Her service history reflects that cruising brief. Practical Sailor noted that several companies, including Bahamas Yachting Services, have successfully employed the Endeavour 37 as a charter boat, and that the design has made safe ocean passages.
Design and Construction
The Endeavour 37 is a monohull with a fin keel and skeg-hung rudder. More precisely, the keel is a shallow, long “cruising fin,” with a straight run and a cutaway forefoot, terminating well forward of the spade rudder. It is part of the hull mold, with internal lead ballast dropped in and glassed over, so there are no keel bolts to worry about. That’s a meaningful simplification for a long-term owner.
The hull is a single-skin, solid-fiberglass laminate. The boat is heavily built and reasonably well finished; owners have described her as solid and “built like a tank.” No owners reported structural problems involving oilcanning panels or moving bulkheads.
Below, the interior is built up in plywood with teak trim. One owner, a woodworking hobbyist, praised the trim joints as excellent. The Endeavour trademark teak parquet cabin sole appears in both interior plans.
The boat displaces 20,000 pounds and carries 8,000 pounds of lead ballast, giving a ballast-displacement ratio of 40 percent. With an 11.58-foot beam and a maximum draft of 4.5 feet, she presents a shoal, stable platform.
Rig, Sailing Performance, and Handling
Most Endeavour 37s have a masthead sloop rig, although the company offered a ketch as a paid option. It later added a bowsprit to increase foretriangle area and make ground-tackle handling easier, along with a tall-mast option.
The rig is very simple and will seldom get a beginner into trouble. That simplicity doesn’t bring speed, however. The Endeavour 37 isn’t fast under either rig, nor was she intended to be. Windward performance was deliberately sacrificed for shoal draft. The sloop is somewhat underpowered, and sailing performance is marginal, especially upwind.
PHRF ratings range from 198 for the standard rig in the Gulf of Mexico to 177 for a tall rig with bowsprit racing in Florida. The boat’s hull speed is 7.34 knots.
Owners have reported heavy weather helm at higher wind speeds. One reported tacking through 115 degrees, while another noted excessive leeway. Many owners, however, find the boat’s balance satisfactory as long as they pay attention to sail trim, reefing, and sail combinations.
Deck and Cockpit
Wide, uncluttered side decks and an adequate, if narrow, foredeck provide room for sail changes and ground-tackle work. The toerail rises forward into a small bulwark. The high cockpit coaming serves as both a backrest and protection.
The cockpit is large—bordering on too large for offshore use. One owner found it too wide to brace across when the boat was heeled.
Accommodations
Endeavour offered two interior arrangements. Both sleep at least six and provide decent sea berths. Both also include chart tables, deep double sinks near the centerline, and the teak parquet cabin sole.
Plan A replaces the forward V-berths with an enormous U-shaped dinette. This leaves a large forepeak divided into chain and sail compartments, both accessible from the deck. The galley is a starboard-sideboard arrangement, with the head opposite amidships and two large double quarter berths aft.
Plan A came standard with hot and cold pressure water, a shower with an automatic sump, copper plumbing, and a porcelain sink. In the late 1970s, a three-burner alcohol stove and oven was standard.
Plan B is more conventional. It has forward V-berths, with a toilet compartment immediately abaft them. The saloon has settees arranged around an offset drop-leaf table, plus a pilot berth above the starboard settee. An aft galley and a private port quarter cabin complete the layout.
The pilot berth increases Plan B’s sleeping capacity to seven, although most owners converted it to stowage. The aft cabin is cramped, and some Plan B owners find the quarter cabin stuffy. The V-berths are also too short for anyone over six feet.
A high percentage of surveyed owners are liveaboards, and they consider the Endeavour 37 ideal for that purpose.
Machinery and Tankage
Standard power is a freshwater-cooled 50-hp Perkins 4-108 with 2.5:1 reduction. Tankage includes about 65 gallons of baffled fuel and 101 gallons of water. Together, the standard machinery and tankage provide real cruising range.
Tank placement has a drawback: the boat may list because of the location of the water and holding tanks.
Known Issues
Several recurring defects have marked the class. Numerous owners complained of gelcoat crazing, a fault also cited on the Endeavour 32.
Other reported problems include:
- Gate valves on through-hulls, which some owners correctly replaced with seacocks
- Side-loading refrigerators on some boats, later replaced with top-loading iceboxes
- Pumping of the Isomat spar
- Inaccessible electrical wiring
- Plastic Vetus hatches that crazed and dripped
- V-berths too short for anyone over six feet
- A tendency to list because of water- and holding-tank placement
These are service-life issues rather than structural failures.
Ownership and Refits
The Endeavour 37 lends itself to pragmatic upgrades. Through-hull gate valves, side-loading refrigerators, and Vetus hatches were common early fixes. The simple rig also keeps modifications straightforward.
For prospective owners, the boat’s appeal lies less in sailing speed than in solid construction, shoal draft, interior volume, and cruising practicality. Her shortcomings are equally clear: marginal upwind ability, reported heavy weather helm, several recurring fixture-level defects, and some cramped berths and cabins.
The Verdict
The Endeavour 37 is a straightforward, heavily built Florida cruiser that trades upwind sparkle for shoal-draft comfort and liveaboard practicality. She’s a sensible buyer’s boat for sailors who value solid construction and interior volume over speed.
Pros
- Solid-fiberglass hull with internal lead ballast and no keel bolts to maintain
- Two flexible interior plans, with liveaboard-friendly volume and standard pressure water in Plan A
- Simple, forgiving rig suited to newer sailors
- Proven charter and ocean-passage service history
Cons
- Marginal upwind performance, with heavy weather helm reported
- Gelcoat crazing and several fixture-level defects, including gate valves, Vetus hatches, and Isomat spar pumping
- V-berths too short for tall owners; aft and quarter cabins are cramped
- Large cockpit and a tendency to list because of tank placement
