2003–2008 · designed by Bob Johnson and the Island Packet design team · built by Island Packet Yachts
A heavily built cruising cutter on Island Packet's long-keel, skeg-supported underwater profile, drawn by Bob Johnson for comfort and motion in a seaway rather than speed. The 370 carries a proportionately wider stern than earlier Island Packets, which Johnson pitched as sail carrying power, more accommodation and stowage, and room for a larger stern platform. Shoal draft is the point of the design rather than a compromise on it: 4ft 3in on a 37-footer opens up the Bahamas, the Keys and the Chesapeake to a boat built for offshore passages. The trade is everything a long shoal keel implies — she is not a pointer, and the standard in-mast furling main costs sail area and shape in light air.
Check this first — an in-mast roller-furling mainsail was the STANDARD rig, with a 110% roller-furling genoa and the staysail as an option — so a boat without the staysail stay is not missing equipment, it is a boat that was never ordered as a cutter. Establish which you are looking at, because it changes both the sail inventory you are buying and how she balances shortened down. Note also that Island Packet used the 370 designation across a long span and later introduced the 379; this guide covers the early boats and should not be applied to a 379 without checking.
This is a general read on the Island Packet 370 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.
A better construction specification than most production contemporaries, and specifically documented rather than assumed — hand-laid triaxial knitted fibreglass hull with interior grid stiffening, encapsulated ballast within that grid, a PolyCore-cored deck, and a hull-to-deck joint that is both bolted and bonded with urethane sealant.
Encapsulated ballast means no keel bolts to weep, corrode or re-torque — one of the commonest and most expensive worries on a twenty-year-old cruising boat simply does not apply here.
Shoal draft at 4ft 3in on a 37ft offshore-built cruiser is a genuine and unusual combination, and it is the reason to buy this boat rather than a deeper contemporary.
An active and unusually candid owners' association that publishes what actually fails, including the tankage and chainplate problems above. Buying into a class whose owners document its weaknesses in public is worth something.
Known trade-offs
Chainplates that cannot be inspected. On a boat sold for offshore work this is the single structural item you cannot verify, only maintain, and the honest response is to budget the factory retrofit as likely rather than remote on a boat past fifteen years.
Aluminium holding tanks that corrode at the welds, at a replacement and with owners reporting more than one.
Not a pointer. A long shoal keel and a standard in-mast furling main mean she gives away both windward performance and light-air sail shape. If sailing quality matters more to you than motion comfort and draft, this is the wrong boat and no amount of new sails fixes it.
Awkward engine access created by the deep keel sump — filters and stern gland are hard to reach, which is how service gets deferred.
Age-related quirks to expect
Aluminium holding tanks corrode at the welded seams. The owners' association treats this as the number-one issue on the marque, not a footnote — saltwater and urine attack the welds, and one owner reports having replaced three of them. Establish the tank material before you buy, because polyethylene and aluminium are different purchases.severity: Highaffects: 2003-2008 (aluminium-tanked boats)
Chainplates cannot be inspected. This is a design consequence, not neglect — owners' association advice is bluntly "just keep em sealed, or caulked and go sailing. They cannot be inspected." The factory has offered replacement retrofits on boats past about fifteen years. Treat the deck-plate sealant maintenance record as the closest thing to evidence you will get, and price a retrofit as a real possibility rather than a remote one.severity: Highaffects: 2003-2008 (all)
Engine access is genuinely awkward — the deep keel sump puts the filters and the stern gland where you cannot easily reach them. SAIL flagged it at launch. The practical consequence is behavioural: hard-to-reach service points are the ones that get skipped, so read the maintenance record sceptically and look at the filters yourself.severity: Mediumaffects: 2003-2008 (all)
Standard in-mast roller-furling mainsail. It costs effective sail area and airfoil shape, and SAIL found it underperforms in light air. It is also a mechanism in the mast: check that it furls and unfurls fully under load before you buy, not at the dock.severity: Mediumaffects: 2003-2008 (all)
Rudder bearings — the rudder runs on two bronze bearings. Check for play at the blade with the boat hauled.severity: Mediumaffects: 2003-2008 (all)
Systems to check before you buy
Holding and water tankagepriority: liveaboard, offshore, coastal
The first thing to establish, before the engine and before the rig. Aluminium holding tanks on this marque corrode at the welded seams and the owners' association records repeat replacements at on comparable models. Ask what material this boat's tanks are, ask whether any have been replaced and when, and look at the seams if you can reach them. A polyethylene-tanked boat is materially cheaper to own.
Chainplates and their deck sealspriority: offshore, coastal
Uninspectable by design, so the survey question changes shape: you are not assessing the chainplates, you are assessing the maintenance record of the deck plates that keep water off them, and the interior below for any staining that suggests water has been tracking down. Ask the factory about the retrofit and what it costs on this hull number before you negotiate, not after.
Engine, and the access to itpriority: offshore, coastal, liveaboard, motor
The owners' association's surveyor advice is specific — get compression readings, and have an engine survey done rather than folding it into the hull survey. On this boat that matters more than usual because the deep sump makes filters and the stern gland hard to reach, which is exactly how routine service quietly stops happening.
Deck core (PolyCore) and the hull-to-deck jointpriority: offshore, coastal, liveaboard
SAIL records a fibreglass deck cored with PolyCore over a hand-laid triaxial knitted hull with interior grid stiffening, and a hull-to-deck joint both bolted and bonded with urethane sealant. That is a better specification than most contemporaries and it is worth knowing precisely, because the deck core here is NOT balsa and does not behave like it. Sound the deck around every penetration anyway — a twenty-year-old boat is a twenty-year-old boat.
Rudder, skeg and steeringpriority: offshore, coastal
Two bronze rudder bearings; check for play at the blade with the boat hauled and work the wheel through its full travel listening for the quadrant and cables. The skeg is a structural asset offshore — inspect its joint to the hull for any crazing or movement.
How it fits your plans
Offshore
Designed for it, within limits. Heavy displacement, a long keel and a skeg-hung rudder give a forgiving motion, and the build specification is genuinely good. Two honest caveats: the standard in-mast furling main is a mechanism aloft that you must be able to service or reef by other means, and the uninspectable chainplates mean you are trusting a maintenance record rather than an inspection on the one component whose failure is existential.
Coastal
The sweet spot. Shoal 4ft 3in draft on a 37-footer buys the Bahamas, the Keys and the thin water of the Chesapeake without giving up an offshore build, and the cutter or sloop rig is manageable for a couple.
Liveaboard
Comfortable and well-built for two, with the wider stern buying real accommodation and stowage over earlier Island Packets. The tankage question is the one to settle first — a boat needing three holding tanks replaced is a different proposition from one with polyethylene.
Weekending
Capable but heavier and slower than a boat bought for weekends needs to be. You would be paying for offshore build quality you never use.
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