Columbia 45 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

The hull is solid hand-laid fiberglass with 5 feet of freeboard topsides, a choice that buys interior volume and keeps swamping waves down in heavy weather. The deck is essentially flush except for the raised deckhouse, which is tall square fiberglass with large forward and side portlights; the side surfaces run aft without lights to become the cockpit seats and coamings. Earlier boats carried aluminum-rimmed clear glass portlights, while later hulls moved to smoked glass and then flush smoked plexiglass, some with a wide horizontal stripe aft to tidy the look. Owners consistently describe hull and rigging as heavy and stout, and the rudder is skeg-hung and relatively large, with plenty of grip on any point of sail. The keel itself is iron, fastened by steel bolts that pass through the fiberglass hull, then a roughly 2-foot-wide plywood sandwich running the length of the keel—the only wood in the entire hull—then more fiberglass, with a steel channel bedded inside by marine putty and a marine-grade epoxy gluing hull to keel. A deep fin draws 7 feet 3 inches and weighs about 10,300 lbs for a 41% ballast-to-displacement ratio; the long shoal fin draws 5 feet 3 inches, weighs 2,000 lbs more, and lifts the ratio to 46%. At 25,000 lbs displacement, the 45 is a conservative yet modern cruising form rather than a racer.

Rig and Handling

Both masthead sloop and masthead ketch rigs were offered, the ketch carrying roughly 10% more sail area but performing about the same as the sloop due to mizzen inefficiencies, and the deep fin is the better performer under either. The main mast is keel-stepped; on the ketch the mizzen steps on the rudder skeg, a sound structural detail. The working jib is self-tacking on its own car and track forward of the mast, halyard winches sit on the masts, and only two sheet winches live at the aft end of the cockpit coamings—an easy-to-manage rig, though there is no room to add more winches there. A ketch-rigged fin-keel 45 shows a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 14.6. On the water, the shaft is slightly off-center to starboard, letting the shaft and prop clear the rudder skeg for removal; under power the bow walks to starboard from a dead stop and she backs to starboard. One owner motorsailing down the California coast with only a 150% genoa and the 85 hp Perkins averaged 9 to 13 knots. The cockpit is open aft to the rear deck, seats are long enough to lounge on, and beneath each is a large locker.

Accommodations

Below, the 45 boasts voluminous space with standing headroom throughout, two good staterooms, two heads, and many with dual showers. The raised saloon was often left unfitted by Columbia, letting owners build to taste; some boats added an interior helm with wheel, engine controls, and instruments. Forward and down to starboard is a dinette undersized by modern standards—two adults only—with a wraparound galley to port open to the saloon, fitted with a gas range and oven forward, large icebox aft, and deep two-basin sink outboard. The forward head with shower sits to port but has no opening hatch; opposite is a huge hanging locker, and forward again a v-berth stateroom with a large opening hatch. Aft of the saloon, the owner's stateroom occupies nearly a third of the boat's interior volume, with standing headroom except above the berth, a large ensuite head with separate shower, and a master berth more than queen size stretching port to starboard and all the way aft—interrupted on the ketch by the mizzen mast. Flexibility is a strong point: the layout adapts to a larger crew.

Known Issues

The ungainly deckhouse leads many to overlook her at first glance, and the plywood sandwich above the keel is prone to rot where it sits in the bilge. The factory diesel tanks were glassed in place and nearly impossible to extract without major cutting. The galley sink's outboard position drains poorly on a starboard tack if the cook won't heave to. Ventilation is tight near the equator, and the forward head's missing hatch doesn't help. One 45 lost her forestay 200 miles off Australia in 30 knots and took nearly four hours to rig an emergency stay with no mast or cabin damage; another was driven ashore in Hurricane Hugo, bounced off a concrete dock, and ended atop a house with a still-sound hull when lifted off.

Refits and Ownership

Aluminum-framed portlights on early boats can be swapped for smoked plexiglass, and fixed lights can become opening units, with hatches and dorades added as many owners have done. A ketch converts to sloop relatively easily by pulling the mizzen and fitting a new main boom, the ketch's main mast being the same height as the sloop's with a 1.5-foot-shorter boom. Systems access is excellent: large hatches in the raised saloon sole expose engine, batteries, and tanks, easing repairs and upgrades. A separate propane locker lives in the aft-deck lazarette, and the electrical panel sits conveniently outboard of the companionway steps.

The Verdict

The Columbia 45 is a tough, spacious motorsailer with a conservative hull and a flexible interior that rewards owner customization. She is no lightweight performer, but owners who have taken her across oceans and through hurricanes speak to a genuinely stout boat. The deckhouse aesthetics and a few rot-prone details are the price of admission.

Pros