Design and Construction
The Spirit 24 has a solid fiberglass hull, an iron fin keel, and a clean underwater profile. Her 7.41-foot beam gives her a length-to-beam ratio of 3.26, making her relatively narrow for the era. She displaces 2,977 pounds, including 1,256 pounds of iron ballast, for a ballast ratio of 36 percent.
The review records a displacement-length ratio of 211, categorizing her among moderate racers. Her capsize screening value is 2.05, which means she wouldn't be accepted for ocean racing. Wetted surface is about 172 square feet, while theoretical displacement-hull speed tops out near 5.8 knots. Overall, the design reflects van de Stadt’s late-sixties approach to small, performance-oriented cruiser-racers.
Rig and Handling
The Spirit 24 carries a masthead sloop rig with 282 square feet of sail area. Her standing and running rigging dimensions are modest. The jib and genoa sheets are 24.3 feet long and 3/8 inch in diameter; the mainsheet is 60.7 feet long at the same diameter; and the spinnaker sheets measure 53.4 feet.
An outboard motor, rather than an inboard, typically handles docking and close-quarters maneuvering. The review notes that a 3 to 4 horsepower outboard—or, alternatively, an electric motor producing 62 to 74 pounds of thrust—is typical.
Depending on load, draft ranges from about 4.92 to 5.22 feet, allowing her to enter most marinas without difficulty. Her immersion rate is 485 pounds per inch, so she sits sensibly in the water. A Motion Comfort Ratio of 16.0 describes a firm, if small, coastal platform.
Accommodations
Below, the Spirit 24 has four berths—a practical arrangement for a boat of this length. The narrow beam limits interior volume, so she doesn’t pretend to be a spacious cruiser, but the layout supports short-handed weekend coastal sailing with a companion or small family.
Verdict
The Spirit 24 is an honest, compact van de Stadt design from the late sixties, built in fiberglass by a Belgian yard to a moderate-racer brief. She’s light, narrow, and simple, with an outboard-dependent maneuvering setup and a rig that’s easy to handle by modern standards.
Her limitations are clear. She isn’t an offshore vessel by screening standards, and her size restricts accommodations and load-carrying capacity. Within her class, however, she remains a coherent, well-proportioned pocket racer-cruiser.
Pros
- Late-sixties van de Stadt design with a solid fiberglass hull and iron keel
- Moderate-racer displacement-length ratio of 211 and manageable 36 percent ballast ratio
- Four berths in a 24-foot hull for coastal weekends
- Draft of less than 5.25 feet, suitable for most marinas
Cons
- Capsize screening value of 2.05 excludes her from ocean races
- Outboard-dependent maneuvering, with no inboard
- Narrow beam and compact dimensions limit accommodations and comfort
