Design and Construction
The hull is solid fiberglass, and the boat carries a stub-and-centerboard keel arrangement that gives a working draft around 5.74 - 6.04 ft dependent on the load. That shallow draft, paired with a beam of just over 17 feet and a length-to-beam ratio of 3.75, makes for a voluminous hull form whose wetted surface runs about 936 square feet. With a capsize screening value of 1.62, the boat sits in the range where the formula alone would admit the design to offshore event qualification. The immersion rate of about 3,260 pounds per inch tells you how stubbornly she holds her lines under provisioning load.
Rig and Handling
The ketch rig spreads roughly 1,895 square feet of sail area, returning a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 18.12 — a figure that, on a boat of this displacement, speaks to a rig sized for carrying power in moderate air rather than outright acceleration. Her calculated maximum speed sits at about 9.6 knots, with the theoretical displacement-hull speed for her length at 9.8 knots, so she is built to cruise near the upper bound of her hull-speed envelope rather than to surf. The running rigging follows the scale of the boat: jib and genoa sheets are estimated at 65 feet with 5/8-inch diameter, the mainsheet at over 162 feet, and the spinnaker sheet near 143 feet, all 5/8-inch line — dimensions that confirm the loads and leads a buyer should expect when handling her sails shorthanded or crewed.
Accommodations
The available record does not describe the interior arrangement in detail beyond the hull's beamy proportions and the 950-gallon water capacity that supports extended cruising. The shallow centerboard configuration preserves interior volume amidships that a full keel trunk would consume, and the 620-gallon diesel capacity pairs with the large water tankage to mark her as a long-range liveaboard rather than a weekend coastal boat.
The Verdict
The Irwin 65/68 is a purpose-built big-boat cruiser from Ted Irwin's early-1980s design portfolio: a solid-glass, centerboard ketch with the tankage and beam to cross oceans and the draft to tuck into shallow harbors. Her numbers describe a stable, load-tolerant hull tuned for passage-making at hull speed, not a light-air sprinter. The known documentation centers on her specification and rig scale rather than on defects, leaving the practical ownership picture to be confirmed at survey.
Pros
- Shallow centerboard keel (5.74 - 6.04 ft) opens marina and anchorage access
- Beam and tankage (950 gal water, 620 gal fuel) suit long-range liveaboard cruising
- Capsize screening value of 1.62 indicates offshore-capable hull form by the standard formula
Cons
- Heavy displacement and moderate sail-area ratio favor hull-speed cruising over light-air performance
- Documentation does not detail interior layout or structural maintenance history
