Design and Construction
The 1400 is built predominantly of fiberglass, with hull and deck laid up in resin and gelcoat selected for long life and good cosmetic appearance. The boat is strong but light, and the hull carries positive internal flotation — a sensible choice for a board boat that invites spray. A center-strip design runs through the hull, and the deck and hull are solid fiberglass rather than cored. The two-piece Windward mast is clear-coat anodized aluminum for durability and is meant to assemble and break down with ease, complementing the unstayed catboat rig and loose-footed sail that test sailors found made cartopping preparation simple. Buyers could even order the boat in a custom color and design straight from the factory, a rarity among small builders.
Rig and Handling
The 1400 wears an unstayed catboat rig with anodized aluminum spars and a sail of 75 square feet raised on a traditional halyard. The sail plan is loose-footed, with the mainsheet led to the daggerboard trunk and a 3:1 mechanical advantage boom vang for control. A retractable daggerboard gives a draft of 1.33 feet extended and just 0.40 feet retracted, which lets the boat be beached or cartopped on a roof rack. The wide beam — 4.42 feet — drew comment from testers who credited it with higher-than-average board boat stability. On the water the boat carries a Portsmouth Yardstick handicap of 96.0, though that figure is flagged as suspect in the same reference. The 1400 is normally raced singlehanded but can carry three people, and it remains the only sailboat of its size offered with an optional jib kit that lets a sailor swap between a single mainsail and a main-and-jib setup.
Accommodations
This is a dinghy, not a cruiser, yet the cockpit is one of its defining features. The footwell is generous — over 13 inches deep — and shaped so sailors sit with legs below them rather than bunched at the chest. There is ample room for two adults, and the open cockpit layout serves both the recreational sailor and the one-design racer. A transom-hung, kick-up rudder on a tiller is standard, and all hardware is Harken, which speaks to a builder aiming above the usual hardware tier for a boat this size.
Launching and Ownership
At 140 pounds, the 1400 is a breeze to launch from shore, and two people can lift and move it by hand or on a dolly. The kick-up rudder and retractable board make it equally at home on a trailer or a car roof. Barnett Boats built the design in Libertyville, Illinois, then Kenosha and Green Lake, Wisconsin, before going out of business in 2007; Windward Boatworks of Middleton, Wisconsin then acquired the assets and kept the design in production. For an owner, that continuity means the name behind the boat is still active.
The Verdict
The Barnett 1400 is a thoughtful one-design dinghy that punches above its 13.8 feet. It pairs a light, flotation-equipped fiberglass hull with a genuinely roomy cockpit and a rig simple enough to cartop yet flexible enough to accept a jib. The wide beam lends it stability rare among board boats, and the daggerboard-and-kickup-rudder package makes launch and recovery trivial. The main caveat is inherent to the type: expect to get wet.
Pros
- Strong-but-light fiberglass hull with positive flotation and durable gelcoat finish
- Roomy, deep cockpit with space for two adults and a low seating position
- Simple unstayed cat rig with two-piece mast that breaks down for cartopping
- Retractable daggerboard and kick-up rudder for beaching, trailering, roof transport
- Optional jib kit unique in its size class; Harken hardware throughout
Cons
- Board-boat character means the crew should expect to get wet
- Portsmouth handicap of 96.0 is listed as suspect
