Etap 24i

Small enough to trail, big enough to cruise and fast enough to race! Full interior fitout, featuring forward double berth, toilet, stove and sink, and two pilot berths in the saloon. This beautiful cruiser can go anywhere with her 0.85m draft, and is comfortable enough to stay for a few weeks! Belgian built, she is full of smart innovations. With new rigging, she is the best boat on the market in this size range.

Etaps are a good looking boat that features a shoal draft tandem keel, twin rudders, backstayless rig, and a double skinned foam filled construction that makes all Etaps unsinkable if holed by an incident.

You won't find many boats this size in Australia as attractive, fun, sporty and fast as this, featuring a full interior fitout. The sheer volume of the interior is evident with its standing headroom of 5ft 7in (1.67m), while offering all the accomodation and creature comforts of a much bigger boat. Generous settee berths in the saloon have backrests which can be removed and clipped alongside to extend the settee bed width for sleeping.

The galley is split on either side against the bulkhead. Two burner stove on one side, and the sink on the other. The toilet is to port, opposite a hanging locker, and then the V-berth in the bow. Thoughtfully, the hanging locker in the heads has a door that doubles as the main saloons table as well as the table for the cockpit. Compression loads from the rig are taken by an aluminium arch moulded into the deck and by the bulkhead beneath.

The interior is finished in beech laminate which wears well, as has this whole interior. Its still fresh, clean and showing no signs of having been used.

The use of resin-transfer techniques means that every moulded surface is smooth gelcoat. Side effects of the double skinned, foam injection, are the smooth, wipe clean insides of the lockers, and good thermal and acoustic insulation. The other pleasant surprise is the amount of stowage available. With no double aft cabin, you have plenty of cockpit locker space on each side.

The tandem keel, (developed by the designer, Marc-Oliver von Ahlen, in conjunction with Berlin University), gives a draft of just 2ft 9in (0.85m). This allows the boat to sneak up the rivers and canals and go ashore the beautiful beaches the Queensland waterways offer, and tuck into corners of marinas where most other boats won't fit. Its also highly efficient for such a shallow draft. Trailable she may well be, sitting low on a trailer, but she can be treated as a fully fledged cruising yacht absolutely capable of sailing along the coastlines of Australia in big seas.

The cockpit layout works well, allowing the boat to be sailed efficiently two-handed. The mainsail has a full width traveller, which can quickly and easily be completely removed and stored nearly in the seat locker, opening up her cockpit layout from racing to cruising and socializing mode. The mainsheet can be trimmed without the traveller in place, using a padeye in the cockpit floor. The tubular aluminium toerail comes in handy, and the contrasting non-slip decks (the best you're likely to find) is an Etap trademark.

The Etap 24i has no need for a backstay, however this owner preffered one for triming the mainsail for racing. This can be kept or removed. Deck hardware is Selden and Lewmar.
She is a quick racing boat, yet easy and forgiving to sail.

She comes with an outboard engine, yet if you hinge up the cockpit floor, you have the ability to drop in a Yanmar diesel inboard, with the mould all ready to take one. With this outboard version, the under cockpit space is used for stowage.

And yes, she is unsinkable. She can still sail when full of water. She is her own lifeboat, making sailing in heavy weather a bit more reassuring when offshore up or down the coast.

The Etap needs to be seen to be believed. She offers a cleverly designed combination of comfort and accomodation in a size that simply can't be found on any other boat this size and this age. She is by far the best pocket cruising boat in Australia.

Call Helen to view her. Www. Bosunslocker. Com. Au