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Background and design of Davidson/Cavalier 28

 

Two names are synonymous with the Davidson/Cavalier 28. Renowned kiwi designer Laurie Davidson (designer of NZ's America's Cup winner, as well as the super fast 350SL, the Cav 37 (Kay Cottee's record-breaking circumnavigator), and the Cav 39 & 395 designs among many others) and OK racing champion, Dave Blundell. Both were involved with Maritime Holdings, builders of the IOR-influenced Davidson 31, and after Maritime Holdings sold out to Compass Yachts in 1975, Blundell commissioned Davidson to design a similar sized boat for himself. It had to be a good-peforming, simple, solid, roomy, cost-effective family cruiser, with no regard to the IOR rules - emphatically an anti-IOR boat.

 

Blundell built the first boat 10mm undersize in pine stringers covered in wallpaper, faired in with plaster of Paris, then laid up a 10mm glass hull over that to the correct size, fairing the glass as he went. Then he took the full production mould off the hull, removed and destroyed the plug and for his work had the first bare hull and the production mold. Blundell had the production hulls contract-built by specialist fibreglass companies, while he focussed on marketing the bare hull concept and assembling finished boats. Hulls sold so readily that 16 were sold before the first D28 was launched. Nine D28's were built to MOT specifications for Rainbow Yacht Charters; some of they are still in charter.

 

Around 1981, with 120 D28s sold, NZ-based Export Yachts bought the rights and moulds from Blundell, but only another 18 or so D28s were built in New Zealand. The original D28 molds were destroyed by fire; new moulds were built but hardly used before Export Yachts liquidated in 1987.

 

For many years the D28 was built in Australia as the Cavalier 28. It was an exact copy of the D28 with a slightly different interior layout - similar to the Northshore 27 in having the galley and the WC side by side at the foot of the companionway No one is quite sure how many were produced in Australia - certainly more than 100. Production ceased when another fire destroyed the Australian moulds but Wayne Richardson of Sydney obtained the ex-Export Yachts D28 molds from the New Zealand D28 Association and restarted production priced around A$90,000.

 

Handling and usage

 

The all-GRP boats have slightly more room inside because Blundell widened the cabin mold slightly. Keels were all lead, not cast iron, and they were through-bolted with 7 x 15mm bolts. Davidson has always been particular about his foils; he specified exactly the shape for the D28 keel and rudder, which is one reason it sails superbly to windward despite a relatively beamy hull.

 

Headroom is excellent at 1.8m throughout the whole cabin area - including through into the forward cabin which features a V-berth and integral storage units. The conservatively-sized masthead rig is keel stepped, and as designed had four headsails Engines were typically the Bukh 10 mounted under the cockpit - the economical donk proving an ideal match for this easily driven hull.

 

The Davidson/Cavalier 28 performs excellently under sail. Typically club handicaps place it among boats two to four feet longer. It has no vices, has easy, predictable handling and is stiff.

 

While offshore voyaging in a D28 is not necessarily recommended, Don Jones has sailed the Tasman three time in his D28 with no difficulties. The hull has a lot of buoyancy, the ends are full and the waterline very long for a boat this size at 25 feet. The outboard, balanced rudder is hung from pintles on the stem. Steering is extremely light and these boats are highly maneuverable.