Corbin 39 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Corbin and Dufour agreed to raise the topsides and adopt a flush deck, and that flush deck is what still makes the boat a standout anchor. The hull is a matt-and-roving fiberglass shell sandwiching an Airex closed-cell foam core well below the waterline, then turning to solid glass down through the keel, with a laminate schedule calling for eleven layers of glass and a 16 mm Airex core for real structural depth. Ballast is encapsulated lead, and the builder claimed eight extra fiberglass layers between ballast and hull would keep the boat from sinking if the external glass were breached. Decks are a fiberglass sandwich on a 3/4-inch marine-grade mahogany core with non-skid gelcoat, and there are no interior hull mouldings; plywood bulkheads are foam-cushioned before being glassed in. Construction was unchanged across the aft- and centre-cockpit production runs.

Rig and Handling

Early Corbin 39s carried either a 46-foot single-spreader or a 51-foot double-spreader mast, while later versions used a 49-foot double-spreader rig; all sticks are deck-stepped and stayed with 5/16-inch 9-by-32 wire, and the ketch main sits where the cutter mast steps. The mark 1 cutter used the aft mast position, and the forward step on revised boats appears to have been moved to cure weather helm in the early hulls. Owners report that only the tall-mast cutter shows weather helm, becoming slightly annoying near 15 knots and needing a reef as the wind builds on a reach. A 50-foot mast without bowsprit shows the same tendency, eased by the mainsheet; extending the skeg forward seven inches and adding a bowsprit with in-mast furling are owner-proven cures. Light-air manners are a strength — the boat ghosts along and passes more performance-minded designs, though she is not sharp to windward until she builds way.

Accommodations

The flush deck and smallish cockpit combine to make the interior huge for a boat of its size. The aft-cockpit layout opens under a large pilothouse with a centre-line steering console, nav station, quarter berth or hanging locker to port, and settee to starboard; two steps drop to the saloon beneath the flush deck with a large galley to port and fridge or freezer to starboard, dinette forward of the fridge, and head plus hanging locker dividing the salon from the forward vee-berth. Headroom is generous throughout, fixed hull ports admit light, and eight opening deck hatches ventilate. Forward, two enormous sail and chain lockers on the foredeck swallow anchors, chain, docklines, and even a deflated dinghy. The centre-cockpit version adds a separate aft stateroom and can be rigged as a ketch with upper and lower helm stations.

Known Issues

Some hulls show fibreglass roving show-through, and decks can craze where thick paint was applied. Owners have also reported compression-post corrosion where the steel meets bilge or braces against deck, commonly corrected by fitting 316 stainless posts. Early boats concentrated the mainsheet traveller on the bridge deck, crowding a cockpit already tight with boom gallows and hydraulic pedestal, and cockpit lockers are undersized on every version. Weather helm on the tall rig is the one recurring sailing vice.

Refits and Ownership

A 1982 factory fire at Chateauguay destroyed the deck moulds and prompted a redesign: the aft-cockpit model gained a larger cockpit, higher pilothouse trunk, taller rig with mast moved 2.5 feet forward, and forestay led to a three-foot bowsprit with dual rollers, while the centre-cockpit received a pilothouse. Most Corbin 39s were finished by amateurs from kit stages ranging from bare hull to motor-away or sail-away packages, so final quality tracks the builder; about 15 factory demo boats were custom-finished to a high standard. The Corbin 39 Owners’ Association supports owners, and the moulds now rest with a former employee who may build to order.

The Verdict

The Corbin 39 is a thoughtfully evolved bluewater cutter whose flush deck delivers uncommon volume for a 39-footer, backed by a genuinely thick foam-core hull and encapsulated ballast. She is happy in light air and reassuring in heavy weather, and the owner community keeps the design alive. The trade-offs are an early weather-helm tendency on the tall rig, cramped early cockpits with tiny lockers, and condition that varies wildly with amateur finish quality.

Pros