e’ve been building and designing sailboats since we were kids," explained George McCreary, one half of the successful brother team that heads up Caliber Yacht Corp., based in Clearwater, Florida. "It just seemed natural that we would form a company of our own one day."
          While George runs the business side of things, his brother Mike McCreary is a naval architect who has designed the complete line of Caliber’s ranging from their first boat built in 1980, a now out-of-production 28-footer to a new 47-footer due out this year.
I met George at the St. Petersburg Municipal Marina recently to take a close look at the Caliber 35 and put her through her paces.
          The 35 makes a good first impression. While there is nothing radical or noticeably unique about her design, she is clearly built to a high standard. From a varnished bowsprit to stainless steel portlights to a sleek swim platform, the Caliber 35 quietly blends tradition with

fresh thinking . With her fin and skeg underbody, she defies easy classification and reminds me of the days when there wasn’t such a chasm between racing and cruising boats.
          I was impressed to see that, unlike many of her competitors, the Caliber 35 does not rely on an inner liner for structural strength. Instead, floor stringers are laminated to the hull providing excellent load distribution for the internally ballasted keel, support for the sub-sole and increased overall hull rigidity. The bulkheads are laminated to the hull, adding additional athwarthships integrity. Ideally, I’d like to see longitudinal stringers and solid fiberglass floor channels, but, overall, Caliber is justifiably proud of their hull construction.
          The deck is through-bolted to the hull on a wide flange with an overlapping aluminum toerail and PVC rubrail and bonded with generous amounts of #5200. The deck is plywood cored, as opposed to end grain

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