Falmouth Cutter: Good Boat Or Great Boat?

The Falmouth Cutter 22 is an American sailboat designed by Lyle C. Hess and first built in 1980. It is a 22-foot recreational keelboat made predominantly of fibreglass, with wood trim. The design is based on the traditional British Falmouth work boat, with Hess taking inspiration from their load-carrying ability, speed, and seaworthiness while adding modern tweaks to improve performance. The boat has a good reputation for its heavy weather performance and ability to handle light airs, but it is expensive for its size and used boats rarely come onto the market.

The Falmouth Cutter's design and build

The Falmouth Cutter 22, often referred to as the Falmouth Cutter, is an American sailboat designed by Lyle C. Hess and first built in 1980. The design is based on the traditional British Falmouth work boat, with Hess taking inspiration from the old British working boats in the Falmouth area of Cornwall. The boat was designed as a cruiser and is built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim.

The design was built by Cape George Marine Works of Port Townsend, Washington, and Sam L. Morse Co. of Costa Mesa, California, both in the United States. The Sam L. Morse Company built the boats to exacting standards, with every aspect of construction reflecting quality. The Falmouth Cutter has a cutter rig, a spooned plumb stem, a near-vertical transom, a transom-hung rudder controlled by a tiller, and a fixed long keel. It displaces 7,400 lb and carries 2,500 lb of lead ballast.

The hull length on deck is 22 ft, but the length with the bowsprit and boomkin is 30.5 ft. The boat has a draft of 3.5 ft with the standard long keel. The wood is all mahogany, except for the bowsprit, which is made from fir. The bowsprit protrudes 4 ft, allowing for headsail reefing and the ability to retract to shorten the boat length.

The design accommodates two people, with 5 ft 11 in of headroom under the forward hatch and in the saloon. The forward cabin contains a head, a hanging locker, and a double berth to port. The port-side galley includes a gimballed kerosene two-burner stove, with an icebox and navigation station on the starboard side. The saloon area has two settees and good storage space.

The Falmouth Cutter's performance has been described as having a "good turn of speed", with a hull speed of 6.12 kn. Its seaworthiness in heavy weather is noted as being exceptional, with a slow and easy motion in trade wind sailing. The design improvements made by Hess, such as substituting the full-length keel with a swept-back design and refining the underbody, are credited with improving windward ability and speed.

The Falmouth Cutter is an excellent choice for those seeking a traditional, well-crafted, and capable offshore cruiser.

Performance and handling

The Falmouth Cutter 22 is a small boat, at just 22 feet in length, but it packs a punch when it comes to performance and handling. It is a capable offshore cruiser, with a remarkable ability to handle heavy weather and a good turn of speed.

The boat's performance can be described as a "pleasant surprise" given its size. It has a theoretical maximum speed that is determined by its waterline length and displacement. While it may not always reach this speed, it is still impressive for a boat of its size. The classic hull speed formula gives a speed of 6.12 knots, but this can be increased with more power.

The Falmouth Cutter's seaworthiness is renowned, with a slow and easy motion in trade wind sailing, and the ability to track well down the face of large swells. This is due to its heavy displacement, a feature that also gives it stability. In lighter conditions, the bowsprit can be utilised to increase speed, allowing the use of a cruising spinnaker or a large genoa. This gives the boat a surprising performance in light airs for a traditional design.

The boat's design also contributes to its performance. Lyle C. Hess, the designer, made some key changes to the traditional pilot boat design, including substituting the full-length keel with a swept-back design, which improved the boat's windward ability and speed. The underbody was refined by introducing more hollow to the garboard area, further enhancing these capabilities. The foot of the keel was widened to allow for sufficient lead ballast to be concentrated at the centre, reducing "hobby horsing". An eight-foot beam gives the boat good form stability.

The Falmouth Cutter 22 is a capable and surprising performer, with good speed and handling, especially in heavy weather conditions. Its small size belies its impressive performance capabilities, which are enhanced by its design features and ability to utilise spinnakers and genoas.

Resale value

The Falmouth Cutter is a highly sought-after boat, and only a few come onto the market each year. This means that, despite the high initial cost, you can expect a fabulous resale price if you ever decide to sell.

