CS 33 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Wall's hull is a hand-laid solid laminate with fiberglass box-beam floors carrying keel and hull loads, and every bulkhead is a walk-through unit bonded all the way around to hull and deck anchor. The hull-deck joint is through-bolted beneath an anodized aluminum toerail with butyl tape seated between the flanges, an effective seal that nonetheless oozes continually and needs annual cleaning. Forward of the keel the hull carries a deep-chested section running right to the bow, and the low stem angle lets her slice through waves without washing the cockpit. The keel itself is a high-aspect lead appendage bolted through almost two inches of solid glass in the bilge, and a shallow bilge sump spreads grounding loads across the hull. The rudder hangs on a partial skeg with gudgeon-and-pintle attachment, is hollow with twin stainless bars off the lower shaft, and is engineered so the lower third can break away while preserving steerage.

Rig and Handling

The masthead sloop rig uses quarter-inch 1x19 stainless wire, and instead of fore-and-aft lower shrouds a single baby stay checks mast pumping in a chop. The traveler sits on the coachroof, leaving room for full dodgers and enclosures on the rail, while the boom is sheeted to the house through a long mainsheet running forward to the gooseneck and back to a coachroof winch, with three reef lines and a 4:1 internal outhaul. With a 43 percent ballast-to-displacement ratio she stands up stiff and finds her stride as the wind builds. A 20-horsepower Bukh diesel from Denmark anchor drives a modest fuel capacity of just over 20 gallons.

Accommodations

Below, the V-berth runs 6 feet 6 inches with generous width, and the starboard settee folds out to a double over 6 feet 4 inches; to port a single berth has a footwell into the hanging locker, whose door doubles as the forward-cabin companionway. That locker is full-sized and cedar-lined, and Wall arranged the structure so the bow could carry all-chain ground tackle without upsetting trim. The U-shaped galley holds a two-burner propane stove with oven, deep sink, pressure water, and a 6.3-cubic-foot ice box ready for a freezer conversion. A full chart table and nav station sit beside a wet locker. Teak and wicker finish every cupboard inside and out, though teak was deliberately kept out of the heads to cut maintenance. Standard light came from large fixed windows, a Lexan sliding hatch, and a midcabin overhead hatch, with opening screened ports introduced in 1982. Tankage was generous: 35 gallons of water as standard, most often expanded to 70 with under-settee tanks, plus a 32-gallon holding tank.

Known Issues

The through-bolted joint's butyl seal weeps and must be wiped yearly. More serious is the hollow rudder: because glass bonded to stainless is not watertight, rudders fill with water, and in northern storage that trapped water freezes and can damage the blade — a small drain hole in fall mitigates it. A hard grounding at speed can fracture the floor member, a repair testers have pegged at a high four-figure sum. The finely finished cupboards also bury the deck bolts, making routine inspection of the hull-deck fastenings nearly impossible without disassembly.

Refits and Ownership

The 1982 ventilation upgrade is the most documented factory evolution, adding screened opening ports. The Bukh engine is seawater-cooled and in salt service should be flushed with fresh water regularly. A quarter-berth layout was offered but only about 15 were built, leaving the standard aft-cabin interior dominant on the used market.

The Verdict

The CS 33 is a thoughtfully engineered small cruiser whose construction details — walk-through bulkheads, deep forefoot, breakaway rudder — reveal a designer solving real cruising problems. She rewards an owner willing to stay ahead of weeping seams and rudder-water vigilance.

Pros