Cape Dory 36 Review, Specs and Ownership Guide

Carl Alberg's big Cape Dory and how it outlived its builder

Andrew Vavolotis founded Cape Dory Yachts in 1963 to build small dories, and through the 1970s the company grew into New England's best-known builder of traditional fiberglass cruisers, most of them drawn by Carl Alberg. The Cape Dory 36 arrived in 1978 as the flagship of that family, and Cape Dory built about 165 of them over the next 12 years.

When Cape Dory closed in 1991, the molds went to Robinhood Marine in Georgetown, Maine, which continued the boat as the Robinhood 36 in small numbers. Those later hulls are rare and priced at a premium. The Cape Dory 36 itself has a quiet but serious offshore record, with countless ocean miles and at least a couple of circumnavigations to its name.

Nine feet of overhang on a 36 foot hull

Alberg drew the boat with a 27 foot waterline on 36 feet overall, about 75 percent, leaving roughly 9 feet in overhangs. At rest that looks elegant. Heeled, the overhangs immerse and add sailing length, which is how these older designs get more speed than the static waterline suggests. Hull speed is still only about 7 knots.

Displacement is 16,100 pounds with 6,050 pounds of ballast, a ballast ratio near 38 percent. The displacement to length ratio is about 356 to 365 depending on the waterline used, the sail area to displacement ratio about 15.6, the comfort ratio about 36 and the capsize screening number about 1.69. The keel is a full keel with a cutaway forefoot, the rudder hangs on the keel and the propeller turns in an aperture, well protected from lobster pots and lines.

• Ballast cast in two pieces, set inside the keel cavity and glassed over
• Hull laid up by hand in a rotating one-piece mold
• Hull-to-deck joint on a 3 inch inward flange, through-bolted on 12 inch centers

A club-footed staysail and a heavily stayed mast

Most Cape Dory 36s are cutters with a club-footed staysail, though some sloops were built. The keel-stepped, single-spreader mast is heavily stayed, with a foretriangle of about 42 by 15.5 feet and a main of about 37 by 16 feet. Total working area is around 622 square feet.

The club-footed staysail is self-tending, so short tacking up a channel means only steering and handling the main. The downside is a heavy boom swinging across the foredeck. Many owners have added a roller-furling genoa and a furling staysail, which is the most practical setup for a couple.

What it does well at sea, and where it struggles

The Cape Dory 36 tracks beautifully, resists pounding and heaves to well, three qualities that matter more on an ocean crossing than a few tenths of a knot. Its motion in a seaway is slow and easy.

It is not a close-winded boat. Wide sheeting angles and the long keel keep it from pointing as high as a fin keel cruiser, and in a breeze it can develop considerable weather helm, which reefing the main early largely cures. In light air it is slow, and in reverse it goes where it wants. Pay attention in tight marinas.

The hull 71 dividing line

On early boats the chainplates were attached to a mild steel web glassed to the hull. Mild steel rusts, and over decades that web can corrode badly inside the glass where you cannot see it. From about hull 71 Cape Dory switched to an aluminum angle bar glassed to the hull below the deck flange.

If you are looking at an early hull, ask whether the chainplate structure has been opened up and repaired, and budget for it if not. This single detail is worth more on survey than the varnish or the cushions.

A cabin for two, with room for guests

Below decks the layout is classic Cape Dory: a V-berth forward with a big overhead hatch and opening ports, a head to port with a hanging locker, an L-shaped settee to port and a straight settee to starboard in the saloon, and a galley aft with two large sinks, a three-burner stove and a small refrigerator. The nav station and quarter berth are to starboard.

Headroom is about 6 feet 4 inches. The joinery is solid teak, finished to the standard that made Cape Dory famous, and on deck you get wide side decks, long teak handrails on the cabin house and a stout teak toerail. Water capacity is generous for the size.

Living with the Perkins 4-108

The standard engine on the Cape Dory 36 was the Perkins 4-108, a 50 hp four-cylinder diesel tucked behind the companionway with just enough room to work. It is a famously durable engine with a famous flaw: it leaks oil from numerous places, the timing cover being a common offender. Parts are still available, and a good rebuild is often cheaper than a repower.

When it is time to replace it, many owners fit a modern 40 hp class diesel. One Practical Sailor contributor rebuilding his 36 sold the Perkins on Craigslist for $2,000, filled in the prop aperture and sailed without an inboard for five years, logging about 8,000 offshore miles. The fuel tank is fiberglass, which avoids the corroded-tank headache of many rivals, though some owners have swapped in aluminum.

Turning a coastal Cape Dory 36 into an ocean boat

Most Cape Dory 36s spent their lives cruising Maine, Long Island Sound and the Chesapeake, so a typical listing is set up for weekends rather than oceans. The hull needs little; the equipment list is where the money goes. Expect to spend $25,000 to $50,000 on a boat that has never been offshore, and more if the rig and engine are original.

Start with the rig, because a 35 to 45 year old mast step, chainplates and standing rigging are the items most likely to end a passage early. Then add steering, power and water management, in that order. The long keel and steady tracking make the 36 an easy boat for a wind vane, which is the best single upgrade for a couple on watch.

• New standing rigging, chainplates inspected or replaced, and a furling genoa and staysail
• A wind vane plus a below-decks or wheel autopilot for motoring
• Lithium or AGM house bank, larger alternator and solar
• A second high-capacity bilge pump and a manual pump operable from the helm
• Lee cloths for the settees, which make excellent sea berths

Deck, rudder and the rest of the survey

The balsa-cored deck is the most common problem. Hardware was mounted on solid or plywood reinforcement in high-load areas, but water finds its way into the balsa around poorly sealed fittings. Rudder delamination is the second known issue; the rudder is fiberglass on a 1.5 inch stock.

Asking prices typically run $35,000 to $95,000 on the US market, and annual costs of $6,500 to $14,000 cover insurance, a 36 to 38 foot slip and routine maintenance. Because the boat sits on a full keel with an aperture prop, haul-out and blocking are straightforward at any yard.