What sets the Sailer 29 apart is the way Colvic brought her to market. The company supplied a moulded hull-and-deck package, which a wide range of companies and individual owners then completed.
Design and Construction
Colvic Craft moulded the hulls and decks in Essex, typically supplying them with the internal structural bulkheads and engines already installed. Because the hulls were fitted out by many different companies and individuals, interior standards—and the final cost of each boat—varied greatly.
The Sailer 29 came with either fin or bilge keels. On both versions, the keels were moulded as an integral part of the hull and carried encapsulated ballast. Both also used skeg-hung rudders.
The bilge keels have the near-vertical form also seen on the Colvic 26. They were shaped this way for ease of moulding, but are deep enough to provide adequate cruising performance. Displacement is about 10,000 lbs, including roughly 4,500 lbs of ballast. The keel and rudder arrangement reflects a practical, volume-oriented cruising brief rather than a racing one.
Rig and Handling
The Sailer 29 is a masthead sloop carrying 452 square feet of mainsail and genoa. With a modest sail plan driving a 10,000 lb hull on a 24-foot waterline, she was designed for steady family passage-making rather than sparkling pace.
The twin-keel version can use drying berths and shallow harbours while still tracking well enough for extended cruising. The skeg-hung rudder adds a measure of protection and predictability in following seas.
Accommodation
Feltham’s drawings provided six berths across the boat’s considerable beam: two in the forecabin, a convertible double and a single in the saloon, and two outboard pilot berths. The hull’s volume made this a roomy arrangement for a boat of her length.
Layouts are far from uniform, however, because so many boats were completed by owners or independent yards. One illustrated example was finished to a very high standard with an unusual 2+2 arrangement tailored to its owner. It had a larger galley, fewer berths, and a bigger heads than usual for a 29-footer.
That boat sailed from the UK to the Mediterranean, spent a long period there, and returned. Its voyage provides a useful example of the platform’s bluewater credibility in private hands.
Known Issues
The one documented quirk concerns fore-and-aft trim. On the illustrated yacht, the bow sat noticeably high until the forward holding tank was filled, which reduced the bow-up attitude.
Owners and buyers should therefore be aware that tank levels can affect the design’s fore-and-aft balance. A survey should establish whether a particular boat shows the same tendency, depending on how its tankage was installed during fitout.
Ownership and Refits
Owning a Sailer 29 means accepting that no two boats are finished alike. Colvic supplied a structurally complete moulding for others to fit out, so systems, joinery, and tankage vary from hull to hull. Any refit needs to begin with a frank assessment of what the original finisher did well and what was improvised.
The bilge-keel model particularly suits owners who can make use of its shallow draft. Both versions share the same straightforward combination of encapsulated ballast and a skeg-hung rudder, which keeps long-term upkeep undemanding.
The Verdict
The Colvic Sailer 29 is a sensible, beamy family cruiser with real offshore miles in private hands. Its unusual production model placed a sound hull beneath whatever interior a prospective buyer now finds.
She isn’t a performance boat, and the wide variation in fitout quality makes a careful survey of each example essential. Even so, the underlying platform is honest and capacious.
Pros
- High-volume hull with six-berth potential and a beamy, roomy interior
- Colvic Craft moulding with integral keels and encapsulated ballast for structural simplicity
- Bilge-keel version suited to shallow-water cruising and drying berths
- Proven on a UK-to-Mediterranean-and-back passage in owner-completed form
Cons
- Fitout quality varies widely because many different companies and individuals completed the hulls
- Bow-up trim on at least one boat when its forward holding tank was empty
