[1][3][5] The design has a cutter sloop rig, with a boom-mounted, self-tending staysail, a teak bowsprit, a spooned raked stem, a raised transom, a skeg-mounted rudder controlled by a tiller and a fixed swept fin keel.
[3] The galley is mounted on the port side at the bottom of the companionway stairs, with a sink and two-burner, alcohol-fired stove.
Optional factory equipment included roller furling, a boom vang, spinnaker and tracks for the genoa.
[3] Sailor Donna Lange completed two solo global circumnavigations on board her Southern Cross 28, named Inspired Insanity.
[5] In a review of the design, Richard Sherwood wrote, "the keel is modified full, and the rudder skeg is substantial.
'"[3] In a 2018 review, Sailing magazine writer David Liscio described the design as, "a diminutive sturdy cruiser that is capable of mighty bluewater passages".