Herreshoff America Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

At 18 feet 2 inches overall with a 17-foot 9-inch waterline and a full 8-foot beam, the America is a tubby little vessel whose breadth runs close to half her length, giving her real presence on the water anchor. She displaces 2,500 pounds, of which 500 pounds is inboard lead ballast, and draws just 1 foot 10 inches on the centerboard, making her a genuine minimal-draft boat anchor. The hull is solid fiberglass, a material choice one owner preferred over earlier construction methods, and the sheerline is anything but ordinary: it follows a compound curve sweeping upward from amidships to both ends and laterally from bow to transom, a pronounced gesture in a catboat anchor. A rubrail masks that curve, and the large fiberglass "barn door" rudder gives her a blunt, purposeful profile aft.

Rig and Handling

The catboat rig places the mast clear forward in the bow and carries a single sail—the builder lists a 260-square-foot hoist on a 23-foot 6-inch mast, while one owner's 1973 example carries a 250-square-foot gaff-rigged main on original aluminum spar stock anchor. With a sail-area-to-displacement ratio near 23, the boat is surprisingly lively for her 17.75-foot waterline, and owners have reported screaming along at close to 6 knots and finding her as easy to manage as hoped anchor. The single-sail simplicity is central to that ease. A distinctive American flag is painted on the sail, and some boats have a tabernacle mast step while others show the mast stepped through the deck.

Accommodations

Below the large cockpit—one owner noted it was bigger than the cockpit on a Catalina 25—the America offers a two-berth cabin with a Porta Potti anchor. The cockpit itself is fitted with large teak seats and a teak coaming cap, with hatch doors and trim in the same wood; an outboard is mounted in a well for easy access. The teak, however, is a maintenance item: one owner found the seats, cap, hatch doors, and trim peeling, discolored, and worn, and resorted to cutting vertical teak woodwork to cover the bare fiberglass either side of the companionway.

Known Issues

The principal documented weakness is the centerboard trunk, which one owner traced as the sole place a serious leak could originate in an otherwise sound hull anchor. A buyer or owner should treat any moisture below as suspect at that joint. Otherwise the hull itself has been described by a 1973 owner as solid and sound at forty years old.

Refits and Ownership

Owners have embraced modest, practical upgrades. One built a tabernacle by sleeving the original mast with Schedule 40 marine aluminum pipe ordered online, and others have contemplated repowering the cockpit well with a newer electric-start outboard to trickle-charge a small house battery anchor. The boat's Facebook community and a January 2008 Good Old Boat review speak to an active, well-documented owner culture around this classic plastic catboat.

The Verdict

The Herreshoff America is a charming, historically rooted catboat that punches well above her length under sail while remaining trivial to handle. Her shallow draft and beamy layout make her a forgiving coastal cruiser, but the centerboard trunk leak and weathered teak are the two realities an owner must budget for.

Pros