Anyone cruising a Corinthian?

Had someone contact me about my boat and a possible trade. I would be trading my 1967 Commander for a 1979 Corinthian 38'. Still a gas boat, but its got more room than my 31'.

While I can spout off nearly every fact about the Commander's, I haven't a clue how the Corinthians stack up. Although I really like the idea of the lower helm in an air conditioned cabin.

toocoys, hopefully someone who has owned a Corinthian will chime in here. I'm far from an expert. I see the appeal, though. They have massive interior space with their 14' beam. If they were diesel powered, I've thought they would make an ideal loop (or similar use) boat for someone cruising on a budget. Huge interior space, two staterooms, lower helm when/if you want it, decent fly bridge space, wide side decks for handling lines, a cockpit, and they made a bunch of them (mid 70's to mid 80's) so they are easy to find. If only they were diesel powered. I saw one converted to diesels, but just one that I recall.



Good luck on the sale of your Commander, too. Classic old cruiser!

I’ve actually taken her off the market. The only reason I’m looking into this is because he wants a smaller boat, we want a bigger trawler style boat, and it’s Chris Craft for Chris Craft.

The Corinthian did come in diesel models I believe, but they weren’t as prevalent and were severely under powered I think. There’s definitely NOT as much information avaialabe on the Corinthian as there is on the Commanders.

I have a friend with an 83-85 model Chris Craft Corinthian. The layout is slightly different.

https://www.denisonyachtsales.com/p...0_Corinthian-boat-description-yacht-research/

I like the later model's layout.

Owned One

I owned a ‘79 Chris 380 Corinthian for about 10 years. Cruised it extensively from Minnesota to Florida panhandle. My old trip log showed over 5000 miles traveled. It had Pleasure Craft 454s rated 330 hp and Paragon 2:00/1 gears turning 24” props. It was a very responsive, easy handling boat. Low speed cruise was about 8mph but would go 28 when pushed for weather window or lock passage. It was, at best, 1 mpg boat. It was a solid glass boat … no wood in hull or stringers. The glass hull and layout were the main reasons for purchase. The best description I heard concerning a Corinthian was “a houseboat layout on a full cruiser hull”. I had only normal maintenance over the 10 years. Very satisfied.

toocoys said:

I’m looking into this is because he wants a smaller boat, .

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LOL...He wants FEWER problems!

Heron said:

LOL...He wants FEWER problems!

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Actually, he said that he is raising a special needs son, and getting him around a multi-level boat was too hard for them.

If I recall correctly, don't both the Commanders and Corinthians have unprotected running gear (no keel)?

Miz Trom said:

If I recall correctly, don't both the Commanders and Corinthians have unprotected running gear (no keel)?

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Yes, they are both inboards. However the Commander is a planing hull, and the Corinthian is a semi-displacement hull. Neither of them have keels.

Alabama Boater said:

It was, at best, 1 mpg boat. [/FONT]

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As I've learned from various research here, and there... most boats are around a 1mpg boat... especially all the boats in my price range. The only two differences that are very obvious is that diesel isn't as susceptible to vapor explosion like gas engines are, and diesel engines have a much longer life span.

I really haven't seen any glaring difference in fuel efficiency unless its a boat with a 3cyl, 50hp diesel engine that sips 2/10ths of a gallon an hour. The trade off being you cruise much much slower.

We went to look at the Corinthian this weekend. Needless to say it was a HARD NO on that thing.