CS 36 Sailboats for Sale

Layouts on the Used Market

The boat's interior is consistent across the Traditional generation: a forward V-berth, starboard head with shower, and port hanging locker, then a saloon with port and starboard settees around a centerline table, a port-aft galley, and a starboard navigation table that doubles as the quarter-berth head. A T-shaped cockpit with a high bridgedeck sits above a V-drive diesel mounted beneath the seats. Both keel options appear in the used fleet — the 6-foot-3-inch deep fin and the 4-foot-11-inch shoal draft — so buyers should confirm which they are boarding, as ground clearance and ballast differ.

Equipment and Common Upgrades

Used CS 36s commonly carry a bimini, dodger, autopilot, solar, heating, chartplotter, and inverter as standard cruising kit. Often-seen additions include spinnaker or asymmetric spinnaker gear, electric winches, radar, and hot water. For buyer consequence, the power-and-energy cluster (solar, inverter, and sometimes lithium batteries as an owner upgrade) matters most for liveaboard plans, while canvas and sail-handling items like a dodger and autopilot reduce short-handed effort. A freezer shows up less commonly and is a tell of a heavier cruising refit. The original stemhead and anchor locker remain, but verify the windlass plywood floor in the anchor well if a windlass is fitted.

What to Inspect

The single most safety-critical item is the through-hull configuration: the first-series hulls left the works with brass gate valves on bronze through-hulls below the waterline that must be replaced with marine-quality quarter-turn seacocks or ball valves, while later hulls adopted Marelon ball valves. The AC electrical system using solid copper wire not suited to marine use was not adequately circuit protected and is not properly grounded to the DC negative, so a full update is expected. LPG systems need pressure valves, overfill protection, and sealed storage lockers to meet current standards. The anchor well tended to fill in heavy sailing and was built around a plywood floor for a windlass, a spot to check for saturation. Some owners report water in the rudder, and any early deck-lifting repair should show heavier tabbing from the factory fix.

Availability and Buyer's Takeaway

The CS 36 Traditional turns up in Canada, the United States, and Fiji. For a buyer, the checklist is straightforward: confirm keel draft and ballast, budget for through-hull and AC electrical upgrades, inspect the anchor-well plywood and rudder for water, and verify the LPG system meets modern sealed-locker standards. A sound example rewards the work with a stiff, stable, well-built cruiser whose joiner quality stands above its production-era peers.