Com-Pac Reviews

Com-Pac 25

By Quentin Warren

Gerry Hutchins has dedicated his entire business to building vessels that fit the needs of small-boat cruisers. Simple traditional styling, friendly handling qualities and sensitively rendered teak interiors make his Com-Pac line an attractive prospect for all sorts of backwater voyagers and adventuresome families keen to go exploring under sail. From as little as 19 feet to as grand as 35, Hutchins' boats feature everything from shippy sheers and bronze ports to eminently livable quarters with working heads and private cabins. The latest member of the family is really a rework of an earlier model, but it is new enough and distinctive enough to stand on its own. It is the ComPac 25.

The decks are generously treated with a tawny, contrasting non-skid that makes moving about easy and safe, especially up at the bow where there is plenty of wide-open space to wrestle with ground tackle plus rollers at the end of a formidable bowsprit to facilitate anchor deployment. Teak handrails are secured to the cabin port and starboard. The cockpit fits four comfortably under sail; swinging on a hook or tied up to a dock with the tiller secured the count goes up to six. Further hanging out is available on pushpit seats at the hips. Halyards, mainsheet and traveler are relegated to the cabin top to keep them handy yet out of the way. There are high coamings around the cockpit to keep rail water out, and a substantial bridge deck element at the companionway.

The single-spreader deckstepped aluminum Isomat rig flies a high-aspect mainsail with a fairly abbreviated boom; a larger lapping masthead genoa is tacked to the end of the bowsprit and sheeted outboard of the shrouds. It is likely that more sail area in the main combined with a smaller jib designed for inboard sheeting would improve the boat's windward performance. Cracked off, however, there is good drive in the large headsail, and reduced tendency to round up given the subdued main.

The underbody features a moderately fine entry with full rounded sections carried all the way aft. An elongated fin keel provides for handy shoal draft of 2'6" with enough surface area to aid tracking to weather. The rudder is a lowaspect balanced spade sensibly designed not to hang below the keel, which protects the foil in groundings. The keel itself is a hefty element more than capable of withstanding the occasional (if not inevitable) bump, which is reassuring on an inshore sortie.

A dividend of the long sturdy keel and its reduced draft is trailering ease; with beam kept to 8'6", the 25 is decidedly highway viable and in fact a custom trailer is available optionally.

Hull and deck construction is solid glass, hand laid, comprising knitted biaxial and triaxial fabric. Vinylester resin is applied below the waterline for osmotic blister resistance; polyester resin is used elsewhere. The hull-to-deck joint is an outturned flange, sealed with 3M 5200 and fastened mechanically with #10 stainless machine screws on three-inch centers. Ballast in the keel consists of a lead and concrete composite encapsulated in a highly reinforced fiberglass skin molded with the hull in one piece. The rudder is fabricated of foam-cored stainless steel-reinforced FRP and hangs off a two-inch stainless post.

For a-25-footer the boat has marvelous accommodations, all of which revolve around a main saloon with a galley element tucked in on the starboard side aft and a folding dinette that ships up against a bulkhead when not in use. A private cabin with a V-berth resides in the bow along with the vessel's fully enclosed head.

The interior sleeps five two in the bow, two in the saloon, and the fifth on an extension of the port settee that stretches aft beneath the cockpit. The galley and head sinks are fed by a 20-gallon freshwater supply; available as options are a 12-volt pressure system and a handy hot water heater. A one-burner butane stove top is installed on a swing-up counter panel next to the sink in the galley area. Storage for gear and provisioning is available in cabinets, lockers and drawers, plus under the settees. Six polished bronze portholes with screens open for ventilation; they combine with a rubbed teak finish through out the interior to produce a look and a feel that are genuinely civilized.

We sailed aboard the 25 on two occasions - once off Clearwater, Florida, in light air, and once off Annapolis, Maryland, in no air. Our outing in Florida was delightful, as the boat handled easily and responded well to the helm and to trim. As suggested earlier, performance to weather was compromised by the outboard sheeting angle of the genoa combined with the smallish size of the main. Nonetheless, we had no trouble making her go, and two details of special note should interest any smallboat sailor: In a mild grounding encountered on the wrong side of a green day mark, the easygoing geometry of the underbody allowed us to slide off as discreetly as we'd slid on; and upon our return to the slip in the marina, the easygoing behavior of the boat under sail allowed us to leave the outboard motor shipped and thread the needle with the main alone. Now what more could an ego want?

The Com-Pac 25 in its base configuration at $34,000 includes an electric tilt motor bracket on the transom and cockpit-mounted engine controls. Popular options although they do add substantial weight - include a two-cylinder 12-horsepower freshwatercooled inboard diesel, and Edson wheel steering. Naturally other items such as headsail roller furling are available as well. It all adds up to an attractive cruising package for a wide variety of folks, whether lakebound or looking forward to a sojourn up the coast.

Reprinted: Cruising World Sept. 1996