C & C Boats For Sale

 For nearly 40 years, C&C has led the industry in performance sailboat design and technology. The right mixture of speed and comfort has produced a string of successful racer/cruisers, and continues to guide today's C&C. This heritage and design philosophy produced our current fleet of C&C's that are the fastest, strongest, best-designed racer/cruisers ever built.

History
In 1961, when two Canadian sailors—George Cuthbertson, a mechanical engineer, and George Cassian, an aircraft designer—formed the design group Cuthbertson and Cassian, they could not have foreseen the legacy their partnership would create. The two started out by designing a few steel and wood boats, Cuthbertson drafting the preliminary lines, and Cassian working on the interior plans and details. When they joined forces with yacht builder George Hinterhoeller and Ian Morch of Belleville Marine, however, they moved up to the big leagues of sailboat production.

In 1965, Canadian yachtsman Peter Connolly commissioned Cuthbertson and Cassian to design a custom 40-foot racing sloop that would be “the meanest, hungriest 40-footer afloat.” Bruckmann Manufacturing was commissioned to build the boat, and the result was just what Connolly had in mind. Utilizing ultralight balsa core in her hull and deck—considered to be the first sailboat built this way—Red Jacket was launched in May 1966 and took 11 of 13 starts that summer. The following winter, Red Jacket headed south and won the famed SORC, competing against over 85 of the best racers of the day. Red Jacket was the first Canadian boat to win the SORC, and her success prompted Cuthbertson to remark, “She came out of the north completely unknown, but when she was done, the Americans sat up and paid attention.” The sailing community at large did pay attention, and demand for this type of boat skyrocketed. In the wake of this success, Cuthbertson & Cassian, Hinterholler Yachts, Belleville Marine, and Bruckmann Manufacturing joined forces, in 1969, to form the publicly held C&C Yachts.

C&C's success was built on the famous racecourses of the day. The year of the merger saw the arrival of the Canada's Cup, a match-race between Canada and the U.S. C&C's custom shop, Bruckmann Manufacturing, built three Canadian defenders, with the 42-foot Manitou winning the cup 4-0 over the Sparkman and Stephens-designed Niagara. In 1971, Endurance, a 43-footer, won the Chicago-Mackinac Race; in 1972, Condor, a Redline 41, won SORC overall; and in 1978, Evergreen, a radical custom 42-footer, with a gybing daggerboard, won the Canada's Cup.

The entire sailing industry saw tremendous growth through the '70s, much of it in response to the high oil prices of the day. With a strong Canadian dollar behind them, C&C was in the right position to benefit, and they did, with double-digit growth throughout the decade. Plant expansion and the development of a dealer network helped to maintain the strong business. Dealers would say that C&C was the easiest line of boats to sell; its reputation for reliability and high performance resulted in boats that would essentially sell themselves.

During this time, C&C was also producing exceptional talent for the rest of the industry. Rob Mazza, who went on to design for Hunter Marine, was a C&C alum, as were Barry Carroll, and Steve Killing, who remains one of Canada's best designers. Rob Ball, however, was the biggest success story as the lead designer for C&C from 1975 into the early 1990s. He is personally responsible for some of the best racer/cruisers ever built.

By the early '80s, C&C had established itself at the forefront of the sailing industry, from both sailing results and business standpoints. Its success on the racecourse continued:

a Canadian Admiral's Cup team comprised entirely of C&C boats—the 45-foot Amazing Grace, the 41-foot Silver Shadow III, and the 39-foot Magistri—finished sixth, a best for Canada. But off the water, the large, fast boats C&C was producing were not what the market wanted in a declining economy. Although this period saw some great boats coming out of the factory—the C&C 30, 34+, and 37+, to list a few—the business side was not as strong as it could have been. By the mid '90s, C&C needed a fresh perspective and new leadership to drive the company's business and sailing success into the next century.

In 1997, Fairport Yachts, builders of Tartan Yachts, assumed control of C&C's powerful legacy. Tim Jackett, Tartan's in-house designer, set to work designing a new line of boats that would preserve the design characteristics and performance lineage of the C&C brand. Jackett took cues from the great designers at C&C before him, but his original ideas were also informed by his own experiences designing, building, sailing, and winning in custom racers. Since 1997, C&C Yachts has introduced three new models- the C&C 99, 110, and 121—and produced over 150 boats. In 2002, C&C became the first production sailboat builder to build its entire line with post-cured, foam-cored epoxy hulls, featuring a vacuum-bagged, wet-preg epoxy laminate with uni-directional “E”-glass and carbon local reinforcements. For 2004, C&C has jumped up another notch by equipping all models with carbon-fiber masts—standard.

