Design and Construction
The Tartan 34 C’s keel/centerboard arrangement is the heart of her character. Because of her shoal draft, the boat’s center of gravity sits fairly high, and righting moment at one degree of heel is about 630 foot-pounds—some 20 percent less than a modern fin-keel cruiser/racer of the same displacement, which makes her initially more tender than a deep-keel contemporary anchor. The centerboard itself secures positively in whatever position you set it and will not freely pivot upward if you hit a rock, a deliberate contrast with many retractable boards. On early hulls, through-hull fittings are brass pipe nipples glassed into the hull with gate valves on the inside, and many deck fittings are chrome-plated bronze; there is a great deal of exterior teak, including cockpit coamings, forward hatch frame, handrails, and a high toerail. The shaft is short, minimizing vibration, and there is no external prop strut to cause alignment problems, create drag, or possibly work loose from the hull.
Rig and Handling
The original rig is a masthead sloop with single spreaders and double lower shrouds—about as simple and sturdy as you get—and a yawl rig was optional, though most boats are sloops. The boat originally had a mainsail aspect ratio of roughly 2.5:1 with a 13-foot mainsail foot, and the mainsheet leads awkwardly to a cockpit-spanning traveler just above the tiller, well aft of the helmsman; an end-of-boom lead was essential because of the old-fashioned roller-reefing boom. With the arrival of the IOR, the main boom was shortened by about 2.5 feet and neither the foretriangle base nor rig height was increased to compensate, leaving some owners to note that the loss of about 35 square feet of sail area can be felt in light air. Shortening the foot did, however, do much to reduce the weather helm carried when reaching in heavy air, and owners report using the board to ease the helm in those conditions. Like almost all S&S designs, she is a good all-around sailing boat without significant bad habits, and racers say she should be sailed on her feet—past 20 degrees of heel she slows and makes leeway.
Performance Profile
The Tartan 34’s PHRF of about 168 to 174 is comparable to more modern fast cruisers of similar displacement, yet her centerboard nature shows: like most centerboarders, she is quite a bit faster downwind than upwind and can be run off more effectively than a fin-keeler. Prop efficiency is reduced because the prop is partially hidden behind the trailing edge of the keel to reduce drag, and because the prop lies far forward, the boat is difficult to back down in a straight line. Even so, Practical Sailor judged her seaworthy—the type of boat they would choose for cruising somewhere like the Bahamas anchor.
Accommodations
The original arrangement provides fixed berths for five, and the port settee extends to form a double; in later boats, lockers outboard of that settee were replaced with a pilot berth. All berths are long, including a 7-foot quarterberth, and even the forward V-berths are wide enough at the foot for big people, with 6-foot-2 headroom carried all the way forward. The cabin sole is cork—an unusual feature—and is nearly level throughout except in front of the galley dresser and quarterberth. Early boats show painted plywood bulkheads with oiled teak trim; later ones have teak-faced main bulkheads and white laminate elsewhere, with a drop-leaf main cabin table. The galley is small, built around a two-burner alcohol stove with no oven, an icebox of mediocre insulation, and a single sink; the icebox itself is large, tucked under the starboard cockpit seat and reached from both galley and cockpit through a vertical door. Water capacity is 36 gallons.
Known Issues and Ownership Notes
The most common age-related problem reported is gelcoat cracking and crazing of the deck molding, especially around the foredeck and forward cabin trunk, and a few owners speak of the balsa core in the deck separating where moisture has intruded. Another frequently mentioned trouble spot is the centerboard and its operating mechanism. According to owner accounts, hull-bottom blistering has occurred on a typical number of these boats. The engine sits under the port main cabin settee—a real plus for access—but since it is in the bilge, it is vulnerable in the event of hull flooding. Original drawings show a 21-gallon gas tank under the cockpit; later boats moved to a 26-gallon tank under the port settee. Most examples carry the Atomic 4 gasoline engine, with the Farymann R-30-M diesel offered from 1975, and the electrical system is pretty primitive, with a 30-amp alternator, fuses rather than circuit breakers, and minimal lighting.
The Verdict
The Tartan 34 C is a thoughtfully conceived S&S cruiser-racer whose centerboard hull delivers shoal-draft versatility without surrendering downwind speed, wrapped in a long-berthed, headroom-generous interior that still feels honest to its era. She asks her owner to accept tender initial stability, a few awkward rigging legacies, and the usual age-related deck and centerboard attention, but rewards with simple rig integrity and a sea-kindly manner.
Pros
- Keel/centerboard layout with positive board lock and strong downwind performance
- Simple, sturdy single-spreader sloop rig; many sloops rather than yawls
- Long berths and full forward headroom; cork sole and practical icebox access
- Engine under settee aids service; short shaft and no external strut reduce vibration
Cons
- Initially tender with high center of gravity from shoal draft
- Deck gelcoat crazing and possible balsa delamination; centerboard mechanism woes
- Engine in bilge vulnerable to flooding; primitive electrical system
- Awkward mainsheet traveler and light-air sail-area loss after IOR boom cut
