Rafiki 37 Sailboats for Sale & Market Overview

Drawing Diagram

Builder drawing

Hull type

Monohull · full

Rig

Cutter

LOA

36.75' · 11.2 m

Displ.

26,500 lbs · 12,020 kg

First year

1975

The Rafiki 37 is a quintessential example of the "golden age" of Taiwanese yacht building, a period characterized by robust fiberglass construction, heavydisplacement hull forms, and an abundance of handcrafted teak. Designed by the prolific Canadian naval architect Stan Huntingford and built by the Lien Hwa Industrial Corp., the Rafiki 37 was conceived as a dedicated offshore cruiser. Unlike many of its contemporaries that utilized the "doubleender" aesthetic for purely stylistic reasons, Huntingford drew a hull that balanced traditional aesthetics with a more modern underwater profile, featuring a long fin keel with a cutaway forefoot and a large, protected skeghung rudder. The vessel’s name—Swahili for "friend"—reflects its intended purpose as a reliable companion for longdistance voyaging. While often compared to the Tayana 37 or the Westsail 32, the Rafiki 37 is frequently noted for its superior interior volume and a more refined "canoe stern" that avoids the squatting tendencies found in some earlier doubleended designs.