Tartan 37 Review and Used Buying Guide

The Tartan 37 and the Ohio yard that built it

The Tartan 37 is the boat most people picture when they hear the Tartan name. It debuted in 1976, stayed in the catalog until 1989, and Tartan Marine delivered about 486 hulls, a remarkable run for a 37-foot yacht that was never cheap. For a broker that number matters: there are always a few Tartan 37s on the market, so a buyer can afford to be choosy.

Tartan and the design office of Sparkman and Stephens had worked together since the Tartan 27 of the early 1960s, and the 37 is the mature expression of that partnership. It is a moderate, slightly lean cruiser-racer with a long coachroof, a sweet sheer and the keel-centerboard underbody that S&S used to let East Coast sailors race offshore and still poke into shallow anchorages.

One clarification before you shop. The Tartan 3700 of the early 2000s is a different boat entirely, a Tim Jackett design with a modern underbody. Listings and search results mix the two constantly, and the price gap is large, so we cover the 3700 separately below.

Keel-centerboard, deep fin or Scheel keel

Until the early 1980s most Tartan 37s left the factory as keel-centerboarders. With the board up the boat draws about 4 feet 2 inches, and with the board down published figures reach roughly 7 feet 9 inches. That range is the entire appeal. You can cross the bar into a Bahamas anchorage or a Chesapeake creek, then drop the board and point respectably on a beat.

Racers ordered the deep fin keel, which draws a little over 6 feet and gives better pointing without a board to maintain. In the 1980s Tartan also offered a Henry Scheel keel, a shoal fin with an enlarged lower section intended to recover some of the lift a short keel loses, and by 1985 all three keels were available. The tall rig was usually paired with the fin by racers, so check the documentation: a tall-rig deep-fin boat is a very different animal on the racecourse from a standard-rig centerboarder.

Which should you buy? For Gulf Coast, Florida Keys, Bahamas and Chesapeake sailing the centerboarder is the right tool, and it is the most common version anyway. If you sail the Great Lakes or New England and want to race PHRF, the fin keel removes a maintenance item and points higher.

• Keel-centerboard: about 4 ft 2 in board up, about 7 ft 9 in board down
• Deep fin: a little over 6 ft, favored by racers
• Scheel keel: shoal fin option introduced in the 1980s
• Tall masthead rig option, most often ordered with the deep fin

Stiff, weatherly and happiest on a reach

With 7,500 pounds of lead against a design displacement of about 15,500 pounds, the Tartan 37 carries a ballast ratio near 48 percent, which is high by any standard. The result is a boat that stands up to its sail plan in a breeze and does not need an early reef. SpinSheet calculated a sail area to displacement ratio of about 16.1 and a displacement to length ratio of about 220, which is moderate, so in light air you will want a big genoa or an asymmetric.

Reviewers and owners describe the boat as well mannered rather than thrilling. It is not a tender, rolly cruiser and it is not a light-air rocket. Close reaching in 12 to 18 knots is where it shines, and theoretical hull speed works out to roughly 7.5 knots. Steve Pettingill set a record in the singlehanded Port Huron to Mackinac Island race in a fin-keel Tartan 37, and several have sailed the Marion and Newport to Bermuda races respectably.

Some spec databases, including sailboatdata.com, list a heavier displacement of around 17,800 pounds. Treat that as a loaded or later-boat figure. The 15,500-pound number is the one most widely published for the design.

How Tartan built it, and where it can go wrong

Tartan laid up the hull and deck by hand with woven roving and end-grain balsa core, adding unidirectional roving in high-load areas. SpinSheet's reviewer called the secondary bonding and filleting of bulkheads to the hull some of the best in any production boat of the era, and that matches what surveyors see: the structure inside a Tartan 37 rarely gives trouble.

The weak point is moisture. Every deck fitting, stanchion base, chainplate and toerail fastener is a potential path for water into the balsa. Wet core is the number one reason Tartan 37s fail survey or get discounted. Practical Sailor also flagged the unusual hull-to-deck joint, which uses an aluminum plate with stainless fasteners, as a spot to watch for galvanic corrosion and poor toerail bedding.

None of this is unique to Tartan. It is the standard tax on a cored 1970s yacht. The good news is that a dry Tartan 37 deck, properly rebedded, can stay dry for decades.

Teak interior, pilot berth and a real nav station

Below, the Tartan 37 is a traditional two-cabin layout finished in dark, high-quality teak. The forward cabin has a V-berth, drawers, hanging lockers and separate access to the head. The saloon has a dinette to port and a settee to starboard, and early boats added a pilot berth above that settee, which Tartan replaced with shelves by 1986. Aft are the galley and a chart table near the companionway; Practical Sailor noted that you reach across the stove to get at many galley lockers.

The joinery is first rate, but some owners find the all-teak look heavy, and the boat is darker below than a modern 37-footer. Practical Sailor's main practical complaint is the companionway: the bridgedeck is low and the dropboards thin for serious offshore work, so many owners fit a stronger, taller washboard arrangement.

The original 40 hp diesel and the repower question

Most Tartan 37s left the factory with a 40 hp four-cylinder diesel, listed as a Westerbeke 4-107 in spec databases and as a Universal 40 by Practical Sailor, which called it more than adequate power for the boat. The engine box was only partly insulated from the factory. With 50 gallons of fuel and 90 gallons of water, tankage is generous for coastal cruising and acceptable for island passages.

Many original engines have now been replaced, usually with a Yanmar or Beta in the 30 to 40 hp range. A documented repower adds real value, often $10,000 or more in asking price, because it removes the single largest unknown in an older boat. If the original engine is still aboard, ask for oil analysis and compression numbers and price the boat as if a repower is coming within a few years.

Look closely at the centerboard pennant, which runs up through the middle of the mast to the deck, the board itself and the trunk. A seized or corroded board is not a deal breaker, but dropping it requires a haul-out and some careful work.

Tartan 37 versus Tartan 3700, the boat that shares the name

If you searched for a Tartan 3700 for sale, you are looking at a different generation. The 3700 is a Tim Jackett design built from about 2000 to 2005, roughly 60 hulls by most accounts. It has 12 feet 8 inches of beam, a longer effective waterline, a balsa-cored hull above the waterline only, vinylester resins in the skin coat, and a choice of deep fin, moderate beavertail and shoal centerboard keels.

Good Old Boat's data lists the 3700 at about 15,500 pounds, and Practical Sailor quotes a range of positive stability of 125 degrees. Used 3700s typically ask $115,000 to $205,000, roughly two to three times a good S&S Tartan 37. They are faster, roomier and newer, but they are not the classic.

The rule of thumb for buyers: the Tartan 37 is the value play for someone who will maintain an older yacht, and the 3700 is the choice if you want a modern performance cruiser with a known American builder behind it.

What a Tartan 37 costs to keep, and how it holds value

A sound Tartan 37 is affordable to own. Expect roughly $6,500 to $15,000 per year for insurance, a seasonal slip outside the priciest harbors, haul-out, bottom paint and routine engine work. Big-ticket items arrive on their own schedule: standing rigging every 10 to 15 years, sails every 8 to 12, and a repower if the original diesel is still running.

Resale is steady rather than spectacular. The best boats hold in the $60,000 to $85,000 band and sell quickly because there is a loyal owner base and an active Tartan class association. Neglected boats linger in the $20,000s and $30,000s. The spread between them is almost entirely deck condition, engine and rig, which is why a careful buyer can do very well by paying for the right boat rather than haggling on the wrong one.