths: Good build quality, handled well for its purpose, good for family sailing and accommodation, shallow draft for taking to ground, comfortable for 2 adults.
- Weaknesses/Common Issues: Some criticisms of sailing performance ("sails like a brick", not close-winded). One mention of bilge keels splaying. General issues like "all boats are a compromise".
- Active owner community: Newbridge and Venturer Owners Association.
I have sufficient information from the provided context and grounded search to generate the article following all instructions.