Today, the 45 looks like an early take on the modern deck saloon: a voluminous, conservative hull topped by a tall, square deckhouse and wrapped around a solid hand-laid fiberglass shell. Her proportions are moderate rather than stylish, with no pinched stern, extreme overhangs, or aggressive initial tenderness—just moderate beam and overhangs fore and aft.
Design and Construction
At 25,000 lbs displacement, the Columbia 45 is a conservative yet modern cruising design rather than a racer. Her solid, hand-laid fiberglass hull has 5 feet of freeboard, providing interior volume and helping keep swamping waves down in heavy weather.
The deck is essentially flush apart from the raised deckhouse, a tall, square fiberglass structure with large forward and side portlights. Its side surfaces continue aft without lights to become the cockpit seats and coamings. Early boats had clear glass portlights in aluminum frames. Later hulls moved first to smoked glass and then to flush smoked plexiglass; some also had a wide horizontal stripe aft to tidy the appearance.
Owners consistently describe the hull and rigging as heavy and stout. The relatively large, skeg-hung rudder provides plenty of grip on any point of sail.
The iron keel is secured by steel bolts that pass through the fiberglass hull, then through a roughly 2-foot-wide plywood sandwich running the length of the keel, and finally through another layer of fiberglass. This plywood is the only wood in the entire hull. Inside, a steel channel is bedded in marine putty, while marine-grade epoxy bonds the hull to the keel.
The deep fin draws 7 feet 3 inches and weighs about 10,300 lbs, giving a 41% ballast-to-displacement ratio. The long shoal fin draws 5 feet 3 inches, weighs 2,000 lbs more, and raises that ratio to 46%.
Rig and Handling
Columbia offered both masthead sloop and masthead ketch rigs. The ketch carries roughly 10% more sail area but performs about the same as the sloop because of mizzen inefficiencies. With either rig, the deep fin is the better performer. A ketch-rigged, fin-keel Columbia 45 has a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 14.6.
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, running on its own car and track forward of the mast. Halyard winches are mounted on the masts, while only two sheet winches sit at the aft end of the cockpit coamings. The resulting rig is easy to manage, although there’s no room to add more winches in that location.
Under power, the shaft sits slightly off-center to starboard, allowing the shaft and propeller to clear the rudder skeg for removal. From a dead stop, the bow walks to starboard, and the boat also 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. Its seats are long enough for lounging, with a large locker beneath each one.
Accommodations
Below, the Columbia 45 offers voluminous space with standing headroom throughout, two good staterooms, and two heads; many boats also have dual showers. The raised saloon was often left unfitted by Columbia so owners could finish it to their own preferences. Some boats gained an inside helm with a wheel, engine controls, and instruments.
Forward and down to starboard, the dinette is undersized by modern standards, seating only two adults. Opposite, a wraparound galley opens to the saloon. It has a gas range and oven forward, a large icebox aft, and a deep two-basin sink outboard.
The forward head and shower are to port, but there’s no opening hatch. A huge hanging locker sits opposite. Farther forward, the V-berth stateroom has a large opening hatch.
Aft of the saloon, the owner’s stateroom occupies nearly a third of the boat’s interior volume. It has standing headroom except above the berth, along with a large ensuite head and separate shower. The master berth is more than queen size, extending from port to starboard and all the way aft. On ketch-rigged boats, however, the mizzen mast interrupts it.
Flexibility is one of the layout’s strengths, and the interior can be adapted for a larger crew.
Known Issues
The ungainly deckhouse leads many to overlook her at first glance. More seriously, the plywood sandwich above the keel is prone to rot where it sits in the bilge.
The factory diesel tanks were glassed into place and are nearly impossible to remove without major cutting. In the galley, the sink’s outboard position means it drains poorly on starboard tack if the cook won’t heave to. Ventilation can be inadequate near the equator, and the lack of an opening hatch in the forward head doesn’t help.
Two incidents provide examples of the boat surviving severe conditions. One Columbia 45 lost her forestay 200 miles off Australia in 30 knots. Rigging an emergency stay took nearly four hours, but the mast and cabin suffered no damage. Another was driven ashore during Hurricane Hugo, bounced off a concrete dock, and came to rest atop a house. When she was lifted off, the hull was still sound.
Refits and Ownership
The aluminum-framed portlights on early boats can be replaced with smoked plexiglass. Fixed lights can also be converted to opening units, while hatches and dorades can be added, as many owners have done.
Converting a ketch to a sloop is relatively straightforward: remove the mizzen and fit a new main boom. The ketch’s main mast is the same height as the sloop’s, though its boom is 1.5 feet shorter.
Systems access is excellent. Large hatches in the raised saloon sole expose the engine, batteries, and tanks, making repairs and upgrades easier. A separate propane locker is located in the aft-deck lazarette, and the electrical panel is conveniently placed 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’s no lightweight performer, but accounts from owners who have taken her across oceans and through hurricanes support her reputation as a genuinely stout boat. The ungainly deckhouse and a few rot-prone details are the price of admission.
Pros
- Voluminous interior with standing headroom and an aft stateroom occupying nearly a third of the boat
- Stout hull and rigging, a skeg-hung rudder, and reported survival of severe storms
- Easy-to-manage rig with a self-tacking working jib
- Excellent access to the engine, batteries, and tanks
- Strong auxiliary power and flexible sloop or ketch configuration
Cons
- Plywood keel sandwich is prone to rot
- Glassing-in makes the factory fuel tanks difficult to remove
- Ungainly deckhouse and poor ventilation near the equator
- Undersized dinette
- Galley sink drains poorly on starboard tack
- Mizzen mast interrupts the master berth on ketch-rigged boats
