Many of us have lamented that their are so few small production sailboats on the market these days. Thirty years ago there was a fleet of niche fiberglass trailersailers being built across the country—these days you can probably count the manufacturers on one hand.
One of the more exciting production sailboats to launch in recent years was the Malbec 18—a sleek modern cruiser that seemed to hit the sweet spot in terms of balancing trailerabilty, performance and cruising accommodations. When we reviewed it back in 2019 we wrote: Although the Malbec is new and plenty modern, in some ways her design is a throwback to the classic trailersailers of the 70s and 80s—a good all-round boat focused on family fun. For whatever reason, maybe the aforementioned used-boat saturation, of the few small-boat manufacturers who remain, most have focused on niche boats with very specific virtues or character. The Malbec 18 aims more for the center, where a good-sailing and stable boat with nice accommodations, shallow-draft beachability, and a fair price tag, ought to be extremely well-received.
The Argentinean-designed Malbec was brought to the United States and refined by Ken Lange, former owner of International Marine (West Wight Potters), but ownership of the design and production has been taken over by longtime sailing instructor and boat dealer, Miles Moore from funtosail.com. “I knew Ken wanted to retire and I felt because I own and teach on a Malbec and really love the boat that it was a good fit to take over,” Miles told us. “It was a bit scary to take over in this economy, but I’ve seen too many great small sailboats vanish from the market and I didn’tt want that to happen to the Malbec18.” We asked him what specifically he admire about the design. “To me the boat is a cross between Potters, Compacs, and Montgomerys. All boats I love, but I found the Malbec employed all the great characteristics of those boats with the added benefit of better sailing performance with a great balance between cockpit and cabin size. Plus, it’s a nice simple boat and easy to maintain and super simple and quick to rig.”
As for price and delivery schedule, Miles wrote: “The boat’s sailaway price is $45,000. That includes the sails with roller-furling jib (a new standard feature), boarding ladder, motor mount, all hardware, and mast raising system. Options are available. We typically say it takes 12 weeks to get a boat if we don’t have one in stock, even though it can take less. We tend to build a boat when we get the order. “For me it’s the perfect balanced trailerable sportboat and no way was I willing to see it vanishing from the market.” To read more on the Malbec click here •SCA• Note from FunToSAIL.com ... Please subscribe to this online publication and support small boat sailing! |
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