Overview
The Luders 30 is Cheoy Lee’s Hong Kong-built take on a Bill Luders design, a deeper, heavier boat than her contemporaries with a long keel drawing nearly five feet, well beyond most of the other 30-footers on Baldwin’s list. She was built as a masthead sloop, generally with wheel steering, though a minority of boats carry a tiller. The name causes confusion with the unrelated Luders 36, a bigger boat from the same designer built by the same yard, so it is worth double-checking which model a listing actually describes before assuming the numbers apply.
History
Cheoy Lee built the Luders 30 from 1969 to 1978, a production run that puts her a few years later than the yard’s earlier Bermuda 30 and Offshore models. The designer was Alfred E. Luders Jr., known in the trade as Bill Luders, whose name is attached to several Cheoy Lee models of the period including the Offshore 28, the Offshore 47, and the Clipper series, along with his own Luders 36. Like most Cheoy Lee yachts of the era she was built in Hong Kong to a high standard of joinery, and boats from this yard have a reputation for quality construction that has kept many of them sailing decades after builders of similar vintage in North America folded.
Construction
The hull is solid hand-laid fiberglass over a long keel, with 3,750 lbs of ballast in a boat displacing 9,900 lbs, a ballast ratio just under 38 percent. That is a middling figure for a boat this heavy, not as stiff as the highest-ballast boats on Baldwin’s list but well within the range of a seaworthy passagemaker. The trademark Cheoy Lee exterior teak trim runs the length of the deck and coamings on these boats, the same feature that shows up as a maintenance line item on nearly every Cheoy Lee model from this yard and era, and a boat with an unmaintained deck can mean a serious job for a new owner.
Under Sail
At just under 30 feet on deck with 22 feet of waterline and nearly five feet of draft, the Luders 30 sails more like a scaled-down offshore cruiser than a coastal daysailer. The deep, long keel gives good directional stability and a forgiving motion in a seaway, at the cost of quick maneuvering in tight quarters, and the 38 percent ballast ratio should keep her reasonably stiff for her displacement. Wheel steering, standard on most boats, is a change from the tiller Baldwin generally favors on his list, so a buyer who wants tiller feel specifically should confirm which style a given boat has before committing.
Buyers Notes
Baldwin’s notes describe the boat plainly: “Bill Luders design built in Hong Kong. Apparently most came with wheel steering though some have a tiller.” His one recorded minus is the same one that follows every Cheoy Lee of this generation: “The trademark Cheoy Lee exterior teak needs constant maintenance or even major repairs by now if the previous owner has neglected her.” A survey should focus on the condition of that exterior teak first, since replacement is a major expense, followed by the usual checks for deck coring moisture, chainplate condition, and the state of whatever steering gear the boat carries, wheel or tiller. Given the deep keel, also confirm the boat’s actual draft against local mooring and haul-out depths before assuming the 4.75 ft figure applies without qualification, since deeper-drafted variants have occasionally been reported.
