Building Programme underway for (Farr) 3.7 Class

by Chris Mitchell on 18 May 2008 The 3.7 Class is pleased to announce that a building programme is taking form, and a first hull is already being built on-spec at Howden Boatbuilders Limited. This first boat is available for purchase and by arrangement, can be inspected during construction (North Shore, Auckland) and either completely finished or partially finished to the owner's wishes. First come, first served.

Cost reductions and efficiencies will be made if several boats could be built at the same time.

This is an excellent opportunity for the overgrown Splash/Starling/4.7 sailors to move into the 3.7 Class for a new boat next season and the right time to be doing it is NOW!

The 3.7 Owners Association represents the people who already own boats, and it is not contractually nor financially involved with the boat building as the contract is between sailor and boatbuilder. But the whole class is keen to see an increase in the supply of high quality boats and to continue this resurgence and growth in the Class.

In fact if other professional boat builders are interested in supply of boats, the Association is keen to publicise other available sources and to be completely transparent to provide any interested party with all the available options that are known.

The 3.7 Owners Association will be pleased to arrange for any potential sailors to sail in an existing 3.7 first, in order to see if they like this kind of boat. [What this means in fact is that the author, will let them sail in his own boat, if they promise, not to wreck it.] We don't want people to buy such a boat and then decide later they can't manage it or don't really like it. So, the 3.7 Owners Association would like to be pro-active about helping sailors/families enter the class with good information so they can have some fun.

The 3.7 Class in Auckland has winter series racing with at least two events per month, including racing at Manly, Tauranga, Takapuna and possibly also the Win Champs at Murrays Bay later in the 'season'. Discussions have begun on sailing the Class in Auckland in the 2009 summer season at Torbay and Wakatere for Club racing to try to avoid spreading the class too thin over too many different venues. North Shore Champs are normally held at Takapuna pre-Xmas. The Auckland Champs are normally sailed at Eastern Beach prior to the Nationals. The venue for the National Champs in 2009 is to be the Bay of Islands, April 10 (Easter). The North Island Champs are normally sailed at Tauranga. The sailing outside of Auckland in places like Rotorua, Tauranga, Hamilton, Wellington and Christchurch is well established, whereas the Auckland events above are going through a bit of a re-build or re-focus to get everyone together in one place each race day.

The Class Rules, tuning guide and other information is available on the www.3-7Class.org.nz website. Bruce Farr originally designed the boat on the basis that it was made from sheets of ply and would be in the realm of sailors to home-build their own boats. In fact this is what happens too, and several notable families have almost been involved in what could be termed mass production. But today, a lot of people simply don't have the time to build their own boat...

The costs of the boats can vary considerably. Recently most good boats have changed hands for $5000 to $6000, the market for initial entry boats is probably around $3000. Boats down to $500 are common but are generally uncompetitive or costly to rejuvenate or just dangerous if you are not a DIY builder. The cost to get a new professionally built hull then to fit it out yourself and get it on the water with beach trolley etc etc etc is probably in the region of $12,000 to $14,000 all up (it is bound to vary). But at time of writing there is an absolutely first class boat advertised for $8200 that seems a bargain. There is no question that secondhand boats are in demand as there are now very few for sale. So, the range of prices is actually quite wide and mostly, we'd suggest you get what you pay for in the long run. In comparison to many other classes that are either boring to sail or way over-priced, the (enjoyment & challenge per dollar) 3.7 factor is as good as it has ever been. So, ask all the questions and see what you can find out. Then go for it..