Plastic Classic Forum

I'm considering making an offer on an old Harmony 31. The late 60s van de Stadt design by Tyler Boats in England, not the more recent French model. Anybody know anything about these? Any experience w/ one?

A friend of mine owned a Harmony 31. I believe his was built in 1963 or 64. I spent one afternoon sailing with him on the Chesapeake Bay and the winds were 10 to 15 true with the typical short chop of the bay and as I remember she was quite a sea-kindly boat for her size. Unfortunately he passed away shortly after that and I have no idea what ever happened to the boat.

Did you get a chance to take her helm? How was she in terms of weather helm? I've been spoiled by owning a boat that never carried much weather helm under any conditions. I once sailed an O'day 27 or 28 that was so heavy on the helm that sailing her was a chore.

I have an Alberg 30 with some worn sails whichs adds to the weather helm....I moved my mast forward 3/4 of an in or so. This really helped reduce weather helm especially in gusty conditions. Just a FYI....some weather helm issues are not the fault of the boat but rather sail condition and rigging arrangements

The Harmony 31 is a very close relative of the Trintella 29. Trintellas reportedly are very, very similar to Tritons in terms of their sailing characteristics. So I'd imagine that the Harmony would handle very much like an Alberg 30, in other words a pleasure to sail in almost any conditions. Absolutely concur with the above, most of the time a wicked weather helm is not the fault of the design and can be attributed the rig or conditon of the sails. It can be quite easy to correct if you know what you're doing. Or just by buying new sails!

Thanks gents for the info. I haven't heard anything from the owner so this might all be strictly academic.

RE: Weather helm. I've got an early '70s cat rigged Chrysler Dagger daysailer (a poor man's Laser). It's a blast to sail in a breeze and very quick, but has wicked weather helm, especially when heeled. I attributed it to the sharp bow and flat aft sections and considered adding a small jib to offset the mainsail but raking the mast forward might do more good. Thoughts?