Topic: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
“You get a boat for only one reason, because you want one. If you’re worried about being practical, forget boats.”
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
Actually, I am embarassed we do not have all those specs on our site here...and I have some of the info, but not all, ie: different head room for different years, freeboard, etc., I know we've discussed it at different times, but don't have a spot on website with any and all specs?! Anyone?!
“You get a boat for only one reason, because you want one. If you’re worried about being practical, forget boats.”
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
There is a very good book out about folkboats. It was published in 2002 and is called "The Folkboat Story - From Cult to Classic — The Renaissance of a Legend" by Dieter Loibner. There is a chapter in it that talks about the Contessa 26 and the forward was written by Tania Aebi. I know we've talked about "The Folkboat Story" somewhere in this forum in the past, but I thought I would toss it out there again. It is an enjoyable read.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
Thanks for the feedback. I have the Folkboat book and it indicates that the Contessa has around 4" more beam but not much difference in LOA or draft. It says it is quite a bit heavier, around 700# which is a sizeable increase and speaks of extra room. Do I understand that it has about a foot more headroom? From 4.5' to 5.5' or thereabouts?
I have not yet seen a Contessa in the flesh so I am trying to visualize what it's like.
I agree that a posting of the statistics would be a nice addition if anyone has them available to a already very nice and informative web site.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
Can anyone inform me of the differences in freeboard and interior height between the Contessa, Marieholm Folkboat and Marieholm 26. I understand that the others have been slightly enlarged from the original Folkboat, with the Contessa being the largest. Thanks for your help.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
I own a Swedish Marieholm 26 and have been aboard both the Contessa 26 and the Marieholm IF boat. The Marieholm 26 is beamier and has a higher freeboard than both the Contessa 26 and the IF boat. The the M26 is also marginally longer LOA. It displaces 5600 lbs, next to the IF boat's 4740 lbs and the Contessa 26 with 5,400 lbs.
I compared all these boats when making my buying decision. I live in Toronto and Contessa 26s are everywhere, so this was the natural choice, for a small offshore cruiser. Then I found a Marieholm 26 for sail in California and went down to have a look at it. I felt like most of the negatives (for me anyway) about the Contessa (no sliding hatch, no headroom, poor gallery, no bridge deck for a wet boat, tiny side decks for going forward) were all addressed and wonderfully executed in the Marieholm 26. There is no doubt that all of these boats are equally capable, but I found the accommodations design and overall build quality of the Marieholm 26 to be superior for my singlehanded live aboard purposes. Another nice thing about the Marieholms is that there hull deck joints are glassed together to form a solid joint which adds strength and prevents water ingress through toe rail bolts.
The major deference between the Marieholms and the Contessa are the rig. The Marieholms share a 7/8ths fractional rig and the Contessa is a masthead. The contessa's advantage is a larger foresail.
Obviously I'm a fan of the Marieholms. Just food for thought if you're in a buying position and afforded the chance to be considering all
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
I have an overlay drawing of the Contessa over Folkboat lines if somebody can instruct me on how to upload a pdf file? The contessa has significantly more volume which has always made me question the old story that Rogers and Sadler just used an old cold-molded Folkboat hull as the plug without doing some serious tweaking.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
I thought the old story was something along the lines of: Spread the beam a bit by jacking the sides apart and (IIRC) plank up the sheerline a bit till the two of them liked the way it looked.
One would expect quite a bit more volume. It wouldn't be worth doing that for an inch or two.
Why not find some *reliable* file hosting site (possibly Google Docs, but why not put it in some obscure corner of your own site), put the lines PDF there and link it here? Its not like there is a significant chance of getting slashdotted . . .
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
Thats a good story but why would anybody actually do that? The British cold-molded folkboats still used frames and floors so gaining access to the interior of the hull wouldn't present a smooth surface for a mold in the first place. In the second place the transom width of a Folkboat is actually slightly wider than the transom width of a Contessa GRP hull so spreading the original hull sounds illogical unless it was to facilitate the release of an internal plug. If an internal plug was used then the Contessa hull would actually be smaller than the original boat which it isn't so the molds for the Contessa hull had to be made from the outside of an existing boat. The transom width of a folkboat is 52-3/8" at the shear and the Contessa is only 50" based upon the published lines drawings which leave a lot to be desired. If somebody could take a measurement across the transom at the shear line it would clear some things up.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
If it helps, I measured 50" at the top of the transom but it was a while ago and I don't know how accurate was the measurement.
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
50 inches is what I have as well. The folkboat is 52-3/8" wide. I'll create some pdf's of the various lines and post a link for those who might be interested in the differences between the two boats.
12 2010-12-13 01:29:53 (edited by Arvel 2010-12-13 01:30:03)
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
I agree with Christopher ..........I have same situation . Problem in accurate Measurement ???
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13 2010-12-22 21:54:07 (edited by Shannon, yeah, me! 2010-12-22 21:58:23)
Re: Differences between Contessa and Folkboats
I would say we get one of each together and measure away! ;-)
Also, the Marieholms are rarer than the Folkboats, which are rarer than the Co26s...especially on the West coast of North America.
“You get a boat for only one reason, because you want one. If you’re worried about being practical, forget boats.”