Design and Construction
Davidson specified exactly the shape of the keel and rudder, and the lead keel was through-bolted with seven 15 mm bolts to solid 100 by 100 mm glassed-over kauri floors — a structure that speaks to the boat's deliberately unpretentious robustness. The first 50 hulls carried timber and ply decks and cabins; later a GRP balsa cabin and deck became available, and those all-GRP boats gained slightly more interior room because Blundell widened the cabin mould. The hull itself carries a lot of buoyancy with full ends, and the outboard, balanced rudder hangs from pintles on the stern. Around 1981, with 120 boats sold, Export Yachts bought the rights and moulds from Blundell; only about 18 more were built in New Zealand before the original moulds were lost to fire and replacement moulds saw little use before Export Yachts liquidated in 1987. For many years the design continued in Australia as the Cavalier 28, at first an exact copy and later lengthened to 30 feet with the rudder moved inboard.
Rig and Handling
The Davidson 28 carries a conservatively sized, keel-stepped masthead rig, and as drawn she carried four headsails. Under sail she performs excellently, with easy and predictable handling, no vices, and a stiff posture in a breeze. Club handicaps typically place her alongside boats two to four feet longer, a fair reflection of her real speed potential. Steering is light and the boat is highly manoeuvrable, qualities that suit her outboard balanced rudder and balanced profile. Don Jones has crossed the Tasman three times in his Davidson 28 without difficulty, a useful field note on her offshore composure.
Accommodations
The interior was unusual for New Zealand at the time: the galley runs along most of the starboard side, with a dinette to port. The heads sits in its own compartment forward of the mast, and headroom runs a consistent 1.8 metres through the cabin. That layout, paired with the slightly widened cabin on later GRP boats, gives the 28-foot hull a genuinely roomy feel for a family cruiser of her era.
Known Issues
Blundell maintained there are no weaknesses in the design when built to specification, save for the occasional rudder failure, which was usually traced to owners departing from Davidson's drawings. Age-related osmosis is now appearing after a comparatively clean early history. Prospective owners should therefore look hard at rudder construction against the original plans and at hull gelcoat below the waterline.
Refits and Ownership
Engines were typically the Bukh 10 or similar, mounted under the cockpit. Nine boats were built to MOT specifications for Rainbow Yacht Charters, and 16 were sold before the first was even launched — early demand that underscores how the design found its market among pragmatic cruising owners. With around 128 examples in New Zealand and a long Australian production run as the Cavalier 28, the class has a documented spread of factory and amateur finishes to evaluate.
The Verdict
The Davidson 28 is a purpose-built anti-IOR family cruiser that delivers more performance than her length suggests and a roomy, practical interior. She is stiff, predictable, and manoeuvrable, with a rugged keel structure and a clear design lineage. The caveats are few but specific: rudder integrity depends on adherence to Davidson's foil drawings, and osmosis is an emerging age-related concern.
Pros
- Excellent sailing performance with easy, predictable handling and no vices
- Lead keel through-bolted to solid glassed kauri floors
- Roomy, unconventional galley-forward layout with 1.8 m headroom
- Strong class history across NZ and Australian Cavalier 28 production
Cons
- Occasional rudder failure where owner builds diverged from drawings
- Age-related osmosis now emerging
- Mostly amateur-finished boats demand careful individual inspection
