Design and Construction
The Commander's hull is a single skin of multiple layers of 1-ounce mat and 24-ounce woven roving, with thickness varying from 1/4 to 7/8 inch depending on location, and it is stiff enough that you will not see it flex on poppits or when rafted hull stiffness under load. The deck is cored with end-grain balsa, while the hull-to-deck attachment is a simple butt joint taped and glassed and sealed with a durable caulk, though it is not mechanically fastened; a stainless steel rub rail is screwed into that joint. There are no keel bolts — the hull is a single-part mold with 2,500 pounds of ballast dropped in after fabrication and held by a layer of fiberglass, all summing to about 5,400 pounds of displacement. Externally the boat reads as long and lean, with large overhangs, a cutaway full keel, and low sheer that owes much to the Nordic Folkboat, and Practical Sailor noted its aesthetics and hull are eerily similar to the Hinckley 21.
Rig and Handling
The Commander's mast is the same spar used on the larger Pearson Triton, deck-stepped with a compression post that ultimately rests on the keel, and on most boats the step is a wooden laminate with a cross-shaped cutout underneath. As on many Alberg boats the mast is well forward and the main is large, giving a sail area/displacement ratio of 16.8 that keeps her moving in light air, especially with a large headsail. In a blow the prudent sailor reefs the main before reducing the headsail to avoid weather helm. With a narrow beam she can seem tender at first, but a high ballast ratio settles her down even in a fairly strong breeze. Backing down is squirrelly because the outboard motor sits close to the rudder and the full keel, though a modern 6-horsepower outboard will push her at hull speed in light conditions. Period copy called her stiff, able, comfortable, and fast, and a former San Francisco Bay owner reported she was among the last boats to reef the main in that venue's consistent 25-knot breeze.
Accommodations
The manufacturer claimed she is extremely comfortable and roomy for family day-sailing, and with a few options she becomes an overnighter or weekend cruiser. The nine-foot mahogany-trimmed self-bailing cockpit bench seats a crew of eight or more in comfort, and below there are four bunks. Headroom is 5 feet 1 inch. Interior trim and the cabin sole are teak, while bulkheads and cabinetry wear a faux-teak plastic laminate; the settees, sink, and cabinetry are plywood taped to the hull. The original straight-in/straight-out head and the water tank sit below the v-berth, and the anchor locker forward of the berth is reachable only from inside the cabin, with no deck hatch. Early boats had no bridge deck, a feature added around hull number 224 after the open arrangement was deemed unsafe.
Known Issues
Leaking has been reported where the hull/deck joint caulk has dried out, the one weakness of an otherwise unfastened but durable connection. Boats fitted with lifelines are prone to deck rot if stanchion bases have not been re-bedded over the years, given the balsa core. None of the Commanders have bulkheads between the aft lazarettes and the main cabin, so in a broach water can pour through an unsecured lazarette into the cabin — the bridge deck added late in the run was a response to that risk. The original wooden mast step, if not meticulously maintained, is often ugly though not necessarily compromised, and replacements are no longer available, though some owners have machined aluminum ones. Rudders have been lost to failed bronze shafts, and the backstay chainplate, through-bolted to a small hanging knee tabbed to the stern but not the deck, is prone to having its fiberglass scraped off by an oversized outboard in the lazarette. The clamshell vents on the aft lazarette do not adequately ventilate the engine, so motoring is mostly done with the hatch open. The original head system is now illegal in most harbors.
Refits and Ownership
Most Commanders were ordered with an outboard engine well, and in those boats two lead pigs in the bilge compensate for the missing inboard; owners wanting a livelier feel often remove them, accepting a more tender boat with no other ill effects. When a rudder shaft fails, bronze must be used to match the shoe and original tiller head. The wooden mast step can be reproduced, but aluminum has been a popular owner choice. A 1990s voyage by Zoltan Istvan on The Way took a Commander from California to Greece across the Pacific and Indian Oceans, up the Red Sea, and into the Mediterranean, surviving a mid-ocean storm and bouncing across a reef off Vanuatu twice — evidence of a design the builder described as taking to blue water like she was twice her size.
The Verdict
The Commander is a thoughtful Alberg daysailer with a proven hull and an honest, low-maintenance structure, let down only by a few dated details and open cockpit drainage paths that a careful owner can address. She rewards the coastal and bay sailor far more than the offshore romantic, but her record suggests she can take more than her length implies.
Pros
- Stiff, sea-kindly behavior with a high ballast ratio that settles her in strong breeze
- Durable single-skin hull and unfastened but sound hull/deck joint
- Same Alberg hull as the Ariel with a roomy nine-foot cockpit for day crews
- Proven blue-water survival on a documented Pacific and Indian Ocean voyage
Cons
- Open lazarette-to-cabin path allows flooding in a broach on boats without a bridge deck
- Balsa-cored deck rot risk at un-re-bedded lifeline stanchions
- Original head system illegal in most harbors; inadequate engine ventilation
- Rudder shaft loss and unavailable original mast-step replacements