The boat's designer, Lyle C. Hess, had a lifelong affinity for old British working boats, and he spent years visiting used bookstores and libraries to learn about them. This passion, combined with the boat's exceptional performance, has resulted in a design that is highly desirable for sailing enthusiasts.

The Falmouth Cutter is derived from the 19th-century English workboats, which carried heavy loads in all types of sea conditions while maintaining a good turn of speed. Hess took these qualities and modernised them, creating a boat with exceptional seaworthiness, speed, and weight-carrying ability.

The boat's construction quality is also a factor in its high resale value. The Sam L. Morse Co. built the boats to exacting standards, with every aspect of construction reflecting quality. The current builder, Cape George Marine, based in Washington, was given the rights and moulds to manufacture the yacht in 2007.

The Falmouth Cutter's design includes improvements such as a swept-back keel shape that reduces wetted area and a more hollow garboard area, which both improve windward ability and speed. The foot of the keel was widened to allow for sufficient lead ballast to be concentrated at the centre, reducing hobby horsing.

The boat's performance further adds to its resale value. Despite its small size, the Falmouth Cutter has a good turn of speed, especially when utilising the large sail area provided by the lengthy bowsprit. Its seaworthiness in heavy weather is legendary, and it handles light conditions with ease, utilising a cruising spinnaker or large genoa.

In summary, the Falmouth Cutter's combination of traditional design, exceptional performance, and high-quality construction results in a boat that is highly sought-after on the resale market. Its limited availability and high demand mean that owners can expect a substantial return on their investment if they ever decide to part with this feisty little cutter.

Pros and cons

Pros

• The Falmouth Cutter is a trailerable, medium-displacement traditional ocean cruising yacht.
• Its seaworthiness in heavy weather is legendary, and the bowsprit allows the use of cruising spinnakers and large genoas, which gives it remarkable light air performance for such a traditional boat.
• The design is based on the traditional British Falmouth work boat, taking the best qualities of load-carrying ability, speed, and seaworthiness, while applying modernising tweaks to gain a notch in close windedness.
• The Falmouth Cutter is a very modern old-fashioned boat, combining the best of today's construction technology with time-tested design elements from the past.
• It has a remarkable amount of space below deck.
• The boat is hand-built, so customers have flexible options.
• The boat has good resale value.

Cons

• The Falmouth Cutter is expensive for such a small boat, and only a few come onto the market each year.
• All that wood, mostly varnished, will take a lot of loving care to maintain in the style most owners desire.
• The boat is difficult to come by, as few come onto the market, and when they do, demand sets a hefty price tag.

History and lineage

The Falmouth Cutter 22, often referred to simply as the Falmouth Cutter, is an American sailboat designed by Lyle C. Hess as a cruiser and first built in 1980. The design is based on the traditional British Falmouth work boat, with Hess taking inspiration from the 19th-century workboats of England. These pilot boats were known for their ability to carry heavy loads in various sea conditions while maintaining good speed—ideal traits for long-distance voyaging.

Hess's affinity for these boats began long before he designed the Falmouth Cutter. For years, he visited used bookstores and libraries to learn as much as he could about them. His first interpretation of the pilot boat came in 1950 with the 24-foot gaff-rigged Renegade of Newport, designed for a friend. This boat caught the interest of Larry Pardey, who commissioned Hess to design a smaller boat with a Marconi rig. The prototype was named Seraffyn and was launched in 1968.

The success of the Seraffyn, chronicled in Larry and his new wife Lin's book, "Cruising in Seraffyn," spurred strong demand for a production boat of that ilk. The Sam L. Morse Company in California answered the call by introducing Hess's 28-foot fiberglass Bristol Channel Cutter in 1975. By 1978, the company was working on a smaller version that could safely carry two people across ocean stretches—the Falmouth Cutter.

The boats were built to exacting standards by the Sam L. Morse Co., with every aspect of construction reflecting quality. In 2007, Cape George Marine, based in Washington, was given the rights and molds to produce the boat. Sam L. Morse stayed in operation until August 2008, helping Cape George build its first Falmouth Cutter. The last owner of Sam L. Morse Co., Sumio Oya, stated that his company built a total of 39 hulls, with the final hull left semi-complete to be finished by its owner.

Frequently asked questions