Design and Construction
The 346 stretches just under 10.5 meters overall with a waterline of 8.50 meters and a beam over 3.5 meters, giving it a substantial footprint for its length. Its solid fiberglass-reinforced plastic hull carries 5,080 kg of displacement backed by 2,040 kg of ballast, and the transom was extended by 12 inches over the 34 to create a small bathing platform that eases transfer to a tender. Two keel options were offered from the start: a fin keel drawing 1.50 meters and a bilge (twin) keel drawing 1.14 meters that lets the boat stand upright when beached or moored in tidal areas. The fin keel is deeper and more streamlined, making it more efficient underwater and faster especially upwind, while the bilge keel provides excellent stability in shallow water. A well-designed cockpit and wide side deck round out a hull intended for safe, easy movement around the vessel.
Rig and Handling
The 346 is equipped with husky rigging, a good-sized main, and a sizable genoa on a masthead-sloop arrangement, with a slab-reefing mainsail and furled headsail as standard. With a Sail Area/Displacement Ratio around 16.2, a Ballast/Displacement Ratio near 39, and a Displacement/Length Ratio about 239, the boat sits firmly in moderate-performance cruiser territory per The Moody 346 Sailboat review. The fin keel option offers better speed and manoeuvrability, and the design was explicitly intended to make single-handed sailing possible. A Comfort Ratio of around 29.3 and a Capsize Screening Formula of 1.85 place it among steady, voyaging-oriented small yachts rather than racers.
Accommodations
Below, the 346 showcases a more optimized and spacious layout than the 34, with a more compact chart table and repositioned galley that free up living space, plus a forward cabin made more spacious with additional locker room. As standard it offers a saloon with seating, a galley with cooker, refrigerator and storage, two cabins, and a separate head; the master cabin has a double bed and private head access, while the secondary cabin has two single berths. A notable innovation is a large toilet and shower compartment aft on the port side with optional entrance from the aft cabin. Some versions substitute an additional third cabin, and the boat can comfortably sleep up to six. Compared with the later Moody 35, however, the 346's aft cabin is the smaller of the two.
Ownership and Community
The 346 is supported by an active owners' association at moodyowners.org, a useful resource given that 254 hulls were built and the design remains a common sight among used centre-cockpit cruisers per Practical Boat Owner's production summary. The typical power plant is a 35 HP Thornycroft diesel, described in period reviews as a taller-output engine used for better power, paired with a direct drive.
The Verdict
The Moody 346 is a thoughtfully evolved small centre-cockpit cruiser that trades outright speed for volume, stability, and easy handling. Its Dixon-designed hull and extended-transom layout delivered a best-selling formula in the 1980s, and the optional bilge keels remain a pragmatic choice for tidal cruising. The chief compromise is the aft-cabin size against the later 35, but the boat's accommodation flexibility and single-handed credentials hold up well.
Pros
- Best-selling small centre-cockpit Moody of the 1980s with strong ownership community
- Optional bilge keels allow upright drying and shallow tidal mooring
- Layout optimized over the 34 with more locker space and flexible third-cabin option
- Designed for single-handed sailing with husky rig and slab/furled sail control
Cons
- Aft cabin smaller than the successor Moody 35
- Fin-keel performance moderate (SA/D ~16.2) versus dedicated performers
- Transom bathing platform adds length but not full walk-through aft cabin volume
