The Balboa 16 is an American trailerable

sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminolo ...

that was designed by W. Shad Turner as a

day sailer A daysailer, day sailer, or dayboat is a small sailboat with or without sleeping accommodations but which is larger than a dinghy. Dayboats can be monohull or multihull, and are typically trailer-able. Many dayboats have a small cabin or "cud ...

and first built in 1981.Sherwood, Richard M.: ''A Field Guide to Sailboats of North America, Second Edition'', pages 64-65. Houghton Mifflin Company, 1994.

Production

The design was built by Coastal Recreation, Inc in

Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

starting in 1981. The company was bought out by Laguna Yachts of

Stanton, California Stanton is a city in northern Orange County, California, part of the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The population was 37,962 at the 2020 United States Census. The city was incorporated in 1956 and operates under the council–manager form o ...

and became a subsidiary. Laguna Yachts developed the design into the

Laguna 16 The Laguna 16 is an American trailerable sailboat that was designed by W. Shad Turner as a day sailer and first built in 1984. Production The design was built by Laguna Yachts in Stanton, California, United States starting in 1981. The co ...

in 1984, but went out of business in 1986. The boat is no longer in production.

Design

The Balboa 16 is a small recreational

keelboat A keelboat is a riverine cargo-capable working boat, or a small- to mid-sized recreational sailing yacht. The boats in the first category have shallow structural keels, and are nearly flat-bottomed and often used leeboards if forced in open w ...

intended for beginner

sailor A sailor, seaman, mariner, or seafarer is a person who works aboard a watercraft as part of its crew, and may work in any one of a number of different fields that are related to the operation and maintenance of a ship. The profession of the s ...

s. It is built predominantly of

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass (Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass cloth ...

, with wood trim. It has a

masthead sloop A masthead rig on a sailing vessel consists of a forestay and backstay both attached at the top of the mast. The Bermuda rig can be split into two groups: the masthead rig and the fractional rig. The masthead rig has larger and more headsails, ...

rig with

anodized Anodizing is an electrolytic passivation process used to increase the thickness of the natural oxide layer on the surface of metal parts. The process is called ''anodizing'' because the part to be treated forms the anode electrode of an electr ...

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

spars and a transom-sheeted

mainsheet In sailing, a sheet is a line (rope, cable or chain) used to control the movable corner(s) ( clews) of a sail. Terminology In nautical usage the term "sheet" is applied to a line or chain attached to the lower corners of a sail for the purpos ...

. The hull features a

raked stem The stem is the most forward part of a boat or ship's bow and is an extension of the keel itself. It is often found on wooden boats or ships, but not exclusively. Description The stem is the curved edge stretching from the keel below, up to ...

, a plumb transom, a transom-hung

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

controlled by a

tiller A tiller or till is a lever used to steer a vehicle. The mechanism is primarily used in watercraft, where it is attached to an outboard motor, rudder post or stock to provide leverage in the form of torque for the helmsman to turn the rudder. ...

, a self-bailing cockpit and a fixed, shallow-draft fin

keel The keel is the bottom-most longitudinal structural element on a vessel. On some sailboats, it may have a hydrodynamic and counterbalancing purpose, as well. As the laying down of the keel is the initial step in the construction of a ship, in Br ...

. It displaces and carries of ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel fitted. It is normally fitted with a small

outboard motor An outboard motor is a propulsion system for boats, consisting of a self-contained unit that includes engine, gearbox and propeller or jet drive, designed to be affixed to the outside of the transom. They are the most common motorised method ...

of up to for docking and maneuvering. The design has sleeping accommodation for four people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin, plus two quarter berths. To facilitate ground transportation on a trailer the design has a hinged mast step. Factory standard equipment included an

ice box An icebox (also called a cold closet) is a compact non-mechanical refrigerator which was a common early-twentieth-century kitchen appliance before the development of safely powered refrigeration devices. Before the development of electric refrig ...

, cabin carpeting and a

plexiglass Poly(methyl methacrylate) (PMMA) belongs to a group of materials called engineering plastics. It is a transparent thermoplastic. PMMA is also known as acrylic, acrylic glass, as well as by the trade names and brands Crylux, Plexiglas, Acrylite, ...

sliding hatch. It is normally raced with a crew of two sailors.

Operational history

In a 1994 review Richard Sherwood wrote, "This day sailer is designed for recreation rather than racing, and it offers overnight accommodation for four in one double and two quarter berths ... The manufacturer suggests the Balboa 16 for beginners." In a 2010 review Steve Henkel wrote, "the Balboa’s relatively wide beam may help stability a bit, and also provides extra stowage space below. highest of her comp group. Her fixed keel may appeal to novice sailors who don't want to fuss with a centerboard or swing keel and with a relatively high B/D ratio and low SA/D, she may be relatively stable in a breeze. Worst features: Her low SA/D and shallow keel also make her a poor bet for sailing fast or close to the wind in light air. Her shallow (2' 5") fixed keel will make it harder to slide off a trailer, especially on shallow-sloped launching ramps. And because the keel is steel, it will be more difficult and time-consuming to maintain properly, particularly in salt water."Henkel, Steve: ''The Sailor's Book of Small Cruising Sailboats'', page 68.

International Marine S&P Global Inc. (prior to April 2016 McGraw Hill Financial, Inc., and prior to 2013 The McGraw–Hill Companies, Inc.) is an American publicly traded corporation headquartered in Manhattan, New York City. Its primary areas of business are financ ...

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, 2010.

References

{{Trailer sailers and Trailer yachts worldwide Keelboats 1980s sailboat type designs Sailing yachts Trailer sailers Sailboat type designs by W. Shad Turner Sailboat types built by Coastal Recreation, Inc

Production

Design

Operational history

See also

References