Southern Cross 35 Sailboat Review, Specs, and Listings

Design and Construction

Gillmer's 35-foot 3-inch hull carries 28 feet of waterline, an 11-foot 5-inch beam, and draws 4 feet 11 inches. At 17,710 pounds displacement with 5,750 pounds of lead ballast, the boat sits at a ballast-to-displacement ratio of.32 and a displacement-to-length ratio of 360 — figures that place her firmly in the moderate-displacement cruiser camp rather than the light racer end. A sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 14.9 with 632 square feet of working sail confirms a rig built for passage-making, not buoy-racing.

The hull is a fiberglass/Airex-foam-core structure, and Cruising World's survey found that an apparent error in the layup schedule left the boat effectively built as two complete hulls with the Airex core trapped between them anchor. As a result she came out more than 2,000 pounds over the designed weight, and neither hull nor deck deflects or groans under way. The deck was built with a balsa core rather than Airex. Below, the standard white oak interior with teak trim wears well, all corners are radiused to prevent injury, and except in the head no plastic shows.

Rig and Handling

The contemporary cutter rig is supported by Navtec rod rigging and a high-aspect plan that gives the boat more pace than her cruiser looks suggest — she will keep up with most in her size range and pass quite a few, though she was never a racer. On the water she is a sweet offshore boat, easy to control even in high winds and huge seas, and notably dry despite low freeboard. Early hulls carried a two-bladed feathering prop in an aperture, but vibration led Ryder to fit a fixed three-blader that cost nearly a knot of sailing speed; later hulls returned to a two-bladed prop with a thinned skeg. Wide decks, inboard shrouds, and plentiful handholds make moving forward safe, while the small cockpit still seats five comfortably.

Accommodations

Belowdecks the Southern Cross 35 is very roomy for two and adequate for four. The saloon has twin settees that double as sea berths and surround a large sole-mounted table seating six. Molded-plastic water tanks sit under the settees, with outboard lockers for storage. To starboard is a U-shaped galley; to port, a full-size chart table with a large wet locker forward of it. The engine sits under the companionway with good access. Forward, a port head with handheld shower faces starboard drawers and a small hanging locker, while the V-berth itself is spacious for a 6-foot-2-inch sailor, served by a good hanging locker and large plywood shelves.

Known Issues

A buyer or owner should check the plywood dorade boxes, which may deteriorate with age, and the mast, which after several years can corrode where it meets the stainless-steel mast step. The established fix is to cut a few inches off the mast and raise the step on an epoxy-glass pad. The fiberglass fuel tank lives in a deep, capacious bilge formed by the wineglass sections.

Refits and Ownership

Beyond the prop and skeg evolution across the build run, the main owner-side refit concerns mast-step corrosion addressed as above. Ryder also produced some "Gillmer 35" hulls as buyer-finished kits that lacked the Navtec rigging and its hull-tie system. Owners remain organized through an active owners association, a real asset for a small-production design.

The Verdict

The Southern Cross 35 is a thoughtfully detailed cruiser whose overbuilt foam-core hull turned a drafting error into structural calm. She is an able, dry offshore boat with a practical, roomy interior and a rig that punches above her displacement. The small production run and kit-built siblings mean careful identification of rig and prop configuration matters.

Pros