Contact is made from cockpit to cockpit: When a beautiful cruising yacht, obviously freshly refitted, moors next door in the harbour of the Danish island of Nyord, small talk leads to the question of which boat the owner couple Steffi and Jan had refitted with so much love and effort. "A Sirius 31," is their answer. This is surprising, because today the shipyard from Plön is the epitome of high-quality deck saloon yachts. Few people have such a classic crack with a conventional superstructure in mind when they hear the name. It was only in the nineties that Sirius specialised exclusively in this direction.
The Sirius 31, on the other hand, could easily be mistaken for a first-class Scandinavian design: fixed windscreen, beautiful wooden details in the cockpit, teak deck.
"That's what we were looking for at the beginning," smiles Jan. "We had chartered boats like this several times." But the Nordic classics were expensive, and in the coronavirus year of 2020, used boat prices went through the roof. "We couldn't find a boat for less than 75,000 euros back then," Jan and Steffi explain. Then they stumbled across the Sirius 31, which was still unknown to them. "We liked the lines straight away!"
The Sirius 31 gets a hump
The lines of the Sirius 31 were designed in 1975 by the German Heribert Streuer, who also designed the Biga and Phantom. And, as Sirius shipyard boss Torsten Schmidt later recounts, it was a matter close to his heart: "Streuer had designed the boat towards the end of his career as his personal dream boat, came to my father and asked if we wanted to build it for him and include it in the shipyard's programme." The boat has a kind of hump in the underwater lines in front of the pronounced skeg, which the designer borrowed from whales to ensure a good stall. "My father discussed with Streuer whether this was necessary, but he stamped his foot and said: 'With or without!"
An agreement was reached and the first three ships were built - with a hump. Then came the oil price shock in 1979, and production only continued from the beginning of the 1980s until 1991, when the Riss was extended to include a deck saloon version, which proved popular. Around 170 boats were built in this hull shape, 70 of them in the original version.
At the viewing appointment, the couple are impressed. And it soon becomes clear: "With the 47,000 euros requested for the 34-year-old ship, there is still enough budget left to eliminate any potential weak points."
The two buy the boat and begin an extensive refit to bring everything up to date technically and visually and to adapt it to their needs.
A lot of work goes into the Sirius 31
Because their standards are high: all wooden parts are sanded and varnished, they invest in sails, an electric windlass, LED interior lighting, fresh standing and running rigging and new rudder bearings. The underwater hull has already been stripped once and sealed with epoxy, so osmosis was not an issue and the Sirius is not considered susceptible to it.
Then come the first major surprises: The teak deck, categorised as unproblematic because it had already been renewed once by the previous owners, is leaking.
"Water was running down the main bulkhead when it rained and we couldn't find the problem at first," reports Jan. It wasn't until a boat builder was called in to help that the mystery was solved: the previous owner had simply laid a new teak deck on top of the old one - and installed two new fans in the process. These went through the balsa-core deck in places and were not well sealed. The result: rot in the balsa core and a teak deck that was coming loose in places. The couple opted for a completely new deck, a boat builder opened up the laminate in the soft spots, removed the rotten balsa wood, glued a new foam core and laminated everything back together.
Overall, the Sirius 31 is a solid
This means that they have now reached the price region that they had previously set as their maximum. However, after a year of sailing with the Sirius, they have no regrets about their decision: "The boat meets our requirements exactly, it's a solid, safe and beautiful boat that suits us perfectly," says Steffi.
The advantage of testing a used boat whose shipyard still exists: You can ask about it. Is the balsa core often a problem, we want to know from Sirius Managing Director Torsten Schmidt. "From the shipyard, we didn't install a sandwich at the points where the decks were breached to prevent such leaks." In fact, the previous owner had probably retrofitted in an extremely unfortunate place.
A child of its time under sail
During the trial run with "Roisin" on the Flensburg Fjord, there is unfortunately only a gentle breeze. The fully battened main is set, as is the usual overlapping genoa for the time. In the light wind, we are bobbing along at around three to four knots, so we look for room to leeward and set the brand-new furling gennaker on the top rig. Now the boat comes to life, and with a few gusts, the Sirius31 gently lays on her side and sets off. The log briefly shows a 6.3, then the wind runs out of steam. It feels like a typical cruising boat, and the sail deadweight of just under 4.3 is pretty much in keeping with this, categorising the Sirius 31 as a comparatively heavy cruising boat.
Steffi and Jan are completely satisfied with the sailing performance. "The Sirius needs 3 Beaufort to get going, but she sails very, very well and stably in more than that and goes through the waves comfortably." Only the cockpit thwarts catch the eye: Retrofitted teak strips reveal that a traveller was once fitted there, but on board the "Roisin" the mainsheet is now only attached centrally to the cockpit floor on a stainless steel bracket. The previous owner preferred the more accessible cockpit to the trim. However, most boats on the market are likely to have the trim instrument.
