More than 770 Sanderlings have been built. Small Craft Advisor Blog notes that the design has remained in continuous production for nearly half a century, making it one of the few classics available both used and new. Breck’s son Jeff Marshall works for Garfield, and the builder’s own people say the hull laminate has remained unchanged throughout the production run.
Design and Lineage
The original Arnold boat was no beauty, with a flat sheer, tumblehome ram bow, square house, and marconi rig. Marshall set out to address those shortcomings by eye, spending about three weeks modeling the plug before building it, according to this history of the Sanderling’s development.
The result was a substantially different hull, with a swept sheer, crowned cabin, tapered house, and slightly angled stem. Its underbody was also more modern than those of most traditional catboats. The Sanderling measures 18 feet 2 inches overall, with an 8 foot 6 inch beam and a waterline beam under 8 feet. She has moderate deadrise and tapers aft rather than carrying the nearly flat bottom found on many catboats. That gives her a relatively slippery shape that feels more modern than her traditional type might suggest.
Construction
Marshall Marine lays up the hull in polyester resin, using alternating plies of mat and woven roving for seven layers. Four additional layers run along the centerline and around the centerboard trunk, bringing the total there to eleven. The mast step and centerboard trunk are molded separately and taped in, as described in this account of the Sanderling’s construction.
The heavily glassed hull and deck are glued and bolted in the same way at an overlapping flange sealed with compound and through-bolted on 12-inch centers. The joint uses 3/8-inch stainless steel bolts through a mahogany rubrail, a detail Garfield credits with keeping deck leaks to an absolute minimum. The cockpit is self-bailing, and boats without the optional inboard have positive foam flotation.
Rig and Handling
The Sanderling is a gaff-headed catboat with a single 253-square-foot Dacron sail and a displacement of 2,200 pounds. The gaff is less bulky than a modern full-length spar, according to this description of the Sanderling’s rig.
The gaff bends to leeward and eases the leech in puffs, while the upper mainsail receives cleaner airflow upwind. The peak halyard provides precise control of draft. Sail controls are otherwise limited: there is no boom vang, the traveler isn’t adjustable, and the standard mainsheet runs from the end of the boom to a four-hole cleat aft.
Owners report that the gaff rig performs nearly as well as an average marconi rig, particularly in lighter air. The large sail is effective for ghosting, and the boat can shed wetted surface by heeling slightly. As the breeze builds, however, she must be reefed, and performance fades perceptibly.
The painted aluminum mast weighs less than 70 pounds and is hinged, allowing one person to lower it into a cockpit crutch. The light mast also allowed a fine entry, which helps the handling.
Cockpit and Accommodations
Louvered teak doors open to a cabin with two comfortable berths, minimal sitting headroom, a designated place for the head, fold-up cabin tables, and shelves above the berths, as shown in this description of the Sanderling’s accommodations. An opening front porthole provides ventilation—a useful touch on a boat that the builders themselves say was designed more for daysailing than cruising.
With the centerboard raised, draft is 17 inches, making the Sanderling well suited to thin water. The optional Yanmar diesel is the most expensive add-on, but it requires a large box in the center of the cockpit well.
Known Issues and Ownership Notes
The owner of hull #66, built in 1964, confirmed that deck leaks had never been a problem. The owner did, however, re-bed weeping ports and found rot in the aft house bulkhead caused by water entering through cracked fiberglass tape. There was also a centerboard leak where the fiberglass around the pivot bolt had cracked, according to this report on hull #66. The same boat’s plywood cockpit floor needed reglassing where the original sheathing had worn through.
More than 200 Sanderlings race in one-design fleets, so class support exists even though the boat was conceived as a daysailer.
The Verdict
The Sanderling is a genuinely modern interpretation of the traditional catboat. She is quick to rig, easy to trailer, and forgiving in light air, with a construction record that has kept water out of the cabin for decades.
She isn’t a cruiser, and her single-sail rig lacks some of the adjustability a marconi sailor might expect. For her intended role as a daysailer, however, the Sanderling remains a benchmark.
Pros
- Continuous production, an unchanged hull laminate, and a strong through-bolted hull-to-deck joint
- Gaff cat rig performs well in light air, and one person can lower the mast
- Shallow 17-inch draft with the centerboard raised
- Positive flotation on boats without the inboard
Cons
- Needs reefing as the wind rises, with a perceptible loss of performance
- No boom vang or adjustable traveler, limiting sail control
- Optional inboard requires a large box in the center of the cockpit well
