The CSY 44 walk-over was the "bread and butter" of the CSY 44 fleet. Below you can see HEART OF OAK, a beautifully restored example of this boat. We ran into HEART OF OAK while in Caribbean Panamá. It has some very interesting customizations, including a swimming platform and a radar arch.

While at Portobelo, Panamá, we ran into WILLINGLY (see below), a CSY 44 known to be in a state to total disrepair and abandon in Bahía Ballena, Pacific Costa Rica, in the late 90´s. WILLINGLY was purchased in its deplorable condition, and taken to the Pedro Miguel Yacht Club in the Panamá Canal, where it was completely restored. These CSY boats are a solid investment since their fundamentals are sound and durable. Notice the hard-top on WILLINGLY's cockpit.

Interesting Item: Damage of Cyclone Isaac in Tonga, the South Pacific, to the CSY Charter Fleet quite a few years ago. (Photos courtesy of Don Stoughton, owner of STARGAZER, home port Corona del Mar). You can see three CSY 44´s on the beach. All were refloated and continued their charter duties, which once again shows the boats' sturdiness.

     The CSY 44

There were three types of these pleasure boats designed and built at the CSY factory. The "walk-over" model is the most well-known. They were built from 1977 to 1980, and were primarily built to be initially chartered and then passed on to their owners. They are referred to as "walk-over" because one has to walk up to the cockpit from the main salon and then down to the separate aft cabin, hence the "walk over" the cockpit term.

The Pilothouse design was built on the same 44' hull, but has a traditional aft cockpit and a second control station inside the pilothouse. I believe all the Pilothouse models were built with a ketch sail plan.

In the "walk-through" design, also built on the same 44' hull, one can walk from the mail salon to the aft cabin by "walking through" the galley on the starboard side. Although most of the walk-thru's were cutter-rigged, there are a few that are ketch-rigged.