The Alajuela 33, fifty years on?

[Liminal]

This is a particularly hard boat to find any information on due to the small production run, beyond a handful of posts from former owners singing its praises in very vague terms - usually while selling one. The designer, Ray Richards, designed a few stand out vessels and some seriously weird ones, which doesn't inspire confidence. There has not been, as far as I have found online, a detailed report on long-term real world performance written on one of these in the past fifty years.


The hull design is a bit oddball: a full keel which was heavily cut away at both the fore and aft but not entirely, resulting in a wide fin keel with all tankage contained within. I haven't seen anything else like this in other boats of the era, and the proper fin keel arrived on the scene not long after. Is it more maneuverable than her full-keeled predecessors while retaining some of the benefits, or a lackluster performer and dead-end in engineering?


The rudder doesn't inspire confidence, being an undersized odd shape not fully skeg protected and looking like a weather helm generator.


The interior is spacious, but is it well laid out for serious offshore work with adequate stowage capacity for a couple on month+ long passages in remote areas, or better for entertaining in style on a weekend cruise to somewhere like Catalina? Has the over-berth chain locker ever collapsed, and crushed the owners feet into mush?

The cockpit is 7.5' long and deep, how would that handle a full wave strike from behind? The head immediately below the cockpit is the ideal layout in any boat: a wet locker without tromping foul gear all the way forward splashing sleeping crew, but does the cockeyed design of it eat up too much space? The angled setees, again, make for a spacious interior but they are quite low to the sole, both factors which greatly reduce their potential stowage capacity.


Above all: How does it perform? It's hard to find any reliable information, nobody really talks about them in detail. Is she a coastal princess? Easy motion when the going gets rough, or a rolly hobby-horsing vomit sleigh? Capable of merely an easy tradewinds circuit, or of circumnavigating via the capes in truly foul weather? The bow is hardly fine, does she beat the waves into submission or slide through them with comfort?


It would be interesting to get some actual first-hand data or analysis on the design and real-world performance of this vessel, which surely must exist after half a century of them moving around. She's long been at the top of my list for boats which could take me anywhere, but the more I come to understand sailboat design the more there's simply too many unanswered variables surrounding her.

[gallatin1988]

Checkout:
https://groups.google.com/g/alajuelaboats

FWIW, I own a Alajuela 38 MkI and really like it

[Liminal]

Originally Posted by gallatin1988

Checkout:
https://groups.google.com/g/alajuelaboats

FWIW, I own a Alajuela 38 MkI and really like it

Hey Gallatin,

I’ve poked around there, didn’t find much in the way of hard usage reports, perhaps there was more on the old Yahoo group before it went under.

The A38 I have heard is fantastic, but it’s really just the final evolution of the Atkins Ingrid design - a totally different beast of an older epoch from what the A-33 is.

[Ryban]

That's an interesting double pilot berth arrangement. Presumably not all of them were built out that way though?

I don't know a lot about the 33, but I like the the aesthetics of both the 33 and 38, and I've only heard good things.

[Bowdrie]

Only seen a few of them, (the factory was close to me and the foreman was a friend of mine,) but never sailed on one.
You're right, not a very extensive knowledge base for them, very few were made, they being built in the last year or so that Alajuela was in business.
I have an idea that what befell the 33 was similar to the Westsail 28.
The difference in the building/production costs were not enough less than their bigger brothers to entice that many buyers.
Here is one write-up on them.
https://sailboat.guide/alajuela/33

[gonesail]

a sweet hull design .. i can invision a squared off stern

[Liminal]

Originally Posted by Bowdrie

Only seen a few of them, (the factory was close to me and the foreman was a friend of mine,) but never sailed on one.
You're right, not a very extensive knowledge base for them, very few were made, they being built in the last year or so that Alajuela was in business.
I have an idea that what befell the 33 was similar to the Westsail 28.
The difference in the building/production costs were not enough less than their bigger brothers to entice that many buyers.
Here is one write-up on them.
https://sailboat.guide/alajuela/33

Cheers, I think I've read most of what is publicly available on them, haha.