With innovations in epoxy hulls and carbon-fiber masts, C&C Yachts today continues to define the industry-leading design and construction styles that Cuthbertson and Cassian inspired nearly 40 years ago in order to create what remains the industry's performance sailing leader.

Innovation
As their sleek, progressive designs suggest, the C&C fleet is a marvel of sailboat engineering. The secrets are hidden in what you see and what you don't see. The luxurious interiors are just a glimpse of what makes C&C striking and distinctive. The industry leading laminate technology, construction techniques and carbon spars, although less visible, give you the safety, strength and speed that sets C&C apart from the rest of the industry.

Construction
At C&C they're cooking up better boats. Just as with the Stealth Fighter, beneath the surface there lurks a secret; pressure laminated composite of e-glass and carbon fiber in an oven backed epoxy matrix. Technology taken to a level far beyond what ANY polyester or vinylester construction can deliver, the result is a far lighter, stiffer and flat-out tougher boat.

The epoxy process allows C & C to precisely control lamination so local reinforcing and structural members can be laid together and cured as a single unit. The resulting one shot laminate is far superior and stronger than the secondary bonding process required on polyester laminates.

The strength of any composite laminate is a direct result of maximizing the amount of high strength uni-directional reinforcements in the laminate. Epoxy resin and strict resin control using resin impregnators ensures a superior fiber to resin ratio. The resulting laminate is approximately 60% uni-directional fibers compared to the typical 27% fiber content dominated by short random chopped strand mat found in a polyester laminate. Simply put, polyester won't fly, its just too heavy.

Further enhancing the composite structure, C&C utilizes Core Cell linear polyurethane foam cores.This core exhibits superior shear, impact and stiffness properties, completing a laminate that out performs all polyester or vinylester laminates.

Epoxy Hulls: The Epoxy Revolution
Just as the introduction of polyester fiberglass laminates replaced wood yacht construction in the early 1960's, C&C's new epoxy laminate now makes those earlier lamination techniques obsolete. They use an epoxy based resin system in their laminating process. The other builders use polyester resins, which simply cannot achieve the strength, stiffness and osmotic resistance of epoxy. That's why the world's leading grand prix and custom yachts are built with epoxy resins. While epoxy is more expensive than polyester resin, there is simply no other sensible choice in hull laminate construction.

In constructing their hull laminates, they begin by using the most advanced materials available in the marine industry today. The combination of uni-directional E-glass, synthetic structural foam coring and epoxy based resin produces the strongest and most impact resistant laminate in the marine industry. C & C hulls are resin infused under vacuum to ensure a consistent and optimal low-resin, high fiber content. This process consolidates the laminate into a void free matrix and produces the optimum strength to weight ratio in a composite laminate.

Additionally, the vacuum infused hull laminate is done in a single process with all components in place rather than bonding each layer separately like other builders. This produces a singular primary bond among the laminate components rather than the weaker multiple secondary bonds between cured laminate layers produced by traditional polyester construction. This process creates a laminate of far greater strength and stiffness. That also maintains its physical properties through cyclic loading far beyond the abilities of conventional polyester laminate construction.

This process optimizes the strength and longevity of the composite laminate. Hulls built with this proprietary process are the strongest in the industry and of a quality that was previously available only for custom built cruisers or grand prix racers. C & C are so confident in the strength and durability of their laminate process that they are the only builder to offer a 15-year, transferable, structural, no-blister warranty.

Benefits of an epoxy composite hull;

• Superior impact resistance;
  
• No other hull in the industry can match the strength and impact resistance of a C&C yacht.
  
• Superior cosmetic appearance;
  
• C&C hulls are built to be cosmetically superior and remain that way throughout their lifetime. Polyester hulls are not post-cured in production. Once polyester hulls are exposed to sunlight and temperature, they experience an uncontrolled post-curing process resulting in 7-8% resin shrinkage volumetrically. This creates roving and core print-through that is apparent in most polyester hulls. C&C's epoxy hulls do not experience this post-cure shrinkage and remain better looking for a longer period of time.
  
• Superior structural longevity;
  
• The adhesive properties of epoxy are far superior to those of polyester resins. This characteristic substantially limits micro-cracking within the laminate. Micro-cracking
  leads to fatigue and a weakening of the hull structure over time. The superior ability of an epoxy based laminate to withstand the negative effects of cyclic loading is an essential advantage of C&C epoxy hulls versus other manufacturers' polyester hulls.
  
