Description

The smallest Tartan may just be the mightiest

Designed for good, clean sailing fun, the Tartan 245 aims to please on many levels

Design Overview

The new Tartan 245 is not what Tim Jackett, Tartan’s designer, had in mind when he set about designing the newest Tartan. We were looking larger, deckhouse, center cockpit, multiple cabin, that sort of direction after the successful launch of the Tartan 345 and 395 and design of the newest 365. But when the opportunity to build a fleet of boats for learning to sail, for club racing, for training, for experiential adventure, for exceptional multi-use and even adaptive sailing his design brain started clicking. The Judd Goldman Center for Adaptive sailing got the ball rolling by looking for a builder to build an existing boat, but it was Cai Svendsen, with whom we’ve worked before, who reached out and asked about a boat that fit very well into the design parameters that were spinning through Jackett’s mind. Svendsen put his thoughts in front of the designer and the rest will be history.

Keep it simple. Keep it safe. Keep it fun. Keep performance in the mix but not at the expense of simplicity and safety. Keep it real. Although there may be no such thing as the perfect daysailer, that’s not our decision to make, we have done what we can to push that envelope to a place we believe daysailers belong.

S I Z E

The Tartan 245 sails on nearly the same waterline as the beautiful Tartan Fantail 26. With the transom flipped and left open the 245 is self-bailing and needs no thru hulls to drain the cockpit. With a 3,000-pound displacement you need a vehicle only slightly larger than a Mini-Clubman to move the 245 on down the road. On a single-axle trailer or yard trailer, moving her around by hand at the club or sailing center boat park is short work. Size in the rig is also important and the 245’s deck-stepped, carbon-fiber mast has a hinge at the base for stepping by minimum crew. The Tartan 245 is the perfect size for safe, stable sailing, being able to make haste in a growing breeze while standing firm when the whitecaps are flying.

C O C K P I T

The cockpit seats three to four per side and there is room in the aft end of the cockpit for an instructor to be able to stand at the beginning driver’s hip to give instruction and support. The short transom is vertical for application of a bumper for stern boarding and mounting a simple plate for outboard power, whether electric or gas. One feature here is that with floating docks set at the proper height, and the area aft of the cockpit seats open, a wheelchair can roll aboard for sailors who need that chair on land. The cockpit seats are built heavy so that various forms of seating can be employed by attaching brackets, custom seating, whatever is needed. The mainsheet can be configured for boom sheeting, pedestal sheeting, aft sheeting, etc. Flexibility is the key here.

R I G G I N G

The Tartan 245 can be rigged as simply or complicated as desired. The aforementioned carbon-fiber mast and the carbon-fiber boom are fabricated by sister company AMP Spars which builds all the masts for Tartan’s complete line-up. This weight savings and stiffness given by using carbon-fiber allow for a simple, single-spreader, deck-stepped fractional rig to be designed. The forestay is wire, without a furler and there is no self-tacking jib set up as standard, both elements that keep the boat simple and keep sailors learning and working together. Standing rigging is tried and true wire, while running rigging can run the gamut from simple stock to gob smack complex. The base boat is mainsheet, jib sheets, two halyards, done.

This simplicity does not forsake the tinkerers among us or those who want furlers and self-tacking jibs. We’ve designed the base platform and will work with any person or group to customize to their or its heart’s content. Carbon-fiber retractable bowsprit. Done. Overlapping headsails on a two-slot forestay foil. Piece of cake. Jib sheet inhaulers, of course. Just say the word and we’ve probably already figured it out or will for you.

B L A D E S

The keel and rudder blades and assemblies are two elements of the boat that Tim spent a special amount of time pondering. The result is a lifting keel that works simply and efficiently. Attach the lifting bridle to the keel top, lift the keel, and when the bulb reaches the bottom of the hull, the boat rises as well. The 245 also has a lifting rig for ramp launching. Variety. The rudder blade is cool, but what makes it far out is that it is put in the boat with a wedge-shaped cassette in the aft end of the cockpit and pinned in place. Hit something, the rudder pops up. Really tangled up in seaweed, fishing line, old nets, etc. pull both pins and lift the rudder out of the water to clear. Want to roll aboard, remove the rudder/tiller assembly and bob’s your uncle. We are very excited about how the keel and rudder are going to work for all types of sailing and docking/trailering situations.

S P E C I A L B I T S

The interior was not left to chance. Two types. One: Point hose at the forepeak and watch the water run out of the cabin, through the companionway down the cockpit and overboard. Two: Footwells on either side of the keel box create benches just inside the companionway with the same level forepeak that can be made into a v-berth for camper cruising if desired. Both: Either a portable toilet or full on marine head can be installed. Practically wonderful, low maintenance interiors.

The bow is a beautiful, slightly raked design built to look good, carve waves, and break away. What?? Yup, you slip up and run into a dock bow on, or miscalculate that port/starboard crossing and the fiberglass bow section crunches, cracks, crumples, but no integral harm is done. The boat is still watertight and sailable. Back at the dock or possibly even on the water if properly prepared, remove four screws and the Tartan Crunchbow™ attach the new Crunchbow™ with the same four screws, and get back into the game! What?? Yes it’s true. Don’t want the Tartan Crunchbow,™ no worries, just tell us and we’ll mold your boat without one, you choose.

The Tartan 245 is the newest design from the oldest, and some would say best all-American boat builder. She’s small but she’s mighty and we know you will love her as much as we do. Let’s go sailing!

Specifications

• For complete Tartan 245 specifications click here.
• For Tartan 245 literature click here.
• For Tartan 245 drawings click here.