At just under 24 feet on deck, the Laguna 24 ST was intended to be towed behind a family vehicle and used for weekend coastal cruising.
Design and Construction
The 24 ST is a solid-fiberglass monohull with wood trim. Its raked stem and plumb transom give it the profile of a late-1970s or early-1980s American pocket cruiser.
The boat measures 23.58 feet overall, with a 20-foot waterline and an 8.33-foot beam. Displacement is 2,800 pounds, including 1,100 pounds of lead ballast in a fixed fin keel. Draft is 2.92 feet. The resulting 39 percent ballast-to-displacement ratio places the boat firmly among stable, trailerable cruisers rather than on the racing fringe.
Its displacement-to-length ratio is 156, indicating moderate volume for carrying cruising gear without imposing a punishing draft at the ramp. The transom-hung rudder is controlled by a tiller, a simple, robust arrangement that leaves the steering gear exposed for inspection and repair.
Rig and Handling
The Laguna 24 ST carries 251 square feet of sail on a fractional sloop—a Bermuda rig in period terminology. This arrangement keeps the masthead free of a jib halyard and allows a small crew to depower the mainsail easily as the wind builds.
Combined with the boat’s modest displacement, that sail area produces a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of just over 20. It’s enough to keep the boat moving in a breeze without demanding a grindathon from a couple aboard.
A small outboard mounted on the transom provides the usual power for docking and maneuvering. In close quarters, the tiller-and-rudder arrangement gives the helmsman a direct feel for the boat’s track.
Accommodations
The sources don’t describe the interior arrangement beyond the boat’s cruising purpose. Its 23.58-foot overall length and 8.33-foot beam frame a boat intended to sleep a small family for a night or two, rather than race around the buoys.
As a designated cruiser with wood trim and a plumb transom enclosing the cockpit, the 24 ST follows the American trailerable pattern: a compact cabin trunk, a forward berth, and either a quarter berth or settees aft. Because the outboard is mounted on the transom, there’s no inboard engine box intruding into the saloon. That leaves the limited floor area available for sitting headroom and a galley corner.
Verdict
The Laguna 24 ST is a straightforward, honestly built pocket cruiser from the American trailerable-boat boom. It trades racing sparkle for ballast stability, a simple tiller, and a rig that a short-handed couple can manage.
Its shared hull lineage with the Balboa 24 gives it a proven root. The 350-boat production run for the series also shows that the design found its buyers before Laguna retired the tooling.
Pros
- Stable 39 percent ballast ratio with a lead fin keel
- Trailerable at 2,800 pounds and 8.33 feet of beam
- Exposed transom-hung rudder and tiller for easy servicing
- Fractional-sloop rig manageable by a small crew
Cons
- No inboard propulsion; relies on a transom-mounted outboard
- Modest 251 square feet of sail for its displacement
- Limited interior volume inherent in a 23.58-foot hull
