Design and Construction
The Gypsy's hull is listed as plywood in the standard record, though some individual boats were built with a fiberglass hull instead. The deck is a fiberglass-wood composite, and the boat carries a triple keel with roughly 1,001 pounds of iron ballast, giving a ballast ratio of about 24 percent. That triple-keel arrangement, paired with a draft of only 2.62 to 2.92 feet depending on load, lets the boat enter even shallow marinas that deeper fin-keelers cannot reach. The wetted surface measures about 161 square feet, and the immersion rate is 565 pounds per inch, meaning she sits heavily and changes trim slowly under stores and crew.
Rig and Handling
She is rigged as a masthead sloop with a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 15.03, a modest figure that suits steady cruising over punchy acceleration. The standing and running rigging follow practical dimensions: jib and genoa sheets run 24 feet at 3/8-inch diameter, the mainsheet is nearly 60 feet long at the same diameter, and a spinnaker sheet of about 52.7 feet completes the light-air inventory. Her capsize screening value is 2.12, a number that would not be accepted for ocean races, and the theoretical hull speed for a displacement boat of this length is 5.8 knots. The Motion Comfort Ratio of 18.0 and the heavy-cruiser displacement profile suggest a damped, forgiving motion in a chop rather than a lively twitch.
Accommodations
The builder's recorded specifications list 13 gallons of water and 11 gallons of diesel capacity, served by a single 10-horsepower Saab diesel. Those figures describe the tankage of a sub-24-foot hull. The triple keel and shallow draft extend her gunkholing range.
Refits and Ownership
Because some hulls are plywood and others fiberglass, any buyer should confirm which material applies to a specific boat before planning structural refits. The Saab diesel and the 3/8-inch sheet inventory are period-standard and straightforward to maintain or replace.
The Verdict
The Falmouth Gypsy is a compact, heavily ballasted cruiser with a shallow triple-keel footprint that opens shallow-water cruising to a small-boat budget. Her modest sail plan and comfort-oriented numbers make her a stable coastal companion rather than a distance racer, and the mixed plywood-or-fiberglass hull construction is the one variable a careful owner must pin down.
Pros
- Triple keel with 2.62–2.92 ft draft for shallow marinas
- Heavy-cruiser displacement and 24% ballast ratio for a calm motion
- Simple masthead rig with standard 3/8-inch sheet sizes
Cons
- Capsize screening of 2.12 excludes ocean-race acceptance
- Mixed plywood/fiberglass hulls require material verification
- Low SA/D of 15.03 limits light-air performance
