Overview
The Tartan 3500 is a Tim Jackett design built from 1991 to 2005, with more than 150 launched. John Kretschmer describes it as a family boat with enough performance for club racing and a comfortable interior for extended summer cruising, and notes that it has held its value better than most 35-footers.
Design and Construction
The hull is hand-laminated with alternating layers of strand mat, unidirectional E-glass reinforcement and partial balsa coring; the deck is balsa-cored with stainless fasteners into aluminum plates. Below the waterline is a high-lift fin keel in deep and shoal versions, externally bolted, and a large elliptical balanced spade rudder on a 3-inch stainless stock. Earlier boats had cable-to-quadrant steering and later ones a Whitlock tie-rod system. Kretschmer notes the hull is solid glass at the deck flange, through-hulls, chainplates and keel installations, and that bulkheads and floors are taped and tabbed directly to the hull skin with little use of molded pans. He also wondered about the long-term effect of joining the stainless fasteners to aluminum receiving plates at the hull-deck joint. The stern evolved from a reverse counter without a swim step, to a swim step, to a flat stern with an opening drop-down step, and a handful of late boats have carbon fiber spars. The SpinSheet surveyor counts 152 boats and says the standard auxiliary was the Yanmar 3GM30F.
Under Sail
With a sail area to displacement ratio of 19.4 and a displacement to length ratio of 188, the boat is quick in light air, and owners report more than 8 knots reaching in a stiff breeze. Kretschmer recommends sailing her flat. Kretschmer calls the flatter forefoot a trade for flat-water speed and forward cabin room at the cost of some tendency to pound upwind, and he likes the masthead rig for its flexibility in light and heavy air. He found the large rudder gives excellent steering. The traveler sits forward of the companionway, all sail controls lead aft, and the T-shaped cockpit is narrow enough to brace in when heeled. Bob Perry called the 3500 the best synthesis of American and European design approaches.
Buyers Notes
The aluminum fuel tank holds only 25 gallons, little for serious cruising. The galley is unusually good for a 35-foot boat. Most boats predate Tartan’s move to epoxy resin in the early 2000s. Kretschmer found few inherent problems: some owners reported leaks around the forward hatch and rudder bearings that swell. Surveyor Tarn Kelsey reports interior joinery that was shifting and working, leaving gaps between sections, water-damaged wood under door thresholds, cabin soles and companionway surfaces, and deck crazing on the few boats built with early epoxy and a problem tie coat.
