Design and Construction
The hull is made of fibreglass, and the construction is a solid laminate rather than a cored sandwich, both in the hull and the deck. With a beam of 10.5 feet the length-to-beam ratio works out to 3.14, and the review record notes the Greyhound 33 is more spacious than 58% of all other designs in its category on that measure. The ballast ratio sits at 38 percent, a figure the same source places above 34 percent of comparable sailboat designs, while the capsize screening value is 2.19 — high enough that the boat would not be accepted to participate in ocean races on that criterion alone. None of this is exotic; it is the ordinary arithmetic of a 1975-era cruiser built to be stable and usable, not to win offshore events.
Rig and Handling
The Greyhound 33 is built with a masthead rig, and the sail area for the mainsail and jib is 443.3 square feet. The SA/D ratio is 19.3 with the ISO 8666 reference sail and rises to 23.0 with a 135 percent genoa, and the design is described as significantly overrigged — carrying more rig than 79 percent of similar sailboats. That overdrive is not merely nominal: the same analysis concludes the boat is faster than 85 percent of similar designs in light wind on the strength of that SA/D. The fin keel gives a draft of roughly 5.58 to 5.88 feet depending on load, enough to let the boat enter most marinas while still holding a useful underwater profile. The wetted surface is about 333 square feet, and the immersion rate is approximately 1,206 pounds per inch, so the hull settles predictably under stores and crew.
The running rigging lengths are worth knowing for any owner reworking the cockpit: mainsail, jib/genoa, and spinnaker halyards are each about 86.7 feet at 3/8 inch diameter, while jib and genoa sheets run about 33 feet at 1/2 inch, the mainsheet about 82.4 feet at 1/2 inch, and the spinnaker sheet about 72.5 feet at 1/2 inch. Cunningham, kickingstrap, and clew-outhaul lines are each around 24.3 feet or shorter at 3/8 inch. These are estimates in the source, but they set a realistic envelope for replacements.
Accommodations
The available record gives no interior arrangement, berth count, or joiner detail, so nothing about the living space can be asserted beyond the dimensional inference already drawn from beam and length. The 79-gallon water capacity and 21-gallon diesel tank speak to a cruising range modest but adequate for coastal passages, and the single inboard Farymann engine option at 20 horsepower provides auxiliary propulsion where fitted.
Known Issues
No documented structural defect, osmotic blistering, rig failure, or systemic corrosion item appears in the available record for this model. The only caveat conveyed is the capsize screening figure and the explicit statement that the boat was not configured for ocean-race acceptance on that basis. A buyer should read that as a design-class limitation, not a fault in a particular hull.
Refits and Ownership
Ownership considerations reduce to the mechanical and rigging envelope: a Farymann diesel at 20 hp where present, and a masthead sloop rig whose halyard and sheet lengths are known quantities. The solid fibreglass hull and deck simplify inspection compared with cored structures, and the lead ballast is fixed inside the fin keel. There is no stated production end year, so the run should not be described as closed.
The Verdict
The Greyhound 33 is a coherent early-seventies cruiser: modestly beamy, lead-ballasted, overdriven for light-air speed, and built in solid fibreglass that is easy to survey. It is not an offshore racer by its own capsize screen, but as a marina-friendly masthead sloop it is a sensible used proposition.
Pros
- More spacious than 58% of comparable designs by length-beam ratio
- Significantly overrigged and faster than 85% of similar boats in light wind
- Solid fibreglass hull and deck, lead fin-keel ballast, predictable immersion rate
Cons
- Capsize screening value of 2.19 excludes it from ocean-race acceptance
- No documented interior, end-of-production, or defect record to assess deeper condition
