Design and Construction
Schmitt combined traditional styling above the waterline—an oval stem, semi-clipper bow, and raised flush deck—with a modern underbody featuring a fairly long fin keel and skeg-mounted rudder. The 37-foot 3-inch hull’s raised deck creates enough interior volume to make the CSY 37 feel larger than some longer, conventionally shaped boats. It also provides an amazing amount of working space on deck.
The hull and deck use extraordinarily heavy solid-glass layups, with no core material anywhere. As a result, the solid-fiberglass deck will never suffer from water intruding into a core. Blistering has not been a problem on these hulls.
The hull-to-deck joint is simple and effective. Overlapping flanges form a molded rail, bedded and through-bolted on close centers. The cast-lead keel is glassed into a hollow molding, then glassed over to create a double bottom that locks the ballast in place. Forty percent of the advertised displacement is in the ballast keel. The deep-draft version adds a 16-inch extension filled with about 600 pounds of cast concrete.
Below, heavy waterproof-plywood bulkheads are filleted to the hull. Airex pads along their edges spread the loads without creating hard spots. The rudder hangs from a solid 2-inch bronze stock with a heel fitting that would look more at home on a 60-footer.
Rig, Keel Options, and Handling
The CSY 37 was offered with two keel configurations and two rigs, although most boats left the factory with the standard short rig. Practical Sailor found that the tall rig—about eight feet taller and fitted with two sets of spreaders—greatly improved performance. Owner surveys likewise showed that sailors with tall rigs were the most satisfied.
There are compromises. To avoid running backstays, the lower shrouds attach several feet aft of the mast. On a broad reach, however, the boom and mainsail fetch up on those shrouds too soon. The chainplates sit at the hull’s outboard edge, creating an excessively wide sheeting base that makes it difficult to sheet a genoa tightly enough for good windward work. Off the wind, the boat is stable and comes into her own.
The tall rig also makes the CSY 37 more tender. Testers noted that the cut-down keel combined with the tall rig produced excessive leeway when the boat heeled beyond roughly 20 degrees. Her turning radius is substantially larger than that of a shorter-keeled boat, and Practical Sailor found that she wasn’t a performance cruiser even with the tall rig and deeper keel.
Accommodations
Two interior arrangements were available. The two-stateroom, two-head plan was used primarily in the charter trade, while the alternative had a single stateroom and one head.
The raised deck creates huge interior volume, and owners report that the three-step companionway provides unusually easy access to the cabin. Six opening hatches or skylights supplement the companionway. The icebox is divided into two compartments with separate traps and at least four inches of urethane-foam insulation.
The teak-faced cabin sole is screwed to clear-fir bearers. Bilge access, however, is limited to relatively small openings.
Deck, Cockpit, and Equipment
A massive stainless-steel bow weldment carries the anchor roller, chock, and headstay chainplate. The chock edges aren’t rounded, however, and there is only one bow cleat. A rugged horizontal electric windlass from Ideal was original equipment, while heavy travelers for the mainsail and staysail sit on the main deck.
The cockpit is huge and separated from the engine space by well-divided lockers. It has four large scuppers, yet some owners have reported that water backs up through those scuppers. Its enormous size also means the CSY 37 isn’t an ideal sea boat.
The optional 110-VAC refrigeration compressor is installed in the port locker. Its wiring is exposed to the weather whenever the lid is opened. Below the bow, a molded trailboard shield became standard after several CSY boats lost their trailboards in heavy seas.
Machinery, Systems, and Ownership
The through-bolted bronze seacocks and standard fiberglass seahood protecting the companionway slide reflect the CSY 37’s overbuilt character. In the starboard locker, one reviewer found what they called the best battery-box installation seen on a stock boat of that period.
The Westerbeke 37-hp diesel was fitted as standard. The Perkins 4-108 is the smallest engine a reviewer would want in this boat.
CSY ceased operations in 1981, so subsequent support has been driven by owners.
The Verdict
The CSY 37 is a heavily built, spacious charter derivative that favors comfort and robustness over sailing brilliance. She suits a buyer who values a bombproof hull, vast deck and cabin space, and simple systems more than windward pace.
Pros
- Extraordinarily heavy solid-glass hull and deck, with no core to fail
- Huge interior and deck volume from the raised flush deck
- Bronze rudder stock, through-bolted seacocks, and an effective hull-to-deck joint
Cons
- Huge cockpit and wide sheeting base make her poor upwind and less than ideal as a sea boat
- Some owners report water backing up through the cockpit scuppers
- Exposed refrigeration wiring and unrounded bow-chock edges as built
