Com-Pac 23 Mk IV Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Mills gave the boat a sweeping sheerline that runs aft from a short bowsprit and bends upward just ahead of the transom-hung rudder, and the box cabintrunk with round or oval bronze ports flows naturally into the deck lines. The hull is solid fiberglass with longitudinal stringers that encapsulate the bulkheads and stiffen the panels, while the deck is balsa-cored and molded outside the builder's shop. Below, the finish is above average for the class: handmade plywood bulkheads with teak veneers, teak cabin-side paneling, and a teak-and-holly sole that reads as a very nice touch on a small boat. The Mk IV keel and rudder both use a NACA airfoil low-drag, high-lift section, and the shoal fin draws just 2 feet 3 inches, letting the boat skip across shallows that deeper-draft cruisers must tack around.

Rig and Handling

The Com-Pac 23 carries a masthead sloop rig with a 30-foot mast that was engineered to be raised and lowered without a gin pole, a real advantage for a trailerable design. The standing rigging reads a bit undersized for the rig's height, though that is the trade made for easy stepping. On the water she is nimble but not close-winded; wide sheeting angles and a touch of weather helm appear when beating, yet she reaches beautifully and owners report touching her 6-knot theoretical hull speed fairly regularly on a reach. The hull shape tends to pitch but does not pound in a chop, and the shallow forefoot with long keel gives tractable behavior in thin water.

Accommodations

The nearly eight-foot beam makes the cabin genuinely spacious for a 23-footer, and there is just one step down to a saloon where standing headroom exists only under the companionway. Sleeping is honest for four: a double V-berth forward, a portable head stowed in a compartment between those bunks, and two straight settee quarter berths aft. The hide-away galley usually places a two-burner stovetop to port and a stainless sink to starboard, with a portable table that mounts on the bulkhead; two overhead hatches and six opening bronze ports keep the interior ventilated.

Cockpit and Deck Gear

The cockpit is the boat's best design feature: more than seven feet long, self-bailing, with two lockers and a bridgedeck, and surprisingly comfortable for days on the hook. Stainless pulpits and stanchions are beefy by small-boat standards, teak cabintop handrails and molded nonskid make the narrow side decks safe to work, and most boats carry bronze cleats with small standard sheet winches. The transom typically mounts both an outboard bracket and a swim ladder, which crowds that area somewhat.

Evolution and Variants

The original 1978 design begat the 23/2 in the mid-1980s with the hide-away galley and a bowsprit that moved the sail-area center of effort forward to reduce weather helm, then the 23/3 in the early 1990s with tooling upgrades such as larger oval ports. Later Mk IV changes brought a small ballast increase, on-deck anchor locker, PVC rubrail with stainless striker, foil rudder blade, and an optional 9 hp Yanmar inboard; the rare 23 D carried a 10 hp single-cylinder Yanmar diesel with only about 35 built. The vast majority of 23s left the factory with outboards, most seen on the market being 8 hp units with a built-in locker for a six-gallon tank.

The Verdict

The Com-Pac 23 Mk IV is a practical, traditional pocket cruiser that trades upwind precision for shoal-water freedom and a roomy, teak-trimmed cabin. She rewards the ramps-and-anchorage cruiser more than the buoy-racer, and her trailerable mast and shallow hull make her an accessible coastal camp cruiser.

Pros

Shoal 2'3" keel with NACA foil section opens shallow creeks and easy launches
Roomy cabin with real four-berth sleep and hide-away galley on a near-eight-foot beam
Mast steps without a gin pole; above-average teak-and-holly interior finish
Long, self-bailing cockpit with bridgedeck and secure beefy stanchions

Cons