• Superior retention of shear strength;
  
• Interlaminar shear strength is significantly weakened by water absorption in the laminate.
  
• Simply stated, decks and hulls that get “soft” from water absorption are much weaker than ones that don't. Polyester laminates loose 35% of their shear strength after one year in the water due to water absorption. In contrast, epoxy based laminates retain nearly 100% of their shear strength during the same period of time in the water. Why? Because epoxy is water resistant; polyester isn't. Epoxy is simply the best resin system for marine construction.
  
• Superior blister resistance
  
• Superior resistance to water absorption of our epoxy based laminate eliminates osmotic gelcoat blistering in C&C hulls.
  

Carbon Fiber Spars: Carbon Fiber Masts
Just as the first airplanes were built from spruce, so were masts for sailboats. Aluminum replaced both because it was lighter , stronger and stiffer and provided better performance and increased safety. When called upon to make the next leap in performance the aerospace industry jumped to carbon fiber laminates pressure cured at high temperatures in an autoclave. This technology makes up the heart and sole of the Stealth Fighter....and makes all C&C yachts fly faster.

By utilizing the unique properties of carbon fiber, which has a tensile strength greater than steel at a mere fraction of the weight, the mast tube laminate can be tailored to meet the various loads imposed on the rig. Conversely, an aluminum mast tube is extruded at a constant weight and wall thickness throughout its length, and thus must be sized for the greatest loads, which occur in the bottom panel. The result is an excessively heavy section, particularly aloft where weight most adversely affects performance and handling. For rigidity the C&C carbon mast laminate is predominately uni-directional pre-preg that runs the length of the rig and is locally reinforced in the bottom section, taking maximum advantage of carbon's strength and versatility. The resulting laminate is light aloft and reinforced in the lower panel for greater strength. Furthering the carbon mast advantage each mast is molded with a taper in the top section. Not only is the overall tube weight less than 50% of the aluminum tube, it also has a lower center of gravity, which dramatically magnifies the performance edge.

This attention to weight reduction and distribution makes C&C's yachts more stable. 130 lbs saved aloft is equal to having four, 180 lb crewmembers on the rail. The savings also results in less fore and aft motion in a seaway so more energy is delivered for forward motion rather than uncomfortable motion.

Weight savings aloft improves racing performance and when cruising, provides a much more comfortable sailing motion. Some builders offer carbon construction as an expensive option ($40,000 on a 40 footer), with the Stealth Fighter and all C&C yachts its standard, “Fly Faster with C&C”.

VIP™ Decks: Built-in Strength and Longevity
The C & C deck construction method is the strongest and stiffest in the industry. Their custom vacuum infusion process creates the highest resin-to-glass ratio in yacht construction. This produces major benefits: decks of exceptional strength, stiffness, durability, and lighter weight. This is the result of a 30% resin to 70% glass fiber ratio rather than the 70% resin to 30% glass fiber used in other builder's processes. Higher glass fiber content results in greater strength to weight ratio and a lighter, yet stronger, composite laminate.

In the C & C closed-mold system, fabric and AL-600 treated Baltek SB 100 cores are cut and laid dry in the mold at one time. Then a vacuum bag is applied over the laminate and air is evacuated to achieve one atmosphere of vacuum pressure. Resin feed lines are opened and atmospheric pressure forces the catalyzed vinylester resin into the laminates, completely saturating the dry glass and balsa cores.

This process eliminates the inconsistencies of hand lay-up that's dependent on the individual laminator's skill and it completely does away with air entrapment and void problems that can compromise durability. There are no voids that can fill with water or paths for potential water migration through the core, which is extremely important to boat owners who install aftermarket deck hardware and canvas goods. Owners also enjoy decks and cockpit soles that deflect substantially less under load and won't crush under localized impacts.

A vacuum infused deck, is another reason your C&C yacht will maintain its strength, rigidity and resale value for years to come.

Interior: C&C Stylish Interiors
While C&C is recognized as an industry leader for strength, speed and safety at sea, our interiors provide you the utmost in style and comfort below decks. Here are a few of the many elegant features found in our boats:

• Handcrafted solid and laminated trim details
  
• Ventilated, solid stock cherry cabinet doors
  
• Varnished solid stock panel passage doors
  
• Dovetail drawers with solid cherry fronts
  
• Select, rich Sunbrella fabrics, custom crafted by our in-house upholstery team
  
• Hand varnished, carefully placed handholds providing safe movement belowdecks
  
• Lightweight composite cherry cabinets
  
• Custom molded composite laminate, solid surface countertops in the galley and head areas that are scratch and crack resistant and lightweight