Legacy Info

[NormD]

For those like myself who are drooling over the new Legacy and hungry for more info and pics, there are some more details and pics here http://www.gisails.com/boats/compac/legacy/

[mgoller]

Hey Norm,
Thanks for the information.  That's what's cool about this site.  If there is news out there that pertains to our passion - bam! - its posted.  I think the trouble for The Hutchins Co. is that the boats they build are so nice we are quite happy with the old ones.  I am more curious than drooling. 
Perhaps Hutchins should take cues from Detroit.  Build em to last five years to keep the new ones moving.  Well, maybe that wont work. 
Hopefully for Hutchins we speak highly enough of their products to get new buyers to take a look at their quality products.
The Legacy looks to be an improved 16, with easier boarding, a little more room in the cuddy, an easier to step mast, and probably points better with the center board.  Side by side a 16 will stil hold its own.  Something about the bow and the smooth lines and the portholes calls to all of us down deep inside.

[B.Hart]

It was great to see the new com-pac line up, with prices. I think I will keep my $1000 cp16. What a great looking lineup of boats though!

[Craig Weis]

Wow I just looked at the picture of the Com-Pac Legacy, how cute,
and my first reaction was, "Boy is she short!". Then I read 16 foot six inch.
No wonder, then the tour inside...a little de-nuded of creature comforts.
Though I do like the lights. And I guess some cushions are not pictured.
BUT! Looky here...no carpet covered foam box under the cockpit sole!
This is something I have been thinking about for my C-P 19.
Rich H. say's at the boat show, you can do it but figure out how to support the sole.
I figure a 5 mm sheet of alum cut to the shape of the sole with 3~1" x 5mm flat bar verticals,
three per side, welded to the sheet, and cut to shape and glassed in place.
That will open a huge amount of space, 7'-0" abeam x length of cockpit for less then
15 lb of weight. Can one sleep here? Paint grey and
carpet similar to the bow...Hummmmmm...me thinks... skip. Thanx for correcting my spelling.

An up date: I just returned from the All Sail Show where I climbed on to a Legacy. What a fine boat and heads above the other boats of about the same size. Bravo Hutchin's.

[john walker]

it's "sole", not soul

[Gil Weiss]

My wife and I climbed aboard a new Legacy at the Philadelphia Boat Show in January. The first thing we found is that the reduced cockpit depth due to the addition of foam floatation reduced sitting comfot in our opinion. Your legs do not have as much room in the foot well compared to an "old" 16. Since we spen lots of time sitting in our boat, this is important to us.

On the other hand, the looks and other attributes of the Legacy were fine. The addition of the flotation material is a good thing too, but a trade off with space.

[David]

I also found the cockpit depth to be somewhat shallow.  The seat height seemed to be about 9 inches without cushions, about 2 inches less than the Eclipse.  I'm not a tall person but walked away thinking the seating position could be uncomfortable.  This would be especially true if you couldn't stretch out your legs as might be the case if you have passengers.  It appears the builder is trying to keep costs down and is limiting upgrades so what you see is pretty much what you can get such as a rough texture, painted interior.  Otherwise I thought the boat was very attractive and functional, certainly on my short list of small cabin boats.

I tried to find a Precision 165, another boat I am interested in, to compare it against but there were none to be found at the boatshow.  It will be interesting to get feedback on the sailing characteristics of the Legacy.  I think the Precision will be a quicker boat but the Legacy may hold up better in tougher conditions.

[Craig Weis]

I took a couple of snaps at the All Sail Show Chicago of the Legacy and posted them in the gallery. I think I'm out of space and they are some where in no man's land. LOL skip.

[Unclemike]

I noticed the shallow cabin also but didn't have a 16 to compare. However, we went ahead and bought one and hope we won't have to put the portapotty on the bow!
Uncle Mike

[Mike K]

I know this is a very old post, but I wanted to correct what I think is a mistake in a comment above.  Someone said the short seat height in the cockpit is due to the foam floatation that is below.

I'm not sure about the older boats (comment was made way back in 2007), but my 2013 Legacy does NOT have any foam flotation.  I don't think Legacies (or other Com-Pac's?) actually have foam floatation to prevent sinking.  The cockpit is self-bailing, but if you get a lot of water down into the cabin somehow (by not closing the hatch in a storm or a knockdown), then it could sink.  There are very few keelboats with ballast that have positive foam floatation, as I was trying to find one before buying my Legacy, and didn't find many.  The ones I did were super light (not too desirable for tenderness), or really expensive.

With the 400 or so pounds of ballast in the Legacy (total weight about 1000 Lbs), you would need so much foam, there may not be any living space in the already tight cabin.

After sailing for a year and sometimes trying to tip the thing over in a stiff breeze (hard to do without the brain's defense mechanism screaming at you), unless you do something really stupid, it should be really hard to sink the boat.  But it is possible, like most sail and power boats out there.