380 Continental

Innovation is great and there’s never enough of it, but innovation is not what the 380 Continental was about. This was glitz over practicality, the triumph of Chris Craft’s 1990s concept of art over nautical common sense. The styling from the arch forward is contemporary enough, but the semicircular stern makes an otherwise well-proportioned boat seem a little chopped off. Not surprisingly, the circular transom also reduced the 380’s usable cockpit space. Below deck, there are no bulkheads in the wide-open interior, so floor-to-ceiling track curtains were used to divide up the cabin into separate sleeping quarters. Note that the helm is on the centerline and the helm seat is elevated for improved visibility. A walk-through windshield provides access to the foredeck, and molded steps at the corners and a centerline transom door access the circular swim platform. Anchor handling is interesting: lacking a pulpit, the anchor is retrieved through a bow chute. The Continental’s extra-wide swim platform has storage lockers and a hot/cold shower. A heavy boat, standard gas engines with V-drives cruise around 16 knots (mid to high 20s top).