FairKeel → Buyer's guides → Island Packet 37
1995–1999 · designed by Bob Johnson · built by Island Packet Yachts
Bob Johnson-designed cutter-rigged coastal-to-offshore cruiser. The signature "Full-Foil Keel" was offered in two configurations: 4'6" standard draft and 3'8" shoal draft, both at 18,500 lb displacement and 8,200 lb ballast, with no stated ballast difference between them. Solid fibreglass hull laminate (no core) on a fibreglass structural grid with tabbed plywood bulkheads. Heavy displacement, 12'2" beam, substantial interior volume for the LOA. Built in Largo, Florida, with an active owners' association (IPYOA). On dates: the contemporary review puts the boat "in production from 1995 through 1999", while spec databases list first-built 1994 and last-built 1998. Island Packet model years ran roughly September to August, so a boat built in calendar 1994 is a 1995 model year — which likely explains the one-year offset. Work from the hull number and model year, not the calendar year, because the chainplate change below is keyed to model year.
Check this first — the signature Full-Foil Keel was offered in TWO drafts, which is easy to miss because both are shoal by most standards: about 4ft 6in standard and about 3ft 8in shoal. Displacement and ballast are the same 18,500lb and 8,200lb either way, with no stated ballast difference between them — so the trade here is draft against keel volume rather than draft against stability. Confirm which before judging anchorage access. Note also the model-year offset explained below: work from hull number and model year, not the calendar year, because the chainplate change is keyed to model year.
This is a general read on the Island Packet 37 class — informed background, not a verdict on any individual boat. Condition, refit history, and how a particular hull was sailed and stored matter far more than class reputation. Use it to know what to look for; for a read on a specific listing, run a free FairKeel report on that boat.
Original wire is due at 25-30 years. Chainplate GRADE depends on model year: 304 stainless before the 1996 model year, 304L from 1996-97 on, with 304's service life put at roughly 20-25 years by a 29-year Island Packet factory veteran. That makes chainplate provenance a first-order question on the earliest boats in this range, not a routine rig item. The cutter rig adds the staysail stay and its chainplate as an extra inspection point compared with a sloop. Confirm how the mast is stepped on the individual boat before assuming where water ingress would show; our architecture record says keel-stepped but the reviews we hold do not state it.
The IP37 review notes a transferable ten-year warranty covering hull, osmotic blisters, and deck-composite delamination. Confirm whether any hull had a documented blister-repair / barrier-coat history; do not carry over pre-1992 blister language from earlier Island Packet models.
Original tanks are now 25-30 years old — worth checking for pinhole corrosion and seepage, and establishing which tanks are original. Ask the broker where each tank sits and what removing one would involve: on many cruising boats of this era tanks are under the cabin sole and replacement becomes a joinery job rather than a plumbing one. We have no factory documentation for this model's tank locations, so treat access as an open question to answer on the boat, not a known quantity.
The review identifies a 38hp fresh-water-cooled Yanmar diesel as the auxiliary for all IP 37s; it does not name a series, so verify the model off the engine plate rather than assuming. Confirm engine hours, raw-water pump impeller history, and check the shaft + cutless bearing on a full-keel boat — drivetrain access is tighter than on a fin-keel boat.
This guide is the class. A report is that hull. Paste the listing you're looking at and FairKeel grades every claim in it against what's known about the Island Packet 37 — where the evidence is thin, the red flags worth a second look, the costs likely to land in your first season, and whether the boat suits the plans you describe in a few short questions.
It won't read the photos or put a number on the boat — that's the $249 Deep-Dive, and for the real answer, a surveyor. It will tell you when a Deep-Dive isn't worth buying. Free, no account, usually a minute or two.
Run a free report on your listing →Other people's videos, not ours, and not endorsements — walkthroughs and reviews of this class that are worth watching before you look at one in person.
See something that doesn't look right? We'd love to know — email us about the Island Packet 37 →