It is definitely a bit odd that nobody has written much in detail regarding performance or other matters. Certainly, other limited-run boats such as the Fast Passage 39 have had many user accounts and reviews over the years, but the Alajuela became a total ghost.

Originally Posted by Ryban

That's an interesting double pilot berth arrangement. Presumably not all of them were built out that way though?

I don't know a lot about the 33, but I like the the aesthetics of both the 33 and 38, and I've only heard good things.

The double "double" pilot berth was the factory layout, anything differing from it would have been a kit hull or modified by later owners.

[GregCampbell]

I'll give my tuppence worth if it helps.
For four years I have owned the A33 "Mico", which was hull number 7. In some tribute to the seaworthiness of this design, "Mico" has been extensively sailed by a series of owners. The original owner shipped it to the Baltic and then sailed down to the Caribbean. Then a German couple lived aboard for ten years and sailed from the Caribbean down the Chilean coast, across the Pacific to Australia, and then via New Guinea and the Philippines to Japan. One of them, Birgit Maschler, wrote two books about their adventures. "Willkommen im Paradies" and "Unser wildes freies Leben" Unfortunately for most of us, she wrote in German, but I have had German speaking friends read the first book and explain the highlights. The next owners sailed "Mico" extensively along the Queensland coast and made two trips to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. During two more ownerships the boat found its way into the Southern Ocean and circumnavigated Tasmania. I bought the boat there, sailed it home to Adelaide for a refit, and have since cruised 7,000 miles along the Australian east coast to the Torres Strait and back south to Hobart.
As further testament to capability and safety at sea, it was I think hull number 15 which completed a world circumnavigation in 2011.

In my 47 years of sailing I've owned and sailed a number of full and fin keeled boats and the A33 hull design is a vast improvement over a full keel, especially in tight marinas. The boat turns in its own boat length under power and will go astern with some level of control. Not as well astern as a fin keeler, but much better than the weather cocking of a full keeler. The rudder is robustly supported top and bottom and the prop is protected within a rudder aperture, although will still pick up rope and kelp when motoring. The boat will take the ground safely with little risk to anything underwater.

The interior is well thought out and all space used wisely. We keep the starboard quarter berth for storage and the port quarter berth is the most popular in the boat. The positioning of the heads compartment allows for wet weather gear when coming off watch, gives a modicum of privacy between the port quarter berth and the port saloon berth (the one without the trotter box), and assists the cook with rear bracing in a seaway. The galley is functionally efficient and the centreline sink drains on all points of sail. The 70 litre refrigerated icebox is a little small and needs careful packing. There is adequate storage for gear and rations for three people for one month, and the fuel and water will generally last that period of remote cruising if sensibly managed. Two people, especially a couple, are very comfortable.
The anchor locker is robust and has plenty of volume for 60 metres of 8mm short link chain. The drop into the locker is short and when more than 30 metres of chain is being wound in, the chain stack has to be knocked over to prevent a jam below the windlass. We run a Rocna 15 which holds well on most bottoms and with all chain out has held against 50 knots of wind. The cockpit seats are set below the deck height which improves protection and reduces roll motion. This, coupled with the high coachroof, does reduce forward vision when seated. When at sea there is adequate pitch and yaw to allow for good forward watchkeeping. There is a lot of bustle (reserve bouyancy) in the stern and in 4 metre swell and waves built in 30 knot following winds we have had breaking wave crests foam through at deck level, but have never been pooped.

For the variable conditions of a passage you should factor 5.0 knots. We run a 130% genoa and a heavy staysail, rather than the yankee/staysail combination. We generally only run the staysail above 25 knots, at which point the genoa is usually fully furled. The boat under genoa will reach and run at 6.5 knots and will do 4.0 knots hard upwind in a choppy 20 knots. It will tack (from one course to the next) through 110 degrees in those conditions. We have been hove to in 50 knots and conditions below were relatively comfortable in the saloon berths with the lee cloths up. The boats do have significant weather helm and I keep the mast at near vertical to help counteract, and reefing the main at 18 knots also assists. With the tiller tied off they will sail themselves upwind, and our Wind Pilot vane steering steers quite well through all reaching angles, but not square downwind. On our recent Bass Strait crossing with a 27-34 knot wind over the port quarter we covered 170 miles in one 24 hour period with no current assistance. We averaged 6.5 knots for the 420 mile downwind passage.

