Second Hand News  By John Macfarlane

Revisiting the Marauder 8.4

 This month I review a large volume Cruiser/racer, great for gulf or coastal cruising, offshore capable, yet still quick and exciting enough for club racing around the cans.

Marauder 8.4

Design and history

Alan Wright is obviously going to feature in this column reasonably regularly as one of New Zealand's most popular yacht designers; the 1976 Marauder design was a major change in direction for him. In the mid 1970s his customers started asking for fractional rigs, lighter displacement and more interior room. The Marauder was designed to cater to these new trends, with its seven-eighths fractional rig, wide stem, excellent interior space and huge cockpit. There was criticism from some quarters about the hull shape for being "unbalanced". The criticism naturally worried Wright at the time, but proved baseless.

Wright was working in association with Phillip Wilson, one of his top students from the ATI boatbuilding classes. Wright and Wilson set up as 50/50 shareholders in Phillip Wilson Boatbuilders in 1972, naturally enough building many Wright designs. Wilson was also responsible for setting up Marauder Yachts in 1978 and took a mould off an early wooden boat to begin the GRP production.

The first GRP Marauder was exhibited at the Auckland Boat Show in 1978, with the first Davidson 28. Wilson built the first 12 or so Marauders, before selling out to Bruce Hopwood Yachts Ltd just prior to the imposition of the dreaded Muldoon boat tax.

Hopwood Yachts went on to build another 70 to 80 GRP Marauders, mostly as a hull and decks package, but some were factory finished. As usual with Wright designs there were choices in keels: fin, twin or stub keel with centreboard. Most were built as a fin keel.

The share market crash of 1987 was the beginning of the end of nearly all production yacht building in New Zealand, although few realised it then. Hopwood carried on for 18 months with Marauder production, but sales were almost non-existent and he wound up the company around 1989.

Wright sold around 80 sets of plans for the wooden version; some of these were built by professionals, others totally at home.

Still others may have been finished off at home from frame packs produced by professionals - relatively common in the 60s and early 70s. This was the day of enthusiastic home building; it seemed every street in Auckland had someone finishing off a GRP yacht at home under the carport.

Construction and layout

The GRP version had chopper gun laid solid glass for the hull, with foam stringers and timber floors glassed over for keel attachment, with plywood stiffeners for the likes of rudders and winches. Decks were GRP balsa sandwich. The timber ones were built in double diagonal planking over stringers on 150mm centres, held together with transverse floors and bulkheads; decks, coamings and cabin were glassed over plywood.

Two or three were built in kauri strip plank, old style with glue and nails; these were in the nature of one-offs. Rudders were transom hung, slightly balanced. There is no skeg. There are a couple of later model Marauders with the rudder moved back under the hull and the transom opened out into a boarding platform. There was talk of a Mk2 model with these features and other improvements, but few, if any, were actually built. If you are keen, Wright still has the plans for sale.

The seven-eighths rig has a substantial spar, well stayed. While the mast can be tuned with the backstay for upwind work in stronger winds, it is not a light-weight bendy rig as such.

Layout will vary with the Marauder because so many were finished off at home. Most had the standard New Zealand-style cruiser/racer layout with heads forward and twin quarter berths. Some shifted the heads aft, which has certain advantages, extra headroom, easy access and a practical place to store wet oilskins just inside the companionway.

Handling and usage

The Marauder is a genuine all-rounder, with no bad habits or  vices. They make an excellent big volume cruising boat and are still perfectly at home in club racing.

The beam makes them pretty stiff, while the relatively light displacement gives them a buoyant motion. Gulf Harbour has a regular fleet of Marauders racing, competition is brisk, while most other Auckland yacht clubs have several Marauders in their fleets.

Owners' reports were all positive; lots of stories of family cruising, good times with the kids, a solid feel in heavy weather and no vices. The interior space, good handling and easy steering were features especially noted, plus the ease of sailing for relative newcomers. For many it was their first keelboat after trailer sailers or dinghies.

Wright mentioned he would be happy to see a Marauder going offshore, provided it was built to specifications and complied with Cat 1, which they will do with minor modifications to window size and the likes. Bob Wise has completed the singled handed Trans Tasman race twice, in 1990 and 1998, in his Marauder Wisecrack with no problems, despite encountering some atrocious weather at times. Kerrin Muir and Ruth Whall have just completed a three-year circumnavigation in their Marauder, Kid Charlmain, with no problems. Muir reported some fairly quick passage times, and found the Marauder's light air performance particularly useful at times.

Certainly for gulf use, or coastal cruising it is capable of handling most things likely to be encountered, albeit they are light yachts and will move around a bit. They should be high on anyone's list of potential yachts in the 8.5m range for New Zealand conditions. The only minuses reported to me were maintenance issues, and the occurrence of some osmosis on early models, later models are better in this regard. I'd certainly recommend getting a professional survey prior to purchase, which should include tests for osmosis.

 It was the early days of GRP production and few knew about osmosis. As the causes became known, Hopwood, like other manufacturers, changed resins and controlled humidity and temperature. I do not mean to single out Marauders because osmosis needs watching for in all GRP yachts of this vintage.

Price wise Marauders' average asking prices range from around $38,000 to  $48,000, with a few well spec'd, late model ones into the 50s. Brokers report Marauders sell reasonably easily. There are plenty for sale in and around Auckland. The Marauder Owners Association organises racing and social events, and would be a good starting point for someone interested in a Marauder, contact address below.

Marauder Owners Association, - Email - marauder.owners@xtra.co.nz

Conclusion

Numbers-wise, the Marauder is the more popular yacht of these two with nearly 200 built, and there are plenty of timber ones available for those who prefer wood. The Marauder is lighter, shallower and noticeably roomier aft especially in the cockpit, while the Whiting has a deeper, heavier hull, with more sail area. The Marauder probably has an edge downwind with its wider stern and flatter run. The Whiting, especially with the bigger fractional rig, may have the edge upwind, especially in a good breeze. Two slightly different design approaches to the classic New Zealand cruiser/racer.

Caveat emptor and happy hunting.
 

Boating New Zealand August 2001 Edition