What characterises the Sirius 31 on deck
We leave it at that and sail back to the harbour. A round of the deck. The Sirius is in really spick and span condition and is clearly a child of the seventies/eighties: the bow is more overhanging and the anchor is cleverly driven through an opening below deck level. The retrofitted winch could therefore still be placed in the very spacious anchor locker. It is fitting that the previous owner fitted a forward-reaching bowsprit with teak mouldings and a newly manufactured pulpit so that you can step onto the jetty via an unobstructed passageway.
A retrofitted stern extension catches the eye. Torsten Schmidt says: "One owner really wanted it, so we offered it as a retrofit kit. Not only did it integrate the swim ladder and step, but it also made the engine run more quietly and improved the stall under the engine." The advantages spread, and today you can see a whole series of boats with an extension, which the shipyard still offers.
The cockpit is deep and well protected, with wooden applications on the roofs and a wooden board on the sliding hatch as a practical device carrier for the instrument displays. Attractive fixed doors instead of bulkheads flying around below deck. Line-adjustable genoa travellers, swallow nests, protection behind the fixed windscreen - really everything a cruising sailor's heart desires is catered for.
Below deck, the Sirius 31 is classic
Beautifully finished wood everywhere below deck, with a classic saloon arrangement around the large table. Lots of light through long Plexiglas panes, which were replaced by the shipyard with three oval aluminium-framed windows in later years. "The panes were actually screwed on and unfortunately leaked," says the owner couple. However, such leakage problems can be detected quite easily on the Sirius, as no inner shell was installed to conceal incipient problems for long periods of time; everything is easily accessible.
They opted for new windows, but the Plexiglas was only glued in accordance with the latest technology and the old holes were sealed. The walls feature high-quality panelling in dark teak. This is dignified, but made it gloomy below deck. The wood panelling in the saloon, which was subsequently painted white by Jan, is a nice contrast and makes the room appear lighter.
There are also other details below deck, some of which are typical of the year. For example, the pull-out washbasin in the wet room, which is very large and actually very practical, as it makes optimum use of the small space in front of the forward berth. Strikingly large storage space, strikingly good in timber construction. The pull-out navigation table above the huge dog bunk on the starboard side is actually very practical for working with a paper chart, which is rarely done these days. They work standing up, and in the evening in the harbour it disappears under the cockpit dinghy. The two have stored the fridge as a drawer solution under the saloon seats.
The Sirius 31 has become an affair of the heart
Here inside the ship, too, it is clear that the previous owner enjoyed tinkering: he shortened the half-bulkhead of the navigation area, which protrudes far into the saloon, to provide better access to the saloon seating area. Another trace of this is under the companionway steps, which can be moved to access the engine, a Volvo 2002 with dual-circuit cooling: This is where the end screw of the centreboard mechanism is located. The Sirius 31 was available in three draught variants: with a fixed keel in the 1.65 or 1.35 metre draughts and with a ballast centreboard that goes 0.9 to 2.1 metres deep. Most boats have a lead keel; only briefly at the beginning were cast keels used, but these were already commendably coated with epoxy at the time. However, the flexible draught of the "Roisin" was set at around 1.6 metres when extended. There have been no problems with this so far.
For the two of them, however, there was no reason not to buy the ship back then - they probably feel a bit like its designer: it has become an affair of the heart.
Technical data Sirius 31
- Hull length 9.30 m
- Waterline length 8.10 m
- Width 3.10 m
- Draught vers. 1.6 m/1.3 m/2.1-0.9 m
- Rig top rigging
- Mast height 13.0 m
- Theoretical hull speed 6.9 knots
- Weight 4.5 tonnes
- Ballast/proportion 2.15 t/48 %
- Mainsail 21.5 m²
- Genoa I 29.9 m²
- Gennaker/Spi 70.0 m²
- Machine (Volvo P. 2002) 18 hp
- Fuel tank 50 litres
- Fresh water tanks 120 litres
Model history and design
The hull is a solid laminate using the hand lay-up method, the deck partly with balsa core, but not at the important openings for rigging, fittings etc. The ship was later also produced as a deck saloon model with the same hull
Market situation
The 31 was only built about 70 times, the offer is manageable and strongly focussed on Germany. The boat is quite stable in price
Pay attention to this
Condition of teak deck, leaks due to subsequent deck breakthroughs by previous owners (balsa core), engine condition and age, centreboard function. According to the expert, the boats are not known for osmosis
Equipment and prices
Standard price 1988 120,000 DM
Used price approx. 33,000 to 50,000 euros
YACHT rating
Very solid, harmonious cruising ship with many strengths and hardly any weaknesses. As the shipyard still exists, the supply of parts is guaranteed and repairs are possible
Design and concept
- + No GRP inner shell
- + Deep, protected cockpit
- + Very solid construction quality
- + Rear extension with bathing platform still available
Sailing performance and trim
- + Very stable thanks to skeg
- + Good fittings, all lines deflected into the cockpit
- - Somewhat cumbersome rudder
Living and finishing quality
- + Well thought-out layout
- + High-quality timber construction
- - Old screwed windows can leak
- - Paths somewhat dark
Equipment and technology
- + lead keel
- + Floating teak deck
- + No sandwich on deck breakthroughs
- - Very often sold with teak deck, which should be checked critically for condition
This test appeared in YACHT 22/2023
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