The A33 is a well built, safe, capable and affordable boat for tradewind and coastal sailing. Its shallow draft is a blessing among coral reefs and estuaries. I've sailed around most of the Australian southern ocean capes with confidence, although watching the weather is always advised. Cape Horn might be another matter, but one of my sailing mates has sailed a 34 footer across the southern ocean and around Cape Horn, and says that the A33, well managed, would be a safe prospect.

Liminal, I hope this answers your questions. I'm looking forward to many more miles and more adventures in "Mico".

[GregCampbell]

Originally Posted by Liminal

Cheers, I think I've read most of what is publicly available on them, haha.

It is definitely a bit odd that nobody has written much in detail regarding performance or other matters. Certainly, other limited-run boats such as the Fast Passage 39 have had many user accounts and reviews over the years, but the Alajuela became a total ghost.



The double "double" pilot berth was the factory layout, anything differing from it would have been a kit hull or modified by later owners.

The A33 doesn't have pilot berths, but has two wider than usual quarter berths. It's a stretch to fit a couple in them, but there is plenty of room for one person and their kit bag, to stop rolling from side to side.

[Liminal]

Originally Posted by GregCampbell

I'll give my tuppence worth if it helps.
For four years I have owned the A33 "Mico", which was hull number 7. In some tribute to the seaworthiness of this design, "Mico" has been extensively sailed by a series of owners. The original owner shipped it to the Baltic and then sailed down to the Caribbean. Then a German couple lived aboard for ten years and sailed from the Caribbean down the Chilean coast, across the Pacific to Australia, and then via New Guinea and the Philippines to Japan. One of them, Birgit Maschler, wrote two books about their adventures. "Willkommen im Paradies" and "Unser wildes freies Leben" Unfortunately for most of us, she wrote in German, but I have had German speaking friends read the first book and explain the highlights. The next owners sailed "Mico" extensively along the Queensland coast and made two trips to New Caledonia, Vanuatu, the Solomon Islands and New Guinea. During two more ownerships the boat found its way into the Southern Ocean and circumnavigated Tasmania. I bought the boat there, sailed it home to Adelaide for a refit, and have since cruised 7,000 miles along the Australian east coast to the Torres Strait and back south to Hobart.
As further testament to capability and safety at sea, it was I think hull number 15 which completed a world circumnavigation in 2011.

In my 47 years of sailing I've owned and sailed a number of full and fin keeled boats and the A33 hull design is a vast improvement over a full keel, especially in tight marinas. The boat turns in its own boat length under power and will go astern with some level of control. Not as well astern as a fin keeler, but much better than the weather cocking of a full keeler. The rudder is robustly supported top and bottom and the prop is protected within a rudder aperture, although will still pick up rope and kelp when motoring. The boat will take the ground safely with little risk to anything underwater.

The interior is well thought out and all space used wisely. We keep the starboard quarter berth for storage and the port quarter berth is the most popular in the boat. The positioning of the heads compartment allows for wet weather gear when coming off watch, gives a modicum of privacy between the port quarter berth and the port saloon berth (the one without the trotter box), and assists the cook with rear bracing in a seaway. The galley is functionally efficient and the centreline sink drains on all points of sail. The 70 litre refrigerated icebox is a little small and needs careful packing. There is adequate storage for gear and rations for three people for one month, and the fuel and water will generally last that period of remote cruising if sensibly managed. Two people, especially a couple, are very comfortable.
The anchor locker is robust and has plenty of volume for 60 metres of 8mm short link chain. The drop into the locker is short and when more than 30 metres of chain is being wound in, the chain stack has to be knocked over to prevent a jam below the windlass. We run a Rocna 15 which holds well on most bottoms and with all chain out has held against 50 knots of wind. The cockpit seats are set below the deck height which improves protection and reduces roll motion. This, coupled with the high coachroof, does reduce forward vision when seated. When at sea there is adequate pitch and yaw to allow for good forward watchkeeping. There is a lot of bustle (reserve bouyancy) in the stern and in 4 metre swell and waves built in 30 knot following winds we have had breaking wave crests foam through at deck level, but have never been pooped.

