Gulfstar 50 Sailboat Review and Used Buyer Guide

The Gulfstar 50 and Vince Lazzara's turnaround

Search for the Gulfstar 50 and you find a boat that sits at an important turning point in American production sailboat history. Vince Lazzara, a pioneer of fiberglass boatbuilding who had co-founded Columbia Yachts, started Gulfstar in the Tampa Bay area in 1970 once a two-year non-compete expired. The early boats were cheap, beamy and plain. Cruising World put it bluntly: Gulfstar had a terrible reputation in the early 1970s for wide-body motorsailers with tiny rigs and chintzy Formica interiors, and some hulls were even interchangeable between sailboat and trawler versions.

The Gulfstar 50, introduced in 1975 and built until 1980, was part of the shift away from that image. Cruising World's list of the 40 best sailboats calls it arguably the best boat the company built: a center-cockpit cruiser with an enormous aft owner's stateroom, initially conceived for charter, which has proved a comfortable family boat ever since. Sailboatdata records about 172 built, a big number for a 50-footer in that era.

Gulfstar went on to build performance sailboats, Ted Hood designs and the Sailcruiser motorsailers in the 1980s before Viking Yachts bought its assets in 1990. The Gulfstar sailboat that most people still ask about, though, is the 50.

Built for the charter trade, then for families

The 50's character was shaped by the bareboat business. Cruising World tells how Bill Stevens, whose Stevens Yachts charter fleet operated in Grenada, saw the Gulfstar 50 and told Lazzara exactly what he needed changed to make it a charter boat and a good cruiser. In 1975 Stevens placed an order for ten 50-footers contingent on fairly major changes to how they were built and fitted out. Charlie Cary, founder of The Moorings, joined the arrangement, and within a couple of years Gulfstar was selling 50s, 43s and 37s into the charter trade.

That history still shows. Sailboatdata notes that the boat is sometimes called the Gulfstar CSY 50, even though it was never built specifically for or by CSY, and that most early hulls went into charter. Cruising guide author Chris Doyle skippered Gulfstar 50s for Stevens Yachts in Grenada in the 1970s, and the notes he wrote for guests became the Stevens Cruising Guide.

For a buyer, charter roots cut both ways. The boat was designed to be robust, simple to handle and comfortable for crews who were not experts. But a hull that spent years in a Caribbean fleet has also lived a hard life, and many have since been through several owners and refits.

Hull, ketch rig and what the numbers say

On paper the Gulfstar 50 is a heavy, moderate cruiser. It measures 50 feet overall and 39 feet 8 inches on the waterline, with a 13-foot 8-inch beam, a fin keel drawing 5 feet 6 inches and a rudder hung on a skeg. Displacement is 35,000 pounds with 10,500 pounds of ballast, a ballast ratio of 30 percent.

Most boats carry a masthead ketch rig with 964 square feet in the main and foretriangle, plus a mizzen. A tall masthead sloop with a 55-foot I measurement was also offered at about 977 square feet. Either way, the sail area to displacement ratio of about 13.5 is low, a displacement to length ratio of roughly 250 is moderate, and the resulting picture is a boat that needs a breeze to come alive and will motor-sail through light air. A Brewer comfort ratio of about 39 sits at the upper end of the moderate bluewater band, and a capsize screening figure of 1.68 is comfortably below the 2.0 threshold.

Theoretical hull speed is about 8.4 knots. Owners should think of the 50 as a steady passagemaker on a reach and a motorsailer to windward, not a boat that points high or sparkles in 8 knots of wind.

• LOA 50 ft, LWL 39.67 ft, beam 13.67 ft, draft 5.5 ft
• Displacement 35,000 lb, ballast 10,500 lb (30 percent)
• Ketch SA about 964 sq ft (100 percent foretriangle plus main); SA/D about 13.5
• Comfort ratio about 39; capsize screening formula 1.68
• Original engine Perkins 4.154, 62 hp; 200 gallons of water

Center-cockpit living and the aft owner's cabin

The interior is why people buy a Gulfstar 50. The center-cockpit layout frees the whole stern for an owner's cabin that Cruising World calls enormous, and the boat was offered with two or three staterooms depending on version and layout. A Mark II version followed the original. With 200 gallons of water and a beamy hull, there is room for the stores, tankage and gear that liveaboards accumulate.

Galley, saloon and head arrangements vary from boat to boat, partly because charter outfitting and four decades of owner modifications have changed many interiors, so judge each boat on its own rather than relying on a brochure plan.

Cruising World says the boat remains a popular choice for liveaboards and for those seeking an island escape, and that is the right frame. It is a house that sails, with private space aft for owners and separate accommodation forward for guests or children.

Deck, handling and short-handed sailing

A ketch on a 35,000-pound boat breaks the sail plan into manageable pieces, which is part of why the 50 suited charter crews and suits couples today. In a building breeze you can drop the main and carry on under jib and mizzen, a balanced and easy configuration, and the center cockpit keeps the crew together near the middle of the boat where motion is least.

Lazzara was an early proponent of leading sail controls aft on his boats, and buyers should look for a 50 where previous owners have modernized the deck with roller furling, self-tailing winches and a good dodger and bimini. With a 62 hp Perkins as original power, most 50s have been repowered at least once, and the engine choice and hours are central to any purchase.

Expect a sedate pace under sail and plenty of motoring in light air. Owners who accept that find a stable, forgiving boat that handles weather well and rarely frightens anyone aboard.

Owning a Gulfstar 50 today

Annual costs for a 50-foot cruising sailboat in the US typically run around $10,000 to $25,000 for slip, insurance, haul-out and bottom work, rigging and engine upkeep, before any refit projects. A 50-foot slip is the biggest variable, and insurers may require a recent survey on a boat of this age.

Refit costs dominate ownership. Cruising World notes that Gulfstars of this era were known to blister, so expect a past epoxy barrier coat or plan one. Standing rigging, sails, the engine, tanks, wiring and electronics are all likely to need replacement at some point if they have not been done already. Buying a boat where a previous owner has already paid for those jobs is almost always cheaper than doing them yourself.

Gulfstar 50 for sale: what to pay

A Gulfstar 50 for sale today is priced on condition, not model year. Our estimate for the US market is roughly $60,000 to $170,000, with project boats below that and exceptional refits occasionally above it. Because all 50s were built between 1975 and 1980, the year matters less than whether the boat has a recent engine, rigging and sails.

Value retention is stable because the supply is fixed and the boat delivers a lot of interior volume per dollar. The flip side is that a cheap Gulfstar 50 can become expensive fast; a survey, an engine survey and a rig inspection are essential, and the price should reflect every item on the refit list.