Bobsprit wrote:

My list...while avoiding very, very old boats....

Bristol 27

Shucks, what about a Bristol 30? Or a Tartan 27?


Catalina 27

Malarkey. Not on anybody's list of "best" unless you gotta go with a
crowd. They are widely available and better than some.


Cape Dory 25 (70s model)
C&C 25 (70s)

Why not a newer 27?


Pearson 25

Too small. The Cape Dory 25 is barely a weekender. And rather than
avoiding "very very old" what you want to avoid is "poorly maintained"
boats. It would be better to have a properly kept 35 year old boat
than a beat-up and neglected 5 year old one. Of course, that assume
knowledge about such things...

Here's a nice little heavy displacement English design
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/0/8/65557108.htm

A Seafarer... smaller sistership to one a friend of ours has
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/2/0/66440920.htm

To call this boat 31' is a bit deceptive, IIRC about 5' of that is the
clipper bow. But they are really cool boats and capable small
cruisers.
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/1/8/62482218.htm

Islander 30... a Bob Perry design, sails well and properly built
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/7/6/33415976.htm

My family had a protoype of one of these... now *this* is a great
boat... actually I'm bummed to see one pop up at this price...
http://adcache.boattraderonline.com/6/8/2/45636682.htm

Here's a boat I don't like all that much myself, but others have raved
about
http://www.yachtworld.com/core/listi...oat_id=1189436

I was a little surprised to see a Sabre 28 pop up on the listings in
this price range. Also a Scampi 30 which is really a racing boat but
is certainly capable of being cruised.

Other boats that may pop up are the Morgan 30 (the CCA model, not the
OI) or for that matter, the Morgan 27 which I mentioned just the other
day. There are also Tanzers, Ericsons, Hughes, Rhodes, Paceship,
Dufour.... Any of these is likely to be better built and better
performing than a Catalina, Pearson, Cal, Columbia, or Hunter of
similar age & condition. IMHO the mass-produced boat are average, not
built for serious sailing (except for racing as one-designs), and
while many of them are nice boats, they are not "great."

Fresh Breezes- Doug King