For the variable conditions of a passage you should factor 5.0 knots. We run a 130% genoa and a heavy staysail, rather than the yankee/staysail combination. We generally only run the staysail above 25 knots, at which point the genoa is usually fully furled. The boat under genoa will reach and run at 6.5 knots and will do 4.0 knots hard upwind in a choppy 20 knots. It will tack (from one course to the next) through 110 degrees in those conditions. We have been hove to in 50 knots and conditions below were relatively comfortable in the saloon berths with the lee cloths up. The boats do have significant weather helm and I keep the mast at near vertical to help counteract, and reefing the main at 18 knots also assists. With the tiller tied off they will sail themselves upwind, and our Wind Pilot vane steering steers quite well through all reaching angles, but not square downwind. On our recent Bass Strait crossing with a 27-34 knot wind over the port quarter we covered 170 miles in one 24 hour period with no current assistance. We averaged 6.5 knots for the 420 mile downwind passage.

The A33 is a well built, safe, capable and affordable boat for tradewind and coastal sailing. Its shallow draft is a blessing among coral reefs and estuaries. I've sailed around most of the Australian southern ocean capes with confidence, although watching the weather is always advised. Cape Horn might be another matter, but one of my sailing mates has sailed a 34 footer across the southern ocean and around Cape Horn, and says that the A33, well managed, would be a safe prospect.

Liminal, I hope this answers your questions. I'm looking forward to many more miles and more adventures in "Mico".

That answers all of my questions and more, Greg, very much appreciated! I do believe that's the most comprehensive review of the design since the Sail Magazine review in '78. Thanks for confirming my suspicions about the weather helm in particular.

I've looked at two now which were much too far gone for me to justify restoring: would cost more than a similar sized well equipped non-decayed vessel + eat years of my time to make either bluewater capable again, and I'd begun to wonder if I was wasting time chasing one. They really do seem to stay with their owners until they're worn right to the bone. On that note, check your chainplate knee tabbing if you haven't recently, I've seen issues there both times (the first and last boats out of the factory, respectively) which has lead me to wonder if they were insufficiently reinforced for the rig for the whole production run.

Long been an admirer of Mico, I have the old for sale website archived as inspiration, you have a spectacularly finely fitted vessel there and I wish you fair winds and following seas for those future miles and adventures.

[GregCampbell]

Thanks Liminal. Yes the chainplate knees could have been underdone initially. Those on "Mico" were neatly reglassed and gelcoated by Shaun Sims before he and his wife sailed out to New Caledonia. They're easy to get at, to check, or repair, and the chainplates themselves easy to pull to check for crevice corrosion. The tabbing of cabinet work to the hull has required repairs in another couple of spots too but such things are more in the line of maintenance on a hard sailed 40 year old hull. Its when diligent owners notice and attend to such things before they become troublesome that boats have a long life. If too many things have gone unnoticed and unattended, then as you've done, a buyer just walks away. Most boats need a refit every twenty years, and a forty year old boat is going to need some work, and systems upgrades. If the seller has done that, then the asking price is likely to be reflective. Its all a balance of refit time and money versus purchase price. You firstly start with the design of the boat, the proven performance of the design, and the integrity of the hull and decks. If these aren't right for your tastes and sailing purposes, then progressing further is foolish. Once you look at new boat prices you realise you can spend a fair bit on an old boat that is structurally sound and fits your desires and purposes. Good luck with the search. I'm sure you'll find something suitable.