When it comes to beauty and efficiency, sailboat designs by Sparkman & Stephens rank at or near the top of virtually all lists. The Tartan 37, which debuted in 1976, is one example of the iconic work produced by this naval architecture firm.
With its modest but pronounced overhangs, gently sprung sheer and low trunk cabin, the Tartan 37 looks timeless. It followed in the wake of the popular Tartan 27 and 34 models, which launched S&S into the rapidly growing auxiliary keelboat market of the 1970s and 1980s. According to one source, Tartan Marine built over 480 Tartan 37 models over a period of 13 years.
When Gordon K. (Sandy) Douglass and Ray McLeod founded the Douglass and McLeod boat building company in Grand River, Ohio, in 1951, sailing was at the beginning of a post-war boom. Between 1951 and 1958, the company made molded plywood dinghies to popular designs by Douglass—Highlander and Thistle among them—and introduced the Flying Scot in 1958, the company’s first foray into fiberglass sandwich construction with balsa-cored hulls and decks.
The D&M facility burned down in 1971, but the company was resurrected by a business partner, Charlie Britton, which led to the building of new molds for the Tartan 27 and the Tartan 34. But the sailing public wanted larger offshore cruisers that would occasionally double as club racers, leading to the development of the Tartan 37. It was available in several selections of keel style and rig height, but the most popular was a fin keel/centerboard combination with a standard height masthead sloop rig.
With an LOA just over 37 feet, a beam of almost 12 feet, and a lead ballast weight of 7,500 pounds countering a displacement of almost 15,500 pounds, the boat was known to be stiff, weatherly and fast—having a theoretical hull speed of just over 7.5 knots. Draft with the centerboard up and down ranged from 4 feet, 7 inches to 7 feet, 9 inches. A side view shows the rudder protected by a significant molded skeg that is just slightly less deep than the fin keel draft, offering protection to the propeller and shaft of the 40-hp Westerbeke diesel. The Tartan 37 carried 50 gallons of fuel and 90 gallons of water.
The hull and deck were constructed with woven roving that was hand-laid in a female mold, along with a sandwich of end-grain balsa coring and solid fiberglass wherever strength and waterproof integrity were critical. The layout included double berths in cabins fore and aft and convertible seating in the main cabin. A C-shaped galley was located to starboard, just off the companionway steps.
March 2025
