O'Day Mariner 19 vs Aquarius 23

A Round 1 Minicruiser Madness match-up

This first round matchup to determine the ultimate minicruiser (trailerable sailboat used for camping and cruising) pits a legendary fan favorite—the Phillip Rhodes O’day Mariner 19—against the much larger family-cruising underdog, the Aquarius 23.

The sweet-sailing Mariner has been around since 1962, with more than 4,000 built. In fact Stuart Marine is still building them today. When we reviewed it years ago we wrote:

“The Mariner is a fun, well-mannered family boat and a snappy performer. That a boat in continuous production for over forty years, based on a hull created more than sixty years ago, remains competitive with the best small sailboats of today speaks to the timelessness of the original design. Philip Rhodes is gone but, with ‘a certain eternal and irrepressible freshness,’ his genius lives on.”