Tartan 37

The Tartan 37 is a Sparkman & Stephens-designed masthead-sloop cruiser-racer built by Tartan Marine in Ohio from 1976, with 486 hulls completed. A keel/centerboard underbody with a skeg-hung rudder was standard, and deep-fin and shoal Scheel keels were offered. It is one of the most respected American production designs of its era, with an active owners' association and strong resale values.

Tartan commissioned the design from S&S after Charles Britton revived the company following the 1971 Douglass & McLeod fire. The boat debuted in 1976 and was built for roughly thirteen years; Practical Sailor reported almost 500 built by 1987 and a final total of 486. It was succeeded in 1989 by the Tim Jackett-designed Tartan 372, which reused the general concept but is a different boat.

The hull has a cutaway forefoot, a long fin keel stub carrying a centerboard, and a skeg-hung rudder. Construction is hand-laid fiberglass with end-grain balsa core in hull and deck, tapered to solid laminate at the keel, mast step, chainplates and through-hulls. 7,500 lb of lead ballast against a design displacement of 15,500 lb gives a stiff boat; the sail plan of 625 sq ft is moderate. The standard engine was a 32 hp Universal 40 diesel, with early boats carrying a Westerbeke 4-107.

The keel/centerboard boat is treated as the base configuration because it was the standard and most common build; the deep fin (6'7") and Scheel (4'7") keels are modelled as keel options, and the tall rig as a rig option, since buyers search for all of them under the single name 'Tartan 37'. The 'Tartan 37C' label sometimes seen in listings is the centerboard boat, not a separate model. The 1989–1993 Tartan 372 is a different Jackett design and is not part of this family.

Sources disagree on displacement: the design/brochure figure of 15,500 lb (Cruising World, SpinSheet, Soundings) is used here, while Practical Sailor and Good Old Boat give 17,800 lb, which probably reflects a later or as-weighed figure. Waterline length is left unset: Cruising World lists 29'5" and Practical Sailor/Good Old Boat 32'1", and neither could be verified against a primary source. Reviewers flag the balsa-cored deck as the headline survey item, along with a toerail that was often poorly bedded and possible galvanic corrosion at the hull-deck joint.

Check deck core moisture carefully around the toerail, stanchions and mast partners; core repairs on this boat are expensive. Confirm which keel the boat has, since the Scheel and centerboard boats suit thin-water cruising while the deep fin sails best upwind. Practical Sailor noted 1978–1982 boats asking $35,000–$65,000 and that thirty-year-old examples still command over $50,000, a reflection of the boat's reputation.