Sailart 19 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Sailart developed the 19 at its Erftstadt operation, with hulls produced in Poland, and the yard is known for high quality standards and successful detail solutions. The deck and hull are polyester sandwich with a Divinycell foam core, and the addition of an inner shell gives a finished interior and prevents condensation below. The boat is foamed out as standard to be unsinkable, a reassuring baseline for a craft aimed at coastal and inland use. The wide waterline and full bow volume were shaped specifically for coastal waters, while the pronounced chines let the hull settle onto a stable planning mode in strong breeze even with a short-handed crew. The first prototype carried a few extra kilograms of development weight, but production boats were expected to shed roughly 50 kilograms.

Rig and Handling

The fractional sloop rig is shared with the Sailart 20 and carries a self-tacking jib that made maneuvers notably easy in testing, contributing to the boat’s confident single-handed behavior in windy conditions sailed most confidently single-handed, even in windy conditions. Testers credited that poise to the dimensional stability lent by the 2.50-metre beam and a 23-percent ballast ratio. Steering is direct and the boat lies well on the rudder, described as lively and never nervous; the folding outboard rudder blade simply lays back if it grounds. With the keel raised the draft shrinks to about 60 centimetres, though in the comparison beaching trial that clearance still left the Sailart short of the shore. An optional 25-square-metre gennaker flies from a fixed bowsprit, and even without it the hull glided well and held speed against narrower rivals. In lighter air below ten knots its narrower effective waterline pulled performance closer to a comparable 18-footer, and the chine-in-the-water posture is what fully releases the righting moment.

Accommodations

Below deck the 19 reads like a full-grown small cruiser rather than a stretched dinghy, and in its test group it offered the largest interior space of all largest interior space in the test field. Four wide berths are arranged with a forward berth of 1.98 metres length and width tapering to 44 centimetres at the foot, plus side settees spanning 2.24 metres long and 0.67 metres wide. A variable locker system and practical storage sit alongside cosy lighting and wooden trim that together give a proper ship-like atmosphere. The cockpit provides good seating, and in brisk conditions the most secure perch is along the top edge, where the webbing—not wire—lifelines that seem loose at first actually make riding out gusts easier and more comfortable.

Equipment and Outfit

Deck hardware is specified to a high regatta standard, and the builder’s own descriptions note a clear, contemporary design with clever details that set the boat apart. The ready-to-sail package in the tested version included a customized Torqeedo with tiller steering and the battery housed in the forepeak locker, plus below-deck electrical wiring, and the price included a dedicated trailer for normal launching. A CE design category C rating bounds the boat to inland and sheltered coastal use.

The Verdict

The Sailart 19 is a rare thing: a sub-six-metre cruiser that does not ask its crew to surrender living space for sailing bite. Its width, ballast, and chined hull let one person handle it confidently in a blow, while the interior—genuinely the roomiest in its peer set—makes short touring plausible. The webbing lifelines and unsinkable construction speak to thoughtful detail, and the shared keel and rig with the 20 keep it simple to own.

Pros

Confident, direct single-handed handling in windy conditions from beam and ballast ratio
Largest interior and four wide berths in its comparison class
Unsinkable foam-core construction with inner liner to curb condensation
Self-tacking jib and folding rudder simplify short-handed maneuvering

Cons