Design and Construction
The hull is solid fiberglass, and the lead ballast is encapsulated within the fiberglass keel layup and glassed over, bypassing external keel bolts — a construction approach that removes a classic source of keel-root weeping. Allied built its hull-to-deck joints with an outward-turned flange on both hull and deck, through-bolted on five-inch centers with marine adhesive sealant between, glassed over internally, and capped by an extruded aluminum rubrail. All bulkheads were tabbed directly to the hull. Decks used a balsa core, and the yard's general practice in this era was solid, hand-laid hull laminates with conservative extra thickness in the bilge. The attached rudder and long-keel profile suit a boat whose capsize screening value is 1.75 and whose motion comfort ratio is 35.9 — figures consistent with a stable, damped offshore hull rather than a lively weekender.
Rig and Handling
The ketch rig carries noticeably more canvas than the average similar sailboat — she is slightly overrigged, with a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 14.81 and more rig than most peers lets a heavy hull make progress in modest airs. That reserve still offers the ketch's split-rig handling advantages downwind and in gusts. Her wetted surface runs about 365 square feet, and her theoretical displacement-hull speed is 7.3 knots. The immersion rate of about 1,246 pounds per inch means she sits deep and changes trim slowly under load, reinforcing the heavy-cruiser character. The standard running and control ropes are sized accordingly: mainsail, jib, genoa, and spinnaker halyards all run 31 meters at a half-inch diameter, while sheets and the mainsheet (29.4 meters) are 14 mm, and shorter controls such as the cunningham (4.4 meters) and kicking strap or clew outhaul (8.8 meters) are half-inch.
Accommodations and Layout
The Mistress 39 Mk II was introduced by Allied as a ketch-rigged cruiser in the Edmunds line that also included the Princess 36. Within the 12-foot beam and heavy-displacement hull, the boat reads as a dedicated cruiser rather than a volume-maximized charter hull. Period construction used woodgrain Formica veneer in the cabin through the mid-to-late seventies before the yard shifted to natural wood finishes on later builds. The long-keel, attached-rudder underwater profile and the deep, slow-trimming hull argue for a comfortable liveaboard or passage orientation rather than a racing interior plan.
The Verdict
The Mistress 39 Mk II is a thoroughly traditional heavy cruiser: solid glass hull, encapsulated lead ballast with no external keel bolts, a split ketch rig with generous sail area, and a stable, slow-trimming hull tuned for offshore comfort. She is not a lightweight or a shoal-draft novelty, and her length-to-beam and displacement ratios mark her as a boat built to carry a cruising load rather than to win buoy races.
Pros
- Encapsulated lead ballast in the keel layup avoids external keel-bolt leakage paths
- Slightly overrigged ketch plan with more sail than most peers aids heavy-boat light-air performance
- High motion comfort ratio and capsize screening value suit extended cruising
Cons
- Heavy displacement and 1,246 lb/in immersion rate make her slow to accelerate and trim
- Balsa-cored deck demands careful inspection for moisture ingress
- Pre-1979 Formica interior finish may feel dated versus later natural-wood builds
