Design and Construction
The Islander 36 carries a flattish but concave sheerline over a solid-glass hull built in four pieces — two hull halves, the deck, and the liner — a method one reviewer likened to the port-and-starboard construction of a Swan, with roughly 700 hours needed to complete each boat. The deck is a through-bolted plywood-cored structure topped with an alloy toe rail, while most models carry lead ballast in a modified fin keel with a full skeg rudder, though some early boats are said to have had iron in the keel. Beam is moderate and carried well aft, giving fairly good hull volume aft without the distorted stern sections rule-beaters of the era adopted. Both deep and shoal draft keels were offered, with most boats taking the deep keel; the shoal version carries an extra 150 pounds of ballast to offset its higher center of gravity and gives up about six seconds per mile to the deep-keel boat.
Rig and Handling
Above the deck sits a simple, untapered aluminum spar stepped through the deck, with two sets of spreaders, double lower shrouds, and shrouds set well inboard on a double-spreader, high-aspect rig. Genoa tracks sit just outboard of the cabin trunk to exploit tight sheeting angles, and the original sailplan showed genoa overlaps as large as 180 percent. The mainsheet traveler is mounted at the forward end of the companionway hatch, with the sheet attached almost mid-boom; late models gained a small molded breakwater aft of the traveler so a dodger could be fitted. The boat is well-balanced under sail, a fast and stiff performer that will do eight knots and practically steer herself in 20 to 30 knot winds without being overpowered, though she can feel a little sluggish in light air. Under PHRF she is a reasonably competitive club racer with good sails and a clean bottom, and several hulls have raced California to Hawaii or made circumnavigations — yet reviewers would not choose her for extended offshore voyaging.
Accommodations
Below, the layout opens with a sizeable V-berth and a head/shower combination to port, with drawers under the berth and a narrow hanging locker to starboard; headroom over six feet carries all the way forward. The saloon has two straight settees separated by a table that folds to the bulkhead, the starboard settee converting to a double, and late models added lockers and drawers outboard of the port settee plus a ventilation hatch mid-cabin. An L-shaped galley to starboard holds a double sink and three-burner LPG stove, though the original sloping cabin sole made sink and icebox work awkward and ventilation relies solely on the companionway. A nav station to port fronts a quarterberth tucked fully beneath the cockpit, a berth whose lack of ventilation is a warm-climate drawback. Owners describe the boat as comfortable, stable, quick, and roomy enough for a couple to live aboard, though some fault the small nav seat and poorly functional galley.
Known Issues
Several recurring defects trace to the boat’s construction and period systems. Most 1970s hulls have suffered mast-step corrosion, often requiring the Kenyon spar to be pulled and trimmed, and a few mid-70s boats reported blistering of the gelcoat. Owners have logged an aluminum holding tank failure, gelcoat crazing in spots, and an intermediate and lower shroud chainplate pulling out of the bulkhead on a 1980 boat. The original foam-and-vinyl headliners carried zippers for fitting access that tend to corrode shut, and the cockpit sole sits flush with the companionway sill — a configuration one owner flagged as unseaworthy for offshore use given the small drains and absent bridgedeck. Ventilation overall is the most-cited complaint, from the quarterberth to the galley to the boat as a whole.
Refits and Ownership
The design was drawn with a tiller, but original steering was mostly Edson chain-and-sprocket cable to a quadrant, and most owners have since retrofitted wheel steering. Power began with an Atomic Four gasoline engine, passed through an undersized Palmer P-60 and optional Perkins 4-108 or Westerbeke L-25 diesels, later a Pathfinder 42-horse Volkswagen diesel, and ended with a 30-horse Yanmar; replacement Yanmars of 30 to 37 horsepower now dominate, with a 2:1 reduction and 13-inch three-blade fixed prop pushing the hull near 7 knots in flat water. A very active and large owners association backs the class, and the boat remains easy to handle short-handed with modern sail gear — one owner sails single-handed with an autopilot, another with self-tailing winches.
The Verdict
The Islander 36 is a well-mannered, fast-sailing boat at her best in a breeze, blending cruiser comfort with genuine club-racing pace and a forgiving, undistorted hull. She is not a dedicated offshore voyager, and her ventilation and a few structural decay points warrant a buyer’s attention, but her numbers, active class, and adaptable rig make her a durable choice for the coastal cruising couple or daysailer.
Pros
- Undistorted hull with near-ideal racer-cruiser proportions and good volume aft
- Fast, stiff, and self-steering in 20–30 knot winds; competitive under PHRF
- Large owners association and straightforward short-handed handling with modern gear
- Long production with few changes; many engine and steering upgrade paths
Cons
- Mast-step corrosion common on 1970s boats; some mid-70s blistering
- Poor ventilation throughout; quarterberth and galley especially affected
- Cockpit sole flush with companionway sill, small drains, no bridgedeck
- Sloping galley sole and small nav station limit functional interior work
