A Serious, Performance-Oriented Bluewater Cruiser

The Celestial 48 line of moderate-displacement, center-cockpit cruisers was built in the Chinese yard of Xiamen Celestial Yachts, but they do present some mysteries.

The Celestial 48 is a strong boat with a sought-after layout, excellent storage and good sailing characteristics. Several have been seen cruising the world from Australia to the Mediterranean, and they are contenders for a couple or a family looking for a bluewater passagemaker on the secondary market.

But not many of them were built, so they are relatively rare, and the details of their history are murky—and sometimes downright inaccurate.

The design has been attributed to anyone from Sparkman & Stephens to Ted Brewer to Robert Perry. But it was Bryce Fuhriman who based his first boat, a 46, on a Brewer design and then added his own changes. He then put together an international team of American ownership, Australian management and Chinese craftsmen to build this line of semi-custom bluewater boats destined for the North American market.

Fuhriman started his venture in 1980, and the next five years proved to be difficult, as he tried to generate sufficient funding and fought a troublesome market in the United States, so production was slow. He experimented with several sizes, including 42s, 43s, 44s, 46s and 48s. By 1985, the line mainly focused on the 48 ketch.

RIGGING & PERFORMANCE

The Celestial 48, which is actually 50 feet LOA and 48 feet on deck, is a good light-wind performer and is surprisingly agile for a center-cockpit cruiser with a displacement of 27,000 pounds. Because the jib sheets are led to tracks on the caprail, sheeting angles aren't particularly tight, so the boat will point to about 45 degrees; much higher than that, and it will stall, especially if pushing into head seas.

With all canvas up, the 48 will do 6 to 7 knots on a close reach and 8 knots and higher on a beam or broad reach in about 15 knots of true wind. Although it needs to be reefed early, in light wind the 48 moves like a luxury car and will scoot along at 5 knots, even in only 8 to 10 knots of breeze.

The sail area is 990 square feet on a Kenyon keel-stepped, double-spreader main mast, which is relatively tall at 56 feet above the waterline. It also has a large mizzen sail on a deck-stepped, single-spreader spar. On a beam reach, the boat stays on its feet and does best under a jib and jigger configuration, using the headsail and mizzen, but keeping the mainsail furled. Because of the split rig, the 48 is easily managed short handed.

When examining these boats, check the main mast step, as construction techniques varied from hull to hull. Early models had only a block of wood covered in fiberglass, and if the glass was compromised and moisture seeped in, the mast step rotted and made the rig unstable, according to some reports. In addition, it's not easy to access chain plates, so check the condition and evaluate the expense of any fixes or changes prior to purchase.

The mainsheet was originally led to the forward end of the cockpit, much like on an aft-cockpit layout. However, this does not let the helmsman have control within reach. Unfortunately, given the cockpit layout and the ketch rig, there is no convenient place to install a mainsheet winch, so some clever owners have added a cascading purchase, which allows for end-boom sheeting to fine-tune the mainsail trim without a winch.

Under power, the Celestial 48 is quite maneuverable due to its large, skeg-hung rudder. With a three-blade fixed or folding propeller, it turns in its own length. The boat will power up to 8 knots depending on sea conditions and is reasonably easy to control.

DESIGN & CONSTRUCTION

The 48 has a fully encapsulated, elongated fin keel consisting of two solid lead castings. The underbody has full, round bilges, which means there is lower form stability. This makes the boat initially a bit tender, so you'll need to reef if the wind is forward of the beam and in excess of 18 knots. But the 44 percent ballast-to-displacement ratio kicks in and ensures it will stabilize and stiffen up.

The hull of the 48 is balsa-cored to the waterline with solid-fiberglass reinforcement at the chain plates, rudder shaft and propeller shaft. The balsa is cut away and sealed with epoxy around the through hulls and is omitted in the keel sides and on the centerline. Osmotic blistering has been reported, but usually as a few spots on the hull and rudder, most smaller than a quarter. Adding an epoxy barrier bottom coat will help most boats of this vintage.

The 48 has substantial bulwarks for good foot bracing offshore and strong hawseholes that minimize chafe on the teak caprail. However, the placement of the scuppers leaves much to be desired, as water traveling down the gunwales misses them and pools about eight feet from the transom.

Most of these boats came from the factory with teak decks screwed and glued in place, which some owners have replaced with fiberglass and nonskid. The teak is fairly thick, up to 3/8 inch in places, so sanding and re-caulking is an option for deck rejuvenation if there are no known leaks.

