druid wrote:
Hi,

As I said a while ago, I'm downsizing and looking for a boat under $20K
CDN - hopefully under $10K purchase price so I'll have some bux to fix it
up. I was looking at the Catalina 27, mainly because it's by far the the
most common 27-footer around here, but...

A poster on BCBoatnet (http://www.bcboatnet.org) suggested an Ericson, and
I did a little looking. All of them are in the US, most East-coast (or at
least not West Coast ), but some can be had for around $10K, and they
look pretty good.

I know the Ericson is better-built than the Catalina, and the poster says
they're faster too (not sure about that...). So: opinions? stories?
experiences? Noted a coincidence: I just looked at the thread here about
the boat in the surf, and it sure looks like an Ericson 27/28! And I was
impressed by it staying afloat and returning upright after the rollover.
Tough boat!

Oh: also, any idea how much it would cost to truck a 27ft sailboat from
California to BC?

druid

I looked at quite a few Ericson 27s and some 29's of 1970's/80's vintage
when I was last in the market for a boat. I think they are well
constructed boats generally, but for some reason they seemed to have
more issues with deck delamination than some of the other brands I
looked at. Obviously mine was not a massive sample size but, as I
recall, it was nearly every one I looked at. Of course any boat that age
can have problems such as these and needs a thorough going over. If you
can find one in good shape then I think it would be a fine
boat--definitely a better "fit and finish" than the Catalina. (I say
that as a reasonably satisfied owner of a Catalina 30.)

As for Catalina 27s: There are lots of them available here in So.
California, easily for under $10K. In fact, for $10K I'd expect one to
be in outstanding shape and well equipped. But the shipping costs in
your case would turn it into not such a great deal, IMO.

Regards,
Alan Gomes