Southern Cross 28 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

The Southern Cross 28 is built predominantly of fiberglass, with teak trim carried throughout the interior and on the bowsprit and cap rails. The hull is a one-inch fiberglass laminate sandwich using an Airtex foam core, while the deck is cored with balsa wood. A defining structural detail is the outward-turned hull-to-deck flange, fastened with quarter-inch stainless steel bolts on eight-inch centers and sealed with a rubber gasket, then covered by a teak cap rail with the deck side forming a four-inch-high bulwark. Lead ballast is encapsulated inside the keel, and the rudder skeg is molded as part of the hull with a lower bearing for support. Structural integrity above the waterline comes not from an interior compression post but from cabin bulkheads bonded to the hull and glassed over, plus a reinforced cabin top and a stainless steel mast step bolted to solid fiberglass.

Rig and Handling

The cutter sloop rig carries a boom-mounted, self-tending staysail and a teak bowsprit ahead of a spooned raked stem and raised transom. As a masthead cutter it runs twin forestays and a single backstay, with lateral rigging of one upper stay and fore-and-aft lower stays at the spreaders; shrouds lead to chainplates just inside the bulwarks, through-bolted to glassed-in fiberglass ribs and reachable from inside the cabin. Mainsheet hardware sits at mid-boom and leads to a cockpit traveler, while a pair of Barlow 16 winches at the mast handle the three halyards and reef lines, and Barlow 20 winches on the coamings trim the headsails. Because all sheets lie within easy reach of the helm, the boat is well suited to singlehanding. The keel is a modified long keel with a cutout for the shaft that forms a fixed swept fin, drawing 4 feet 8 inches, and a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by tiller gives the 8,500-pound hull, carrying 3,400 pounds of lead, a predictable bluewater posture.

Accommodations

Below, the SC28 lists just over six feet of headroom and all-teak trim. The galley is set to port at the foot of the companionway with a sink and a two-burner alcohol stove, while to starboard the icebox doubles as the navigation table. The head sits forward just behind the bow V-berth and is enclosed by privacy doors, with storage and a hanging locker. In the main cabin a port settee runs under the head and the starboard settee opens to a double berth. Ventilation comes from dorade vents, three cowl vents, a forward hatch, and six opening portlights, with a midship opening hatch available as a factory option. The design was built without a holding tank, so the head discharges directly overboard.

Known Issues

Some owners report that the rubber hull-to-deck gasket can harden under cyclic loading and lose its seal, permitting leaks along the joint. An owner sailing the Maine coast notes that the rudder extends below the skeg and is prone to catching lobster pot lines. In extreme conditions, the design is not immune to capsize-class events: on a 2015 solo voyage Donna Lange's Southern Cross 28, Inspired Insanity, suffered a knockdown and dismasting in 45-knot winds, after which she transited the Panama Canal rather than rounding Cape Horn.

Refits and Ownership

Factory-finished boats usually carry a bronze builder's medallion in the cockpit. The minimal electrical system centers on one small DC panel for nav and interior lights, and the Universal Atomic 4 11-horsepower gasoline engine—alternatively listed by some sources as a Universal diesel with a three-blade prop—is paired with a 15-gallon fiberglass fuel tank molded into the hull port of the engine bay and a 47-gallon water tank below the cabin sole. Standard sailing gear included a topping lift and jiffy reefing, with two halyard and two genoa winches; roller furling, a boom vang, spinnaker, and genoa tracks were factory options.

The Verdict

The Southern Cross 28 is a small, handsome double-ender with genuine offshore potential, proven by two solo global circumnavigations aboard Inspired Insanity. Its foam-cored hull, encapsulated lead ballast, and bulkhead-driven structure speak to a serious cruising pedigree in a 28-foot footprint, and the cutter rig with all controls at the helm makes short-handed passage-making practical. The modest beam and direct-discharge head are period choices, and the gasket and rudder vulnerabilities ask for an attentive survey.

Pros