INTERIOR ARRANGEMENT

One of the highlights of this boat is the layout, which is a modern fore and aft cabin design featuring 6 feet, 2 inches of headroom in the saloon, galley and aft stateroom. A traditional 6 foot, 6-inch V-berth is forward, but some owners have modified it to be more of a Pullman-style, with extra lockers on one side or the other. The entire interior is solid teak or teak veneer with a teak and holly sole. A vinyl headliner adds a nice finish but creates problems with access to deck hardware. For example, if you want to add a liferaft cradle or granny bars by the mast, you need to remove the headliner below, which can be a messy job.

The saloon has a centerline drop-leaf table with a built-in, eight-bottle wine rack and will seat four comfortably, six in a pinch, on the L-shaped settee to port and straight settee to starboard. On the early models, good storage behind these settees made them a little narrow and uncomfortable. Later hulls minimized the outboard storage and made the seats more comfortable with angled backs.

While there's also a complaint to be made about the 48's U-shaped galley, given its limited counter- and drawer space, food stowage is good. A gimbaled stove and a top-loading refrigerator were standard, but owner changes over the years mean boats on the market vary greatly. The sinks are on centerline and close to the companionway steps, so the cook doesn't have to go far to get food to the crew in the cockpit. He or she needs to be extra vigilant in wiping off the dishes when everyone's done before actually washing them, though. The 48s were built with a minimal number of through hulls, which means fewer holes cut in the boat, but this also means grey water is stored in the sump and then pumped overboard—be careful not to clog the pump.

The forward-facing nav station is on port, across from a small wet locker and just at the head of the passageway containing a door to the large, crawl-in engine room. This well-insulated and well-lit machinery space allows access to all sides of the engine – originally a 62-horsepower Perkins 4-154 or a 62-horsepower Lehman. There's also room outboard of the engine to both sides for additional equipment. While a cabinet was standard to starboard, you could add a watermaker as well, while on the opposite side, there is enough room for a small generator. The forward bulkhead has plenty of room for equipment installation, too, such as an inverter, battery charger, fuel filters and a raw-water strainer. This is a truly large engine room by sailboat standards, and it's great to have dedicated access without disrupting the living spaces.

Speaking of dedicated access, many owners have removed the freezer located outboard in the passageway on some of the original 48s and instead used the space as a large compartment for tools and spares. It's a smart move (the freezer reportedly functioned poorly) because it is directly across from the engine room. Also accessible in the passageway: a built-in locker in each step and room for 2 8D batteries underneath the bottom step. Owners who have added battery capacity have typically placed them under the nav seat, the port settee or even the master berth aft.

The owner's suite came in a variety of layouts in terms of storage options, but primarily there is a king-sized centerline berth and a variety of drawers, lockers and shelves. A large lazarette behind this bunk spans the entire transom and is 4 feet by 8 feet and 3 feet deep, accessible via two deck openings. This space provides good access to the steering quadrant and the emergency tiller that attaches on deck. Unlike on many center-cockpit boats that have the connection to the rudder under the aft bunk, with the Celestial, emergency steering means you can be topsides rather than peeking out the aft hatch while standing on the bunk.

Both heads, forward and aft, employ a fiberglass pan with teak trim. The aft head has a dedicated (not a walk-through) shower with a seat. It has an opening port, too, but no overhead hatch, which would help in the tropics.

STORAGE & TANKAGE

Storage throughout is worthy of a bluewater boat and can be found underneath and behind settees, underneath bunks and in 23 hand-caned lockers. Fifteen opening ports and seven hatches provide ventilation.

For those times when more fresh breezes are desired, the cockpit does the trick. It's compact but seats six for cocktails. It also easily accommodates a bimini and enclosure, making this a great covered patio. It's also directly over the engine, and the sole is removable, in case a future repower is necessary. The companionway has a bridge deck and is offset a bit to port, with engine gauges below and within sight of the helmsman. Visibility from the helm is excellent in all directions.

Tankage is also excellent. Originally, the Celestial 48s came with 250 gallons of fuel in one tank and 250 gallons of fresh water in two tanks. All the tanks are fiberglass, low and on centerline beneath the cabin sole. However, many owners requested different tank configurations, so you may want to investigate the actual capacity on any boat you consider.

Celestials were built until 2002 when the Xiamen yard was re-organized and focused on building Passport and Outbound Yachts. The final 48s were sloops and cutters and were primarily sold in Europe. Several U.S. brokerages imported the Celestial 50s in the 1990s, which were also sloops but with a large deckhouse that created the look and feel of a tall motorsailer. If you look closely at the hull shape, however, you'll still see the same lines as the 48: graceful, clean and powerful.

Celestial 48 prices range in the low six figures for models built in the 1980s, which means there is a tremendous amount of value to be picked up by anyone looking for a serious, comfortable, performance-oriented bluewater boat.

Zuzana Prochazka is a freelance writer who additionally serves as Technical Editor for Seafaring Magazine and co-hosts Latitudes & Attitudes TV.

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