ETAP 30
The ETAP 30 is a Belgian sailboat that was designed by Jacques de Ridder as a cruiser and first built in 1994. Production. The design was built by ETAP Yachting in Belgium between 1985 and 1994, with 220 boats completed, but it is now out of production. Design. The ETAP 30 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of polyester glassfibre-foam sandwich construction, with wood trim. The use of foam sandwich construction makes the boat unsinkable. It has a 7/8 fractional sloop masthead sloop rig with aluminum spars, a deck-stepped mast, wire standing rigging and a single  set of swept spreaders. The hull has a raked stem, a reverse transom, an internally-mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a tiller and a fin keel or optional shoal draft keel. It displaces and carries of cast iron ballast. The boat has a draft of with the standard keel and with the optional shoal draft keel. The boat is fitted with a Volvo 2002 diesel engine for docking and manoeuvring. The fuel tank has a capacity of . The design has sleeping accommodation for five people, with a double "V"-berth in the bow cabin, two straight settees in the main  cabin, plus an aft berth on starboard side. The galley is located on the port side just forward of the companionway ladder. The "L"-shaped galley is equipped with a two-burner stove, an capacity icebox and a sink. The head is located just aft of the bow cabin. The fresh water tank has a capacity of . For sailing downwind the design may be equipped with a symmetrical spinnaker of . It has a hull speed of . Operational history. The boat was at one time supported by a class club, the "ETAP Owners Association". A 2009 "Yachting Monthly" review stated, "In many  people's view, this was the best yacht Etap produced – and although she lacks an aft cabin, she was far ahead of her time in many other respects, not least her easily-driven hull, designed by Jac de Ridder, which was streets ahead of most other 30ft cruisers when she was launched, in 1983. She handles delightfully on all points of sail and is still a fairly fast cruiser for her length by today’s standards. The hull’s high freeboard is effectively masked by a thick gunwale stripe and the low-profile cabin top gives her an almost  racy appearance. Down below she has five sea-berths (or six at anchor), including a quarterberth, and a heads compartment amidships. The galley is spacious and seamanlike, and she has a very practical chart table. Etap's tendency towards short coachroofs means that headroom in the heads and forecabin is restricted but it is fair in other parts of the boat The standard of fit-out is good, with solid teak trim, but stowage, as always with these double-skinned yachts, is limited."