Sparkman & Stephens drew the boat for Tartan in 1977. Production began in early 1978 and continued through 1989, with Charlie Britton of Tartan Marine guiding the project from the start. Most of the roughly 400 boats built went to Great Lakes sailors, and the class still races there in fleets today.
Design and Construction
The Tartan Ten is a 33-foot fractional sloop with a fin keel and spade rudder. She carries 3,340 pounds of lead ballast in a 6,700-pound hull.
The hull is solid fiberglass aft of a point 5 feet forward of the transom. Forward of that point, it transitions to a 1/2-inch balsa core, except in the bilge. A grid of hollow, hat-shaped fiberglass floors and stringers stiffens the bilge and receives the compression post for the deck-stepped mast. This arrangement is rare in non-trailerable racers because it affords less control over mast bend.
At the hull-to-deck joint, the deck overlaps an inward-turned hull flange and is topped by an aluminum toerail. A strip of aluminum is glassed beneath the flange, and the entire seam is bedded in butyl tape that remains soft for the life of the boat.
Before each boat left the factory, the hull was floated in an outdoor pool. Tartan then glassed 50 to 100 pounds of lead 5 feet forward of the mast so the boat would sit on her lines. Molded flotation marks prevented later tampering with the trim.
Rig and Handling
The deck-stepped mast sits in a cast aluminum collar and uses a “safe” section, though it isn’t anodized. Early masts had clear lacquer; later ones were painted black. The shrouds pass through the deck to chainplates anchored on a heavy fiberglass tab rising from the topsides inside the main cabin.
Lewmar 30s serve as the primary winches, and steering is by tiller, as suits a boat this light. On the first 150 or so hulls, the jib and spinnaker halyards are wire and exit above the hounds.
The first 70 boats had Schaefer booms, which suffered from bent reefing hooks. Kenyon booms followed, using clew slugs rather than an outhaul car to control leech tension.
Under PHRF, the Tartan Ten rates from 123 to 132, depending on the handicapper. Her IOR rating sat near 28.5.
Cockpit and Accommodations
The Tartan Ten’s interior puts racing first. The cockpit stretches 9 1/2 feet, giving the crew room to work, but belowdecks the compromises are clear. Headroom is only 5 feet 2 inches, and the cabin is dark.
There’s no icebox or built-in stove, and the chart table is small. A hand-pump sink sits to port. The standard head is a portable unit stowed beneath the forward V-berth, which is a comfortable 6 feet long.
After hull #160, the main-cabin berths changed to fixed berths with a combined backrest and leeboard. This was one of several major interior revisions introduced at that point.
Before hull #200, the water tank was beneath the starboard quarterberth and the fuel tank beneath the port quarterberth. Tartan later reversed that arrangement to correct sink-drainage problems.
Known Issues and Production Changes
The earliest boats had the most serious defects. On the first 100 hulls, the original hollow stainless-steel rudder posts bent too easily. Tartan states that every affected post was found and repaired by inserting a second post inside the original.
The floor grid on the first 90 boats was too flexible and poorly attached. Tartan claims it sent repair crews to fix every hull earlier than #84.
On the first 83 boats, the compression-post area suffered crushing until Tartan added a 5-by-4-by-1/4-inch aluminum plate beneath the post. However, a tester examining a hull in the 150s found that the post had been moved off the grid and onto the hull itself.
Many owners report chronic deck leaks where the shrouds pass through. Two chainplate-tab delaminations occurred among the first 100 boats. By hull #200, Tartan had removed the core beneath the tab so it could be bonded directly to the outer skin. Dimpling was corrected near hull #270 by widening the tab from 12 to 18 inches.
Boats built before hull #200 also experienced excessive drivetrain vibration and shaft-coupling failures. Their original tank placement caused the sink-drainage trouble addressed by the later reversal of the water and fuel tanks.
The Verdict
The Tartan Ten is a purpose-built one-design racer with a deep Great Lakes pedigree. Tartan aggressively chased down early structural faults, but those production changes make hull number especially important.
She suits a racing-minded owner willing to accept a minimal cabin. A buyer who overlooks hull-specific defects may be less well rewarded.
Pros
- Sparkman & Stephens design with an active one-design class
- Builder-initiated repairs for early rudder, grid, and chainplate faults
- Deck-stepped mast and a hull-to-deck joint bedded with butyl tape that stays soft
Cons
- Very low headroom and few cruising amenities
- Chronic leaks around the shroud deck penetrations, reported by many owners
- Early hulls require verification of compression-post, grid, and tank fixes
