Hi Lattitude,
I have been lurking around this forum for a while without any contribution but have found the input by all [ok most] to be informative and at times amusing!

What has prompted me t get into gear has been the lack of response to your request for feedback on the Eastcoast 31.

I have raced against them and sailed on them on a few occasions and a number of close friends owned the cole 31, and a few of the following designs by Peter Cole [Nantucket half tonners in particular] and have never heard a bad word said about the performance.

When the cole 31 hit the scene in the 70's to our purist eyes at the time the were very high wooded and well different, I had a 1/4 ton kiwi design and then a Swanson 32, both a bit lower to the water and not the volume of the Cole. So the Cole as we called them was the promise of things to come.
All in all a very good boat with an enviable performance in the racing arena and in more recent times proven to be a well regarded cruiser.
They were well built by Bruce Fairlie at Gosford who had a well deserved reputation for sound products. So in that respect you can be assured of a boat in which trust is well placed.
There was a series of articles in Cruising Helmsman regarding a boat called Pandora 11 about 9 years ago. A couple cruised the southern parts of Australia extensively including seven voyages to Tasmania from Sydney as of 1985. I have some copies of their articles and somewhere have a boat test ... if u want t mail me will have a search and post it to you.
Al in all the Cole 31/ East coast 31 is a bit of an icon boat from the old displacement half ton era and really a design which would take u anywhere!

If I liked helming in the cold and wet these days it would be an economical boat to consider for coastal cruising.

Cheers Yowie

Lattitude said...


Hi all,

I am looking at and am keen on purchasing an Eastcoast 31 yacht and am after any comments be it good or bad re these yachts.

Am purchasing for cruising the Qld coast and the top end.

If you can help, please do.

Many thanks,
Lattitude.
Hi,
I owned an Eastcoast about 12 years ago, the 2nd last one built. I looked around for about 4 mths before I chose one.
Great sea boats with very few problems. You have to look for any osmosis as they were all effected badly. Mine had it mainly on the SB side. There were alot of minor changes, mainly to the rudder and cockpit. The main critsism with the early ones was the lack of light which they tried to to fix with perspex in the cockpit storage areas. Mine had a shaft but some had the engine in backwards and a gearbox which sent the drive back. This made access downstairs a bit tight. I'm in Pittwater Sydney and there are still quite a few still here.
I had it a few times in big seas and it handled it well especially with the round combing on the deck took all the water away from the cockpit. Another thing is to check the bottom of the mast where it steps onto the keel, it gets affected by electrolysis, also watch for rusty engine mounts.
I bought a Northshore 38 after that and now I'm into Multihulls. The Eastcoast is a good strong boat and I always liked the flat deck. At the time I was also considering a Traditional 30, much bigger inside but they looked a bit strange. I think now for re-sale I would consider a Northshore 33 as they seem a bit more popular and osmosis didn't seem a problem, because they used vynalester under the water line. The tumbleholm on the Eastcoast slows it down if you tend to sail it on its ear.
Good luck I hope that helped.

I have sailed on a few - and always been impressed with them as a good balance of competing needs - if I was buying a 10 metre mono they would be well in the list.