Design and Construction
Schmitt blended traditional above-water styling—an oval stem, semi-clipper bow, and raised flush deck—with a modern underbody carrying a fairly long fin keel and a skeg-mounted rudder. The raised deck amidships gives the 37-foot 3-inch hull an interior volume that makes her seem larger than some longer conventional boats, and the same deck structure yields an amazing amount of working space outside. The hull and deck are extraordinarily heavy solid-glass layups with no core material anywhere, so the solid-fiberglass deck will never suffer from water intruding into a core, and 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, while the cast-lead keel is glassed into a hollow molding and then glassed over to form a double bottom that locks the ballast in place. Forty percent of the advertised displacement sits in that ballast keel, and 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 with Airex pads along their edges to spread load without hard spots, and the rudder hangs on a solid 2-inch bronze stock with a heel fitting that would look more at home on a 60-footer.
Rig and Handling
The CSY 37 was offered in two keel configurations and two rigs, though most left the factory with the standard short rig. Practical Sailor found the tall rig—about eight feet taller with two spreader sets—greatly enhanced performance, and owner surveys showed the most satisfied sailors had tall rigs. To avoid running backstays, the lower shrouds attach several feet aft of the mast, but this means the boom and main fetch up on those shrouds too soon when broad reaching. With chainplates at the hull’s outboard edge, the sheeting base is excessively wide, making it hard to sheet a genoa tight enough to windward; off the wind she is stable and comes into her own. The tall rig makes her more tender, and testers noted the cut-down keel combined with that rig to produce excessive leeway when heeled past roughly 20 degrees. Her turning radius is substantially larger than a shorter-keeled boat’s, and Practical Sailor found her no performance cruiser even with the tall rig and deeper keel.
Accommodations
Two interior arrangements were available: a two-stateroom, two-head plan used primarily in the charter trade, and a single-stateroom, single-head layout. The raised deck drives huge interior volume, and owners report the three-step companionway is a rare easy entry to a cabin. Six opening hatches or skylights supplement the companionway, and the ice box is split 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 with only limited bilge access openings.
Deck Equipment and Known Issues
A massive stainless bow weldment carries the anchor roller, chock, and headstay chainplate, though the chock edges are not rounded, and there is only a single bow cleat. A rugged horizontal electric windlass from Ideal was original, and heavy travelers for main and staysail sit on the main deck. The huge cockpit is partitioned from the engine space by well-divided lockers, with four large scuppers—yet some owners have commented that water backs up through those scuppers. The optional 110-VAC refrigeration compressor sits in the port locker with wiring exposed to weather when the lid opens. The molded trailboard shield below the bow became standard after several CSY boats lost trailboards in heavy seas. With that enormous cockpit, she is not an ideal sea boat.
Refits and Ownership
The through-bolted bronze seacocks and the standard fiberglass seahood protecting the companionway slide reflect an era of overbuilding; the starboard locker holds what one reviewer called the best battery box installation seen on a stock boat of that period. CSY ceased operations in 1981, so later support is owner-driven. The Perkins 4-108 is the smallest engine a reviewer would want in her, and the Westerbeke 37-hp diesel was fitted as standard.
The Verdict
The CSY 37 is a heavily built, volume-rich 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 over 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 effective hull-to-deck joint
Cons
- Huge cockpit and wide sheeting base make her poor upwind and not an ideal sea boat
- Water backing up through cockpit scuppers reported by some owners
- Exposed refrigeration wiring and unrounded bow chock edges as built
