Northstar 1500/35 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

The Northstar 1500 is a monohull recreational keelboat whose hull and trim are predominantly fibreglass with wood accents, a raked stem, and a reverse transom. Her underbody carries a swept fixed fin keel and a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by a wheel, the sort of configuration that gives predictable steering and a moderate draft suited to mixed coastal cruising. At 35.5 feet overall with a 26-foot waterline, a 10.33-foot beam, and roughly 11,040 pounds displacement balanced by 5,400 pounds of lead ballast, she sits in the well-balanced cruiser-racer band: a ballast-to-displacement ratio near 49 percent and a displacement-to-length ratio around 280 mark her as a moderately heavy hull with the stability to carry sail and the volume to live aboard. The solid fibreglass hull and deck speak to a straightforward laminate philosophy rather than a weight-saving sandwich.

Rig and Handling

Her Bermuda masthead sloop rig carries 504 square feet of sail area, yielding a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of about 16, a modest figure that places her firmly in the cruising rather than the out-and-out racing camp. The masthead sloop plan is simple to handle and easy to reef, and the skeg-hung rudder paired with the fin keel gives a measured turn of speed without the twitchiness of a spade rudder on a narrow heeled entry. With a theoretical hull speed near 6.8 knots, she will reach her natural stride in a fresh breeze rather than a whisper, and the wheel steering at the skeg rudder keeps helm loads manageable for a short-handed crew.

Accommodations

Below, the Northstar 1500 sleeps six across a clearly zoned layout. A double V-berth fills the bow cabin, while the main cabin holds two straight settees for sitting and additional berthing. An aft cabin on the starboard side provides a double berth private from the saloon, a feature uncommon in many 35-footers of the period and a real asset for two-couple cruising. The galley sits to port just forward of the companionway ladder in an L-shaped plan with a two-burner stove, an ice box, and a sink, placing the cook close to the hatch for light and ventilation. Opposite, on the starboard side, a navigation station gives a proper seated working surface, and the head lies just aft of the bow cabin to port, separating wet gear and daytime traffic from the sleeping ends of the boat.

Refits and Ownership

Because the design is out of production and drew on period-standard Universal Atomic 4 gasoline power of 30 horsepower with 20 gallons of fuel and 25 gallons of water, a buyer should expect that any surviving example has seen systems work over the decades. The simplicity of the fibreglass hull and the conventional fin-keel skeg-rudder underbody means that structural refits are rarely exotic, but the gasoline engine and modest tankage argue for a careful look at fuel system integrity and any owner-installed upgrades to energy and water capacity.

The Verdict

The Northstar 1500 is a tidy, well-proportioned Sparkman & Stephens cruiser-racer whose accommodation plan punches above her length and whose moderate ballast and full keel-rudder combination make her a steady coastal voyager. She is not a lightweight rocket, but she is a sensible, livable 35-footer with a clear lineage into the Hughes 35.

Pros