Northern 25
The Northern 25 is a Philip Rhodes design that was originally built as the O'Day Outlaw. When O'Day closed its Canadian plant a boat builder in Ajax, Ontario acquired the moulds. He slightly modified the vessel - for the better -and called it the Northern 25. About 250 of these craft were built by Northern Yacht Builders throughout the 70's and into the early 80's. The same firm also produced the Northern Quarter Ton, the S&S designed Northern 29, as well as the Northern 37. All were heavily built, solid glass hulls. Decks were cored. The Northern 25 appeared in three itirations. In the Mark 1 the cap shrouds and single lower shrouds attach to the same chain plate. This model also features a "pop top". The Mark 2 is the classic model. The cabin top is fixed to give more or less standing headroom at the foot of the companionway steps. Single cap shrouds and fore and aft lowers are led to individual chain plates. Design displacement of both the 1 & 2 is the same - 4,800# The Mark 3 has slightly higher freeboard and so there is 6'2" headroom throughout the cabin. Displacement is approximately 5,200#. All three could be had with either a settee layout or in a dinette configuration. Storage room is more than adequate. The boats are good in heavy weather, but are also surprisingly fast in light air. Their best turn of speed is when they are sailed slightly off the wind. Don't get into a pointing match with a more modern boat. That being said, they do claw to weather. The builder is still alive and he takes delight in going out to do surveys for prospective buyers - provided they are within an hour's drive or so of Frenchman's Bay where he operates a marina.
