Gib'Sea 33 by Dufour
"Boats.com" - September 2000
By Roger Marshall
The brochure is in French and English, the styling is decidedly European and the boat is definitely different. It is the Dufour-designed Gib'Sea 33, a voluminous cruiser with a dolphin nose and many other surprises. It has the bulbous look common to many of today's production boats that, personally, I don't like. Beneteau, Hunter and now Gib'Sea all seem to have over-inflated their boats. But when you go below deck on the Gib'Sea, you see how much additional space has been gained in what is still a moderately sized cruiser
I waited on the dock for the boat as Alan Morrow, the delivery skipper of Magic Charters Ltd., brought the boat alongside. As the boat approached, I noticed that the toerail along the edge of the deck ran out to the end of the bowsprit. The "bowsprit," if it can be called that, has been integrated with the deck to provide a seamless transition from the deck to the anchor-handling area. This is what the French brochure calls the dolphin nose.
Part of the dolphin nose, on the centerline forward of the headstay, is an anchor roller. An anchor-locker hatch-cover forms part of the deck and the dolphin nose. Lift the cover and you have complete access to the anchor chain, windlass and chain locker. This is a nice feature that utilizes the maximum amount of space.
Another feature that struck my interest was the number of ports. There are two ports in the hull, and from inside the boat, you get the feeling that you are walking around in a pit on the sea surface. Last in the list of visible features is the huge Bimini top. According to the brochure, it comes with the boat and stows away neatly into its own canvas container.
I stepped aboard, and Alan headed the boat out toward the harbor entrance. The other members of his delivery crew, David McKinley and Gordon Crupper Jr., also were aboard. The three men had just brought the boat from Annapolis to Newport, a 400-mile sail. They lived aboard and broke the trip in segments, cruising by day and mooring up at night, except for an overnight sail along the New Jersey coast. Alan's comment described the Gib'Sea 33 as a good comfortable boat, and he plans to sail it back to Annapolis after the Newport Boat Show closes.
Unfortunately, the only player that didn't show up was the wind. On the day of my test sail, the wind blew at only 5 to 8 knots. Under this breeze, the boat coasted along nicely, although it felt a little underpowered. With a sail-area-to-displacement ratio of 19.9, the boat is certainly not among the highest of performers, but it is comfortable for a cruising family. The displacement/length ratio of 166 says that the boat is right where I would expect to find one of today's production cruisers, with its longer waterline and lower displacement.
I found that the steering system, which is located well aft with the pedestal directly over the rudder stock, creaked badly and had a lot of friction. Alan pointed out that the rudder stock goes directly to a bevel gear at the steering wheel, consequently creating quite a lot of friction. I found that I could let go of the wheel and the boat would sail itself without effort for four or five minutes at a time -- a nice feature if you are single-handing. But for sailing overnight, the creaking wheel and the stiffness would drive me nuts.
The steering position is well aft. In fact, the helmsman's seat is a 4-inch-wide length of teak mounted on the sternrail. I think most cruisers would like a little more comfort back here. As a boat designer, I think this area needs some attention. The transom has a small swim platform that provides easy access on and off the boat.
On deck, the boat is laid out well. All halyards are led aft to lock-offs and cabin-top-mounted winches. The deck gear and toerail are all aluminum by the French manufacturer Goiot, and its seems clunky by the standards of Lewmar or Shaeffer. Hatches and winches are by Lewmar. Walking forward, there is plenty of nonskid molded into the deck, although the cabin sides could do with some too.
The mast is deck-stepped with a compression post below deck, and the rig has swept-back spreaders with the shrouds taken out to the toerail. With headsail sheeting tracks taken inboard to the cabin top inside the shrouds, a large 150-percent headsail (the easiest way to increase sail area) would seem impossible to fit. A midstay completes the mast-staying base, giving a simple but strong rig.
Sails on this boat are by Elvstrom and appear to be cut very flat for a cruising boat of this nature. I would prefer to see a little more fullness in the mainsail and some form of traveler to get a better shape into the sail by taking the traveler to windward and easing the sheet. However, the boat is aimed at the cruising market and many cruisers don't seem to worry too much about sail shape. The headsail is roller furled, and the semi-fully battened mainsail drops into a "Lazybag" cover that simply zips over it, making sail handling easy and quick.
A walk through the interior found a large double berth on the port quarter for Mom and Pop. This berth measures 60 inches wide at the shoulder and 72 inches long on the outboard side. On the inboard side, the engine housing cuts the berth length down to 68 inches. To starboard is a large head unit measuring 60 inches from forward to aft with its own shower. Alan said that they showered every day and did not run out of water on their trip, so there appears to be plenty of water.
The brochure shows 87 gallons of freshwater and 25 gallons of fuel. The 34-horsepower Volvo engine is located under the cockpit and has access from forward and from aft only. This is not so hot for checking the dipstick.
Just forward of the head is a unique feature: a 12-volt Igloo removable refrigerator. Take it home, fill it, bring it back to the boat and plug it in. The boat has twin 75-ampere-hour batteries, and according to Alan Morrow, they did not run out of power even though they ran all the lights and the refrigerator on their overnight trip.
In addition to the refrigerator there is a large icebox in the galley. The galley stove is an ENO two-burner with oven. The oven isn't large enough to cook a turkey, but it's certainly large enough for a chicken or a ham.
This is a comfortable cruising boat aimed squarely at a family of four that does not sail overnight more than one or two times a season. It is very well fitted out and has a number of innovative ideas. It would be hard to find a way of improving on a boat that already has so much to offer.
The Gib'Sea 33 debuts at the Newport International Boat Show Sept. 15.
|
