Pacific Seacraft, the Crealock Canoe-Stern Cruisers

A California company and a designer with a signature stern

Henry Mohrschladt and Mike Howarth founded Pacific Seacraft in Southern California in 1976, starting with Mohrschladt's Pacific Seacraft 25. The company found its identity with designer William I. B. (Bill) Crealock, whose heavy, canoe-sterned cruisers became the brand's signature. These are traditional, overbuilt boats meant for offshore sailing, and they were featured in both volumes of Ferenc Máté's The World's Best Sailboats. Fortune magazine twice listed Pacific Seacraft among America's 100 best products.

The company was later owned by Singmarine Industries, part of Singapore's Keppel Group, and built some Ericson designs after Ericson's 1990 bankruptcy. Its Fullerton plant even built power: the first 44 hulls of the Nordhavn 40 trawler came from Pacific Seacraft starting in 1999. After a Chapter 11 filing in 2007, Stephen Brodie and his father Reid bought the assets and moved production to Washington, North Carolina, restarting in 2008. The company's website was unreachable when we checked in 2026, so confirm current status before ordering a new boat.

The pocket cruisers, Flicka 20 and Dana 24

The Pacific Seacraft Flicka 20, designed by Bruce Bingham, is a tiny long-keel cutter with surprising headroom and a cult following. Pacific Seacraft took over the tooling from Nor'Star in 1977 and built about 400 until production ended in 1998 with hull 434.

The Pacific Seacraft Dana 24 is Crealock's take on the smallest boat a couple could sensibly cruise offshore, with six feet of headroom on a trailerable hull. It ran from 1984 to 1998, returned in 2001 and ended with the 2007 bankruptcy, with more than 250 built. Both boats sell quickly and for strong money when good examples appear.

The Crealock family, 31, 34, 37 and 40

The bigger boats all share Crealock's canoe stern and moderate to heavy displacement, and they grew as a family around one original design. The Pacific Seacraft 37 came first: Cruising Consultants built 16 hulls from 1978, and Pacific Seacraft took over the molds in 1980. It entered the American Sailboat Hall of Fame in 2002 and remains the benchmark two-person offshore 37.

The Pacific Seacraft 34, launched in 1984 as the Crealock 34, offered the same idea in a size many couples find easier to handle and afford, and it has been taken across oceans many times. The Pacific Seacraft 31 followed in 1987 after the company asked Crealock for a smaller 37; about 100 were built in California, it was paused in 1999 and revived in 2002. At the top, the Pacific Seacraft 40 launched in 1996 as the largest canoe-stern cutter in the classic line, with two cabins and room for long-term cruising.

The 31, 34, 37 and 40 were all carried over to North Carolina and listed as limited-production, build-to-order boats there. These boats are not fast, and their interiors are small by modern standards. Owners buy them for seakindliness, build quality and the confidence of a proven offshore design.

• Flicka 20 and Dana 24, pocket bluewater cruisers, no longer built
• Pacific Seacraft 31 and 34, couples' offshore boats
• Pacific Seacraft 37 and 40, the larger voyaging cutters

Resale and the offshore survey checklist

Pacific Seacraft resale is excellent for the size, with Dana 24s and PS 37s often selling quickly and for strong prices. A used 31 is the most affordable route to a Crealock canoe stern, while a new build-to-order boat from North Carolina costs several times the price of a good used California hull. An active owner community and specialized yards help with parts and refit advice. Many of these boats are now 20 to 50 years old, so condition varies widely.

Survey priorities include the following.

• Chainplates and their deck penetrations
• Deck core moisture around stanchions and hardware
• Keel attachment and keel bolts on the 31, 34, 37 and 40
• Bronze portlights, seacocks and through-hulls
• Engine hours, exhaust and access to the diesel
• Rudder, mast step and standing rigging age