The Columbia 34 is an American sailboat that was designed by Wirth Munroe and Richard Valdez as a cruiser and first built in 1966.^[1][2]

The Columbia 34 is a development of the Columbia 33 Caribbean, using a deck adapted from the Columbia 40.^[1][3]

The Columbia 34 was replaced in the company product line in 1970, by the unrelated William H. Tripp Jr. designed Columbia 34 Mark II.^[1][4]

The design was built by Columbia Yachts in the United States, but it is now out of production. Some of the boats were sold as kits for owner completion.^[1][5]

Dick Valdes described how the Columbia 34 design came about, in a talk given at the Long Beach Rendezvous on 23 February 2002. He said, "The C-33 was a fast and comfortable boat from Wirth Monroe who had designed and raced Commanche in the SORC. The boat was a direct descendent of Commanche but Wirth didn't have an eye for looks and we all called the C-33 the "Guanno" boat cause it looked like ----.! (Mike, a C-33 owner notes: they still had the nerve to market it as a "flagship" in the brochures). So after about fifty boats we decided to see if we could make a change. So we took a C-40 deck we had laying around and set it on a C-33 and it pretty much fit, and looked much better, so we took a saw and trimmed off all the overhangs and that's how the C-34 was born."^[3]

The Columbia 34 is a recreational keelboat, built predominantly of fiberglass, with wood trim. It has a masthead sloop rig, a spooned raked stem, a raised counter, transom, an internally mounted spade-type rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed stub long keel, with a centerboard. It displaces 10,500 lb (4,763 kg) and carries 4,200 lb (1,905 kg) of ballast.^[1]

The boat has a draft of 8.00 ft (2.44 m) with the centreboard extended and 3.50 ft (1.07 m) with it retracted. The boat is fitted with a Universal Atomic 4 gasoline engine for docking and maneuvering.^[1]

The galley is located on the port side at the bottom of the companionway steps and features a two-burner stove. The head has a privacy door and is located forward, just aft of the bow "V"-berth and opposite the hanging locker. Additional sleeping accommodation includes the main cabin dinette table, which can be converted into a double berth, a single berth on the starboard side and an aft port side quarter berth. The raised stern counter configuration precludes an aft stateroom.^[1]

• List of sailing boat types

Related development

• Columbia 33 Caribbean
• Columbia 34 Mark II
• Columbia 40

Similar sailboats

• Beneteau 331
• Beneteau First Class 10
• C&C 34
• C&C 34/36
• Catalina 34
• Coast 34
• Creekmore 34
• Crown 34
• CS 34
• Express 34
• Hunter 34
• San Juan 34
• Sea Sprite 34
• Sun Odyssey 349
• Tartan 34 C
• Tartan 34-2
